palace of winds

As I was drifting to sleep last night, pondering the state of my refrigerator, I realized all of the tidbits I had lingering there — a few green onions, a fifth of a block of tofu, some fresh pineapple, and half a bag of baby carrots — added up exactly to the Pineapple Fried Rice (good enough for caps, definitely) I’ve lauded before. It’s from Nancie McDermott’s Real Vegetarian Thai. I’m a big believer in this cookbook; I think I’ve bought more copies of it to give as gifts than any other book, fiction included. It’s worth buying for this recipe alone — the entire book will cost you about the same as ordering a plate of this in a Thai restaurant, and then you can make it yourself to wow your friends and neighbors. Especially if you take the extra few minutes to serve it in a hollowed-out half-pineapple. (…when did this turn into a sales pitch?)

I’ve just started listening to Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (briefly: a book about her family’s year-long adventure in trying to eat only locally-grown/raised food), and it’s an excellent time in my life for it. Spring is (ever) just around the corner, and I’ve recently been trying to get back into the swing of meal-planning and out of the habit of eating out, for the sake of both my waist and my wallet. Most of what I’ve been making at home lately has been just thrown together: simple salads and stir-fries and pastas, the occasional peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a plate of roasted veggies. And it’s all fine, but it’s lacking a certain satisfaction. I miss the completeness of my old process, of menu-planning and neatly-regimented shopping, the preparation and cooking and then apportionment of leftovers. My weeks now are lacking in structure; I come home from the barn hungry, prowling the cupboards, uninspired. I have fallen into a serious snacking habit.

So, back on track for spring. I’ve started getting up before work to exercise as well, and I think I’m nearly home-free on that being such an agony. I’m at the end of the third week today and I feel utterly exhausted — so much so that I took this morning off for the extra sleep and to give my aching muscles a chance to heal. In future, more sleep: check.