I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #26
Tofu, pepper, shiitake stir fry
I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #26
Today’s post is the 26th of “I eat, I read, I watch,” my column highlighting a solo dinner and my reading or watching accompaniments. Please treat yourself well at mealtime too. Don’t just eat alone - dine solo! You’re worth it. And it’s not hard to do.
Missed the earlier instalments? Check out the bottom of the post.
I eat: Tofu, pepper, and shiitake stir fry on rice
Sometimes even my tiny fridge starts to look bare. Usually there’s a block of tofu lurking within though, and from that, I can cobble together something edible. Tonight is one of those nights.
Sunrise Smoked Sriracha Tofu is the basis for a good stir fry. I like this tofu because you don’t have to press the water out of it - it’s ready to use right from the pack. I cut it into blocks, then realize I need to get rice going. I empty the package of basmati - 1 cup - into a pot and add it to the running shopping list on my phone. It’s a staple I can’t be without. I add the leftover chicken stock made from the rotisserie I had earlier in the week and top it up with water to get the required 2 cups of liquid for the rice, cover the pot, and flip it to high. It boils almost immediately - the benefits of induction cooking - so I lower it and put the timer on for 12 minutes.
Back to the stir fry. Most of the time I can’t be bother to get the wok out but I feel fancy tonight so out it comes. It’s a heavy sucker, flat bottomed, cast iron, made by Bodum and so it’s a bit of an ordeal but always worth the effort. I get some grapeseed oil in the wok along with a little sesame oil for taste. While it heats up, I roughly chop half a red onion, three mini red and orange peppers, and half a dozen decent-sized shiitake mushrooms. I drop the onion pieces in and get the satisfying sizzle of moisture hitting hot oil. Good. I swish them around a bit and then add the tofu and the veg pieces. I don’t obsess about the stir in stirfry, but I do give it a bit of attention for a few minutes.
I start to work on a stir fry sauce. There’s nothing quite appropriate in the fridge so instead, I make a slurry of water and corn starch and then add a generous dollop of Japchae, a Korean noodle sauce that has nice flavour. I turn the wok down a little and add the sauce, giving it all a good stir.
By now the rice is done (truth told, it’s actually a little overdone - there’s a layer on the pan that won’t be eaten) so I put a spoonful in the bowl, add the tofu/veg combo, sprinkle toasted sesame seeds, and assume my spot in the gazebo with a glass of fake beer.
Bon appetit!
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Origin: Sunrise Smoked Sriracha tofu Canadian produced; mushrooms, peppers, onion, all Ontario grown
Cost: $5 for tofu; $5 for vegetables
Got a favourite way to fridge-cleaning meal? In the Comments below please!
I read: Halal Sex: The Intimate Lives of Muslim Women in North America
I met Sheima Benembarek when she coached the creative non-fiction writers at July’s Humber Polytechnic Summer Creative Writing Workshop. It was a great week - nine of us devoted to improving our writing learned from Sheima, a seasoned journalist with a focus on social justice, immigrant stories, and intersectional feminism. Her CV includes all the big Canadian publications: Toronto Life, the Walrus, Corporate Knights, Broadview, Chatelaine, Quill and Quire, and so on. But it’s her book, Halal Sex: The Intimate Lives of Muslim Women in North America, that I’m recommending today.
Her website describes it as “an unprecedented glimpse into the sex lives of female and gender-expansive Muslims living across Canada and the United States.” What I love about the profiles in the book is the candour of her subjects, reflecting Sheima’s remarkable skill at relationship-building with her subjects. They reveal highly sensitive material, much of which could result in their communities or families shunning them and Sheima shares the deeply personal life details in a sensitive and deft way.
As regular blog readers will know, I’ve been writing the stories of women who are Lane Changers — Sheima’s teaching didn’t end at the conclusion of our week together at the writing course as I’ve seen her craft in action in Halal Sex.
What are you reading? Add it to the Comments below.
I watch: Outrageous
BritBox is providing me with quality series to devour and this one is no exception. With some embarrassment, I’ll admit that this dramatization of the real-life Mitford sisters in 1930s England is, for me, as much a history lesson as it is entertainment. While somewhere I think I’d heard of Nancy Mitford, the oldest of the six, and a writer, I was unaware of the strong connection two her sisters had to fascism, their family relationship to Churchill, or, frankly, much of the story of Oswald Mosely, the leader of the British fascist movement.
But aside from the history lesson, it’s a great family romp through a troubled time in Britain’s history with great costumes and cars. (Oh I’m so shallow!)
Have you found anything worth sharing? In the Comments below please!
Missed the earlier instalments of this column? Click:
#1 (pork chop & green beans)
#2 (trout & veg)
#3 (shrimp pepper bisque)
#4 (rice & peas with coleslaw)
#5 (ramen)
#6 (burger & fries)
#7 (duck sausage & salad),
#8 (shrimp & veg with pasta)
#9 (Wigilia)
#10 (mushroom shepherds pie)
#11 (roasted veg and sausage)
#12 (leftovers)
#13 (garlic shrimp with rapini on egg noodles)
#14 (beef stew)
#15 (salmon mac and cheese)
#16 (salmon cakes and ragout)
#17 (pork tenderloin, red cabbage, potatoes)
#18 (pulled turkey and salad)
#19 (almond butter chicken korma)
#20 (lobster tacos with asparagus)
#21 (rainbow trout, garlic mashed potatoes, and roasted asparagus)
#22 (pork tenderloin and black-truffle infused egg noodles with fresh asparagus)
#23 (grilled halloumi with roasted asparagus and mushroom salad)
#24 (savoury bread pudding)
#25 (Kung Pao chicken)
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