Feeding the Hungry

It was a different sort of week... I alternated between an unmotivated "meh" attitude and feeling super-accomplished.  I felt sort of useless and tired, but also had opportunity to do significant service.  It seemed like I was constantly hungry and searching for food, but I ate some wonderful dishes, too.  On the day my shoes didn't match my pants (which I didn't discover until the end of the day (who does that?!?)), I was complimented on my appearance.  So, like, my week was, you know, different.

But, in the interests of finding something to smile about... let's talk about food.

I tried to make tomato sauce from real tomatoes this week.  It was an adventure.  Well, it was more like a science experiment.  Let's just say, this was not tomato sauce I could feel comfortable sharing with anyone else.  I found myself problem-solving it - if I did this differently, or if I had actually divided the recipe using math instead of generalized approximations, or if I used that kind of tomato - there were all kinds of reasons why it didn't turn out like it should have.  I suppose with a little preparation, I could have had a good experience and made good food too, but it was still worth doing. I learned a lot from my (mostly failed) experiment!

Then, tonight I tried my SIL's suggestion for pizza.  Talk about amazingly good... her garlic sauce recipe, combined with fresh basil, fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzerella.  Mmm... I think it was one of my better attempts at creativity.  And it looked pretty, too!  (And, I didn't drop it upside-down on the floor this time, either.)  Totally worth every minute of the garlic breath. Seriously.

I also experimented with fresh soybeans - salt-and-peppered edamame - a great snack if you're totally into green healthy stuff.  Tastes better than hot fudge.  Really.  Not kidding. I had both today, and the hot fudge was ridiculously sugary in comparison (just in case you were wondering).

And then there's tomorrow's plan.  My friend at work has a volunteer tomato plant that grew in her compost heap this summer.  The tomatoes are DIVINE.  Seriously.  'Cause how could you get better soil than in a compost heap? :-)  So she shared a little bag of them with me, and tomorrow I get Italian food again!  Grape tomatoes, basil, and mozzerella.  I'm debating whether I want little sandwiches on a fresh baguette or pasta salad.  Either one could be good... or maybe an omelette... the possibilities are endless.