Making do with who knows what...

For me, food = life. Not just in the obvious survival sense, but in the sense that I am obsessed. Eating it (at home or elsewhere), cooking it, buying it, researching it, talking about it, reading about it, anything! Bad food is not an option for me. Of course it happens, but I try to avoid it at all costs. Eating just to satisfy hunger doesn't work for me either, its about the experience, the taste, the ingredients.

I do have a job and do many non-food related things, but I'm often thinking about it even when I'm doing something else. This morning as I started writing this, I was thinking about my grocery list for the week. When I'm in down dog, I'm often thinking about what I can make for dinner that's healthy but fast since I get home late.

Usually I try to make three recipes a week, all with the capacity for leftovers for lunch. I try to go for healthy recipes, but I don't shy away from a little oil or carbs or healthy fats. I get the recipes from blogs (see list at left), the NYT, magazines (a favorite is Cooking Light), and the various cookbooks I've collected over the years.

I'm very proud of that ritual, but this week I just couldn't cut it. I wanted nothing to do with the store, recipes, or planning. Instead of my usual trip to Trader Joe's & the produce market on Sunday, I went on Monday night. Longest. Line. Ever. What did I buy? $100 worth of who knows what (for two people). What have I done with it? So far, a turkey sandwich with arugula (my favorite green) and ricotta (my current obsession, and the best in NY comes from here), and a raw zucchini salad I copied from a restaurant in NYC, Fig & Olive. I've always winged it, but just found the actual recipe.

Tomorrow's lunch will be a salad filled with whatever wound up in the fridge from the grocery store (probably asparagus, chicken, cucumber, beets, bulgar wheat, grapefruit, and zucchini, at least). I love making big salads not base on anything but what I have in the kitchen. There always has to be a protein, usually chicken, and a grain because lets face it, when are veggies enough to fill you up?

We'll see what happens the rest of the week, but so far I've survived on my haphazard trip to the grocery store. Next week its back to planning and discovering new recipes, but its nice to have a break sometimes and realize my existing food knowledge serves me just fine. Not four stars, but just fine.

P.S. For anyone that read my previous post about pole dancing, I am happy to say I met my goal last week and am a day's worth of classes away from achieving my goal for this week too!