Cooking

i'm a big fan of the blog site Not Eating Out in New York. i've made several recipes from it. all have received glowing reviews.

I found the blog via NPR radio. i happened to be listening to NPR when the author of the blog was interviewed. she is conscientious about creating and sharing healthy recipes that are easy on the wallet.

the other day i found a recipe for a chickpea stew. i went out today to buy the couple of missing ingredients. i'm happy i did because the supermarket was air-conditioned (AC). the building i live in doesn't turn on the AC until Memorial Day weekend. in other words, the apartment is a few days shy of AC.

a couple of hours after returning home. i begin prepping to make the stew. the recipe calls for a 8 oz. can of plum tomatoes. i have a hand-crank can opener. after using it, i used my fingers to pull up the lid. i've done this hundreds of times and never thought about it. today, my opinion changed. today i sliced my thumb. after applying pressure and yelling a few obscenities, i got a band-aid on it.

after my brush with stupidity, i returned to the tomatoes. the recipe called for the tomatoes to be lightly crushed by hand. i happily dumped the tomatoes into a bowl and squished them with my good hand. the rest of the mis en place was easy.

i softened the onions then added the pressed garlic, paprika, and turmeric (my addition). once this was fragrant, in went the chickpeas. after that came to a boil, the tomatoes and cup of white wine joined the party.

as the stew simmered, i opened the windows and front door, hoping for a breeze for cross ventilation. when i went into the kitchen to check on the stew, i brought a hand-fan with me to keep cool.

in books you read the phrase "she sighed with relief." i never understood that. it sounded strange. however, when a breeze miraculously found the apartment, i understood. not only did i understand i did it: i sighed with relief.

dinner was delicious, so was the remainder of the white wine.

i look forward to the next recipe from the site i want to do: summer borscht.