Migraine Medicine

Drink Me!

I knew from the moment I got into the office that it was not going to be my day. I could feel the pressure around my temple and the heavy feeling around my eyes. I knew what was coming: a migraine.

I worked through it as much as I could, but then I couldn't do it anymore and went home.

The next day, I woke up and my migraine was slightly better, but not by much. So I worked from home and made myself some "migraine medicine": hot chocolate with coffee.

I swear this stuff keeps migraines at bay!

You make hot chocolate by combining cocoa, sugar, cinnamon and milk to make a paste, then you add boiling water a capful of (real) vanilla. Stir. Let cool so you don't burn your palate, and drink.

For migraine medicine, you add some instant coffee to the cocoa, sugar and cinnamon mix.

A few minutes after you drink it your migraine will miraculously go away.

Except when it doesn't and you end up in the dark, curled up in the fetal position.

Autumnal Eats: Lentil Stew and Apple Crumble

I made apple crumble.

Dessert That Tries Your Nerves

It wasn't even one of those spur-of-the-moment-temporary-insanity things either. I actually planned to make apple crumble. I went out and bought two different types of apples (Courtland for texture, MacIntosh for flavour), and made sure I had all the fixin' for the topping, and made the damned thing. In the process of peeling all the damned apples, I damaged a nerve in my wrist and my pinky finger now constantly feels tingly. It's not really as fun as it sounds.

Then I made lentil stew because it is easy and because sometimes all you have left in your pantry is cans of lentils, and all you have left in your fridge are some dying carrots and onions because you neglected to buy anything else while you were stocking up on apples for the damned crumble that damaged your wrist.

In the end, though, it was all worthwhile because you had seasonal apple crumble and lentil stew to bring to work and all your coworkers were like, "Oooh! How very autumnal of you!"

Or so you tell yourself as you try to ignore your tingly pinky.

Business Park Diner Quesadilla

When you don't have your car with you and you work in a business park, your options for lunch are limited. So it was either Business Park Bulgogi or the greasy spoon diner next door.

I decided to walk to the greasy spoon diner in the hopes of procuring a tasty BLT -- because why else would you visit a diner? -- but then I discovered that they had "quesadillas" on the menu.

Make yourself a danged quesadilla!

I've had the "quesadillas" before. They're a mass of cheese, red and green bell pepper, sautéed onions and grilled chicken in a tortilla. It's not bad and it was a fairer bet than the BLT, which I'd never had before.

This time, though, the quesadillas were heavy on the cheese and peppers, but rather light on the chicken. And the tortillas were these whole grain tortilla things that had been burnt on the grill.

At least they served it with piles of fries and sour cream. Salsa and guacamole would have been nice, but this diner doesn't really do "fresh".

Couscous!

This is different, isn't it?

Plastic makes it better. Kinda.

OK, not really because it's still an empty container. But the crumbs are different! See? They're couscous crumbs! Or rather individual couscou (one couscou, two couscous?). They were topped with stewed chickpeas that were made with lime and cinnamon, not that you could taste either because both flavours were obliterated by the tomato. Or maybe they were so harmonious that the flavours smoothly combined.

The last time I made this dish, the stewed chickpeas came out better, but the couscous was stale. I had just bought the friggin' couscous that day and it was already stale! That was the last time I bought boxed couscous. This couscous was happily hermetically sealed in a cellophane bag. Better living through plastics.

Veal, Broccoli, and Weight Loss

Apparently veal cutlets are a nice, tender meat. Apparently they're easy to cook. Apparently they're hard to fuck up.

And yet.

And yet my veal cutlets were chewy. I am pretty sure that I expended more energy chewing these cutlets than I actually got out of them. In addition to the veal, there was also barely-cooked broccoli which, let's face it, is pretty indigestible. So I'm guessing that I lost a couple of pounds eating my lunch.

Too bad that I made up for the calorie deficit with a ginormous helping of veggie straws. At least it was better than last week's Cheetos fest that I *ahem* forgot to take pictures of.

-546 Weight Watchers Points!

Award My Tuna!

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's Tuna Fish Sandwich! 

But not just any tuna fish sandwich! It's a tuna fish sandwich that was entered into a contest! Yes, you heard right: this is an award-submitted tuna fish sandwich!

The remains of the andwich-say

Spousal Unit saw an ad for an online sandwich contest sponsored by our favourite makers of crunchy granola, ultra-healthy, super-chewy bread. He decided that he should enter his "recipe" for tuna sandwich. Granted, his tuna sandwich, which is made with avocado instead of mayo (because I hate mayo) is very tasty. But whether or not it's award-winning is another story. Spousal Unit hasn't mentioned it since, so I'm guessing he didn't win squat.

Anyways, after the tuna, I tossed back a variety of crap: veggie straws, Doritos, Peek Freans Digestive Cookies, and these weird flattened pretzel things. Oh, yeah, and an espresso. An espresso made with Silvia. Because Silvia and I have made peace.

Don't think twice, it's alright.

Non-Vegan Beans on Toast

I was made with animal products.

Once upon a time, I did a radio show about books, and I was a vegetarian.  One day this vegan cookbook comes my way.

Now, my show was not a book review show, but an author interview show. I used to read the books, then interview authors about their books. Hence how I met Kirsten Koza. If the author wrote, say, a cookbook, I would have to, you know, make at least a few recipes from that cookbook.

This wasn't the first time I had a cookbook author on the show. On an earlier show I had eviscerated poor Evelyn Raab, author of The Clueless Baker, because my boyfriend at the time (aka Spousal Unit) totally fucked up every recipe he tried from that cookbook. And if my clueless boyfriend couldn't follow a muffin recipe from a book called "The Clueless Baker", then obviously that cookbook wasn't really made for the clueless.

Of course, the recipes rocked otherwise, but I still grilled that poor woman about why she claimed that the recipes were for the clueless when she had, evidently, never tested them on the clueless. It was ... not pretty.

Anyways, I decided that I would be nice to this vegan cookbook author. The problem was that I really hate tofu, I can't stand eating meatless (read: fake) meatballs, and, at the time, had the tiniest kitchen in the universe (that was also somewhat crawling with roaches). So any recipe that used tofu, required loads of kitchen prep, or involved faking meat was out of the question.

In other words, all I could make were the bean dishes.

So I made her black beans on toast. Of course, I made a million substitutions, like using real garlic instead of garlic powder, and using tomatoes and hot peppers instead of bottled salsa. I also added maple syrup, grated (real) cheddar all over it, and topped it off with a fried egg. It was very tasty, if not exactly vegan -- or anything like the original recipe.

It's a meal I enjoy to this day.

PS: The vegan cookbook author was really nice. I interviewed her over lunch at a vegan restaurant. I ate kohlrabi, chickpeas, and chocolate cake. The chocolate cake was made with tofu and its "frosting" was made with avocado and cocoa. It was OK, but I farted a lot.