The boy said, "So not only is she crazy motivated, really smart, funny, and smoking hot, but she cooks, too?"
Aaron (that was his name, Mom), being a professional chef when I knew him, taught me bunches about cooking and got me comfortable turning on the stove for more than melting cheese onto a tortilla. After his departure, a good part of my "Who am I?" year was spent following recipes strictly to learn and fine-tune my techniques. Now that I'm comfortable with a whole repertoire of ingredients and appreciate the science behind melding ingredients and flavors, I've been experimenting with simple, fresh, organic ingredients (often encouraged in spirit by Katie and her crafty, homemade ways).
Last night, I had a kitchen full of farmer's market goodies and a hungry dining partner in the form of Kristie, so I set to work coming up with something semi-inspired by this.
After caramelizing some Brussels sprouts to shut Kristie up (she was complaining about how long her dinner was taking), I sauteed some chopped asparagus and green onion in coconut oil (which Kristie swears is infinitely better for you than olive oil, and I like the very light flavor for the crazy heat we've been having) while boiling some quinoa (easily my new favorite food--it's more foolproof and healthier than rice, and ridiculously versatile). I added some chopped garlic, grated ginger, and a squeeze of lemon to the stir-fry, I guess is what it is, along with a pinch or two of red pepper flakes and sea salt and a few cracks of black pepper, and I threw in a chopped tomato right at the end. I threw it in the same pot as the quinoa with some sesame oil, rice vinegar, and a splash of soy sauce. I would have added tahini had I been thinking, and some lemongrass if I'd had some, but it was fantastic, crazy healthy, and ridiculously filling for a meal that cost probably about $5 and took 20 minutes from start to finish.
Awesomely, this healthy cooking hobby of mine is so well known it has netted me gifts! This chick I met this one time (Briana, Joanna's first college roommate whom I first met in 2001), she sent me this book and had it personally inscribed to me. That makes Briana the just about hippest chick on the planet, and allow me to publicly declare my gratitude. Indeed, I immediately called everyone I've ever met to tell them about the nicest thing that had happened to me that day.