Bagel Love

I picked up hot-out-of-the-oven bagels and sour pickles from a pickle stand on the way home in the morning, a nice local produced (and unintentionally totally kosher) meal. Spreading cream cheese on the bagel, I was reminded of a strong food memory.

I must have been 9 or 10 and on a rare visit at a friend's house. Seth's mother was there, and she served us bagels with cream cheese. She spread her cream cheese very thinly, just a skim coat so you couldn't see the bread underneath, but not much else. My mother would lard on the cream cheese like frosting on a cake, generous and peaked. My first reaction was YUM!! -- my mouth isn't being gummed up with a ton of cheese, I can taste the bagel, it's just yummier. I hadn't come up with the concept of 'balance' yet, but that was the beginning. Then I had another reaction that came around like a swinging hammer.

This other mother, not my mother, wasn't overly friendly to me, certainly didn't love me like my mother did. She prepared this bagel for me not out of love and devotion, but because she was obliged to because I was in her house at a meal time -- was she just skimping on the cream cheese because she didn't love me? Was the unpleasant blanket of cream cheese a sign that my mom loved me?

Today, I spread my cream cheese thicker than Seth's mom, but thinner than my mom. I look forward to showing my love with a better sense of balance to my kids, so they can associate love with the best a bagel has to offer.

B came home early and went into the bedroom for a nap and I went into the kitchen. She wanted broccoli, she said. So I roasted some in the oven, coated with a little bit of olive oil, diced garlic, cubed portobello, sea salt, fresh ground pepper, and freshly toasted panko crumbs. When it came out of the oven, I hit it with a nice raw milk sharp cheddar cheese that made it scream, "ALLAWAGAWANDA!" Or something.

C-school was in full effect in making the protein. I cleaned and deveined a bunch of shrimp, butterflied them, then used a bacon press to keep them flat and get them to quick fast on the caste-iron grill pan. When I saw it stuck, I killed the heat the the shrimp released themselves in a minute to be flipped. I took a small sauce pan and placed the shells in there with a rough chopped carrot, two pepper corns, some dried shallots and some dried porcini. Covered it all with cold water, brought to a boil, then let simmer for an hour. Strained it into an ice bath, and once cooled into the freezer with a 'homemade shrimp stock' label -- next time I make shrimp or shellfish for guests, I'm gonna fashion a wicked pan sauce with that stuff.

Around 7:15, I was seriously craving sugar, had no sweets in the house, and did not feel like going to the corner store. So I poked my head in the pantry, took note of what I had, and -- c-school in effect! -- made chocolate pudding, using this recipe as a guide. I only had baking chocolate, so added an extra quarter cup of sugar, and doubled up on the eggs, as I only had medium. Upon tasting the hot pudding, it tasted a bit on the bitter and unsweet side still, so I added a shot of honey, a splash of vanilla and an extra pinch of salt. Into the fridge, drat, the recipe says cool for 2 hours, if I eat it hot, then it's a mousse, right?

ADDENDA
An exciting morning in the courts for jury duty; I was excused early so I can return Tuesday for selection on a case involving the multiple murders of presumed contract killer. Oooh, am I invalidated by writing that here? The vending machines were quite scary in the back of the waiting room, but at least now there are computer stations with free internet...

BREAKFAST: 7am, organic chex with good milk, banana, quart of water ,1 bowl, hunger 4/5

BREAKFAST 2: 11:15am, fresh onion bagel with cream cheese, 3 small 3/4 sour pickles, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

PM SNACKLES: 2-4pm, pretzel chip things, spoonful of peanut butter, potato chips, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5

DINNER: 6pm, pan-grilled butterflied shrimp, roasted broccoli with sharp cheddar, water, 1 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 8:30pm, hot chocolate puddin', .5 bowl, hunger 4/5