Naomi: Cooking for one and for friends



For years now, even before I wrote the recipes in what I think of as my "static blog," Fiftytworecipesfrommymother, at the request of my children, Sarah and Sam, Sarah had been urging me to keep a daily (more or less) record of my cookings--the meals I make for myself in my (surprisingly) solitary life as well as those I make for friends. For whatever reasons, I've never done it.


But, after months of wandering, I've finally begun. As I haven't quite mastered the art of cooking for one, and love throwing together grand meals at the last minute, I have been encouraging friends to call to check on what I might have on hand any evening for a quick meal. Instructions can be found in my entry for March 20th--What's in Naomi's Refrigerator.

This is primarily a record of the meals I prepare for myself and others, accompanied by "mug shots" of the food (when I remember to photograph before eating). Shot by my phone, with no styling, they may not capture their subjects at their best, but so be it.



Monday, July 2, 2012

July 2nd. Cleaning out the vegetable bin.

June gloom has returned.  Lots of eating away from home the past week (or is two?).  Tomorrow is garbage pick-up day--so a good time for a glance into the refrigerator.  Many items have been around a bit too long.  No meal plans in sight--but I'm always happy doing some cooking while making and drinking morning coffee.

In principle (and also in reality, I suppose), cauliflower and brussels sprouts--perhaps due to their wintry natures have extremely long refrigerator lives, but they do not last forever. If they were required to come with expiration dates, they've be long overdue--so no reason not to roast them up.

Ready to Roast
The big head of cauliflower yielded two and a half jelly roll pans to roast--with the brussels sprouts taking  up the slack.  After yoga biked to paint store to look for colors for newton house--by the time I'd finished I was starving--I needed nourishment before continuing home (especially because I thought I'd stop at the 99¢ store.  Many possibilities--I hadn't had a Bay Cities sandwich in ages and was thinking of eggplant, but Bay Cities is closed on Monday.  Maybe it was time for a ceviche taco at the truck on Rose, but enroute, I stopped at  Sapporo, a Japanese restaurant in the Albertson's parking lot.  which has recently replaced another not particularly memorable very similar restaurant at that very  spot.  There was an excellent lunch menu with many bargain specials--another surprise of a meal.
Lunch special with sushi and tempura 

No longer famished, I could with relative calm peruse the aisles of the 99¢ store.  Due to the limitations of a)my appetite, b)my refrigerator and c0my bike carrying capabilities, I tried to limit my purchases, but still--due to the surprise addition of five ears of corn, toilet paper, giant artichokes, etc., I found myself juggling a few too many bags on the way home.  But--I did make it without anything breaking, dropping, spilling or being crushed.  This is indeed progress.

For dinner, I cooked up many of the aging items from the refrigerator--one abandoned and resuscitated  baby bok choy, the oldest of the portobello mushrooms, one small zucchini with the long ago roasted tomatoes as well as garlic, shallots, parsley and the kernels from one of the five ears of corn,which made a quite passable sauce for farfalle.  Raspberries and vanilla ice cream for dessert.

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