Friday, November 5, 2010

OBD 4- J, Scourge of Vegetables

Decimater of produce departments, ravager (verb, not noun) of potato bins. A bit over the top?

Sometimes, when I've got a wok full of veggies (and not much else) and there are bits of plant waste scattered around the kitchen I feel a bit like a one woman war on plants. Or a non-juicing Bunnicula. Times kinda like yesterday.

Note to family and other people who may actually see me IRL- I am not *yet* orange, but it wouldn't surprise me if it happens soon.

I have sweet potatoes, and carrots, and garlic, and all sorts of other things (mainly onion and tofu). I chopped them all and tossed them into my wok. Oh, with oil. Using my new and exciting "cook tofu on medium" method I slooooowly fried the veggies and tofu while chopping some broccoli. It was a *very* solid, heavy 4 or 5 cups of veg before I got to the green stuff.

Then I added the broccoli and some water (broccoli takes longer to "fry" so I usually half steam to keep it from burning or holding up my nomming) and let everything do its cooking thing.

Really though, it was a wok with bunches more veggies than anything else. Even when I made some rice (for extra filling-ness) it was still a huge pile of veggies with some rice and tofu.

Which wasn't all that bad. Needed salt, and deep frying, and probably some soy sauce more to my taste, but otherwise quite eat-able.

Not so good for the veggies, tho... So sad.

Sometimes, in my war on veggies, I dream of having unlimited access to them. All the veggies that, even in this (kinda) off budget month I won't buy because they're either out of season (and shipped halfway 'round the world), or crazy expensive, or because the stores near my house have zero interest in keeping their produce displays looking healthy.

So no asparagus, though I could do a billion things with it. No Brussels sprouts, 'cause I'm not paying $3/lb for little cabbages. And no tasty winter squash because the display at Publix was inching ever closer to sentience. No offence, but if my veggies are going to learn to walk, they're damned well doing it in *my* fridge, not at the store.

And I won't even touch the strange dead-body stank that was wafting out of some potato bins I walked past recently.

At least I kill the veggies in honorable battle. This rotting at the store thing is just not working for me. And with the shelf life of most veggies? How old or poorly cared for have these things been, that they're rotting before I can even get them home?

So yes, I am the nightmare that stalks the broccoli and potatoes and in-season asparagus. But the local produce department scares even me.

Oh, NaNo update- entering the 5th day I am 4.2 days behind. It's not looking good. But I've changed directions/ stories/ brains, found a plot, a character I want to play with, and a soundtrack I like. So today I maybe make progress. Please?

5 comments:

  1. the strange dead-body stank that was wafting out of some potato bins

    Oh man. I can't say I've ever smelled a rotting corpse, but it can't possibly be worse than rotten potato stench.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've mostly ever smelled preserved or fresh corpses (not human), but rotting potatoes smell remarkably like roting GI tract to me.

    Speaking of... I *really* want some potatoes....

    ReplyDelete
  3. There's usually sales on store brand frozen veggies at most stores. Like a $10 for 10 thing if that's your deal. That's how I buy brussel sprouts. Very rarely I will splurge on some fresh ones.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Um... I fear that frozen brux just ruin it for me. I like the fresh, crispy, crunchy outside from broiling, just barely soft on the inside from cooking I get with fresh ones. Plus, the frozen ones don't halve or quarter well, and they are... well, squishy. If I *really* wanted them, I'd grow my own.

    Honestly, tho- I'm just unusually biased against most frozen veg. I know it's "nutritionally" and what not at peak ripeness and everything. It's just the texture that's off.

    What can I say, I'm a picky eater...

    ReplyDelete
  5. BUNNICULA!!!!

    I have all those books. All of them. Best evar.

    ReplyDelete