Heat
6:53am
I'm just finishing a bowl of shockingly delicious breakfast rice porridge, which is something I've thought about experimenting with for a long time but only did this morning now that I have... rice. As is often the case, I used ChatGPT's suggestions a jumping off point. I cooked this rice in milk; while the sushi rice that I have needs a rice/water ratio of 1/1.5, my AI friend suggested a 1/3 rice/milk ratio, which seemed sky-high, but turned out to be not even enough. It boiled off and reduced way too fast, before the rice was cooked. It was easy enough to salvage by adding more water, then more milk, then more water, but next time I'll know to start with a lot more liquid. I didn't have any cinnamon or other more classic breakfast porridge toppings, but I did have butter, so I used plenty of that; I also stirred in some cream cheese, which I regret only not having used more of. I salted it plenty, and when it tasted a little bland even post-salt, instead of adding more salt, I thought hey, you've read that Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat book for a few minutes at your parents' house, why not try adding some acid? So I added half a capful of white vinegar (what I had), which had a good, brightening effect. It still needed something more, and my mind drifted to the soy sauce in the cabinet, though I was reluctant, because I did not want a super savory porridge, but I splashed a tiny amount in, and it added just enough bite to round everything off well, without making it taste like soy sauce at all. It made me feel ready for Iron Chef.
8:48pm
Let's talk about lunch quick because I re-invented salad. I have this lettuce from the food bag I received, and I know I'm not crazy about lettuczzzzzzz, so I thought, what if I cooked it a little? What I wound up making was Garlic Wilted Lettuce with Onion on Toast with Cream Cheese.
It was better than you would imagine. I cooked down some onions, added garlic (which I'm getting better at processing as I've been using so much), added some shaoxing cooking wine, threw the lettuce in the pan, doused it with soy sauce and white vinegar, and cooked it just a little. I realized I obviously should have chopped the leaves up. They were so big! Next time. I put it all on top of toast with cream cheese (because that's the tangy dairy that I have) and ate it with a fork, because it was too soggy to pick up. But the flavors were actually delicious! Of course, when you think about it, it's a sort of an upside-down salad, with a giant crouton as a base, spread with cheese, and the lettuce on top. It wasn't bad. I thought when I was done that I could have skipped cooking the lettuce, because the crunch would have been nice, and added some cheese crumbles (which are not on hand) on top. So... salad.
Today was almost 80 degrees so I took some reading in a bag and headed to the Rockaways on the bus to soak up some sun and warmth.
It was a meteorologically fascinating day. It was probably ten degrees colder at the beach than in the city. Windy, which cooled it even more. Soon after I got there, there arose a spectacular display of clouds passing by behind me (which you can see on the left in the photo above; see the plane?). It was tolerably and mercifully warm for a little longer but by 5pm, the temperature started to crash dramatically. By the time I got home it was under 60 degrees and I was really cold.
The Rockaways is such a neat place. Not bad for somewhere you can get to on a city bus (or subway, when it's not closed for months of construction).
Anyway. Today was Liver Day, for dinner.
It was the best liver I think I have ever made. I soaked them for a time in a milk/water/lemon juice mixture, and I was warned to not overcook it, which I realize has been my downfall every time I've tried in the past. It turns to gross mush if you do that. These were not quite "delicious" standing on their own, but they were part of a delicious dish, of onions/garlic cooked in butter, and rice that I cooked almost perfectly! Extremely palatable. I sprinkled everything over with chili powder to give me even more non-liver flavors to latch on to. Then I doused it all in soy sauce, and lemon juice. Then I ate it all with chopsticks, tolerably well. I'm working on improving that, too.
Today was my first day cooking three times. I'm honestly thinking my pre-dinner "collations" were too big to be a Lenten collation. I may scale the portions back next time. We only have three more weeks of Lent, anyway.
A heart- and body-warming day of warmth and good food. Very grateful!