24 January 2009

A Day in the Life

I need to do some work - grading, lesson plans, a set of journal annotations - so it's probably best that I can't find any LED flashlights anywhere in the house.

I enjoyed quite the gourmet afternoon, that began with a long-overdue trip to Whole Foods.  The tally:
- Devon clotted cream (for scones, with apricot jam)
- Pretzel bread
- Potatoes
- Papadums
- Yogurt (to inoculate a batch of homemade yogurt)
- Tomato paste (in a toothpaste tube, the best way for storing - and subsequently using)
- Frozen samosas
- Ground lamb (planning on making lamb burgers, a la Fergburger, tomorrow night)
- Emmentaler (for fondue)
- Gruyere (also for fondue)
- Fontina (because I haven't had any in a long time)
and a cup of gelato eaten in-store - an underwhelming cookies-and-cream and a life-changing chocolate hazelnut.

It surprises me that WF usually has the best prices on cheeses.  I also got some flour, whole milk (for yogurt), and some of the season's first local strawberries at Publix.

I then came home and set off on an ambitious culinary afternoon.

Indian food was an early dinner.  Papadums and samosas from my shoppings.  Papadums may be the most entertaining things I have ever cooked.  3-inch pasta-like disks that, when plunged into oil for about 3 seconds, get all... well... it's like a reverse shrinky-dink.  So cool!  Anyhow, I made my usual potato-cauliflower szabzi, but forgot the salt, and had to return my plate to the stove to splash it with brine and reheat.  The samosas were serviceable, and the mint chutney supplied a nice green heat.  

Before that Indian feast, though, I made some scones, started some brioche for burger buns (rising in the refrigerator overnight), and started my yogurt (incubating overnight).

But now it's 800p, and I really should get to work.  And then into bed - early morning tomorrow in the coffee bar.