I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #34
weird concept, bland looking, surprisingly tasty
I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #34
Today’s post is the 34th of “I eat, I read, I watch,” my column highlighting a solo dinner and my reading and watching accompaniments. Don’t just eat alone - dine solo! You’re worth it. And it’s not hard to do.
Missed earlier instalments? Check out the list at the bottom of the post.
I eat: Squash Mac and Cheese
Imagine my disappointment - I thought I’d pulled a piece of salmon from the freezer. Yes, I’ll grant you, I looked a little thicker and darker than normal, but the colour was sort of right and I couldn’t think what else it might be. I thought it would make a good dinner.
When I next looked at it, it was thawed on the counter and clearly NOT salmon. No, this was leftover cooked squash. WTAF was I supposed to do with this for dinner? I didn’t feel like making squash soup so I did what every home cook would do now — I Googled left-over squash.
Mac and cheese caught my eye. What? Weird. But I thought what the heck - I like cheese, I like pasta, and we shove squash into ravioli so why not put it into the sauce.
I dropped about a quarter of a cooked butternut squash into a pot with a little vegetable stock and mashed it up, heating it on medium. Eventually, I emptied my 5% cream into it (1/2 a cup maybe?) and then a cup or so grated cheddar. At the same time, I got some pasta cooking — rotini was all I could find.
Once the sauce was smoothish and the pasta cooked, I put them both into a baking dish and added a layer of breadcrumbs and more grated cheddar.
While it baked at 350, I sautéed some shredded cabbage and cooking onion in butter. When it was getting just a little brown, I added some veg broth, and a dash each of cumin, chilli, and cayenne for flavour along with S&P of course and put a lid on it over reduced heat.
Both dishes more or less landed at the same time. When I plated, I was very glad I was using a brightly coloured bowl because damn, it was a pretty bland coloured dinner. But surprisingly tasty. I will make that again.
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Origin: Canadian squash, cabbage, onion, cheddar, butter, and broth. Spices - well, we don’t produce them.
Cost: next to nothing for 2 meals
Tell us about a freezer disappointment you’ve had. In the Comments below please!
I read: The Trouble With Fairy Tales — Plum Johnson
I learned of Plum Johnson when, a year or two ago, a friend recommended I read, “They Left Us Everything,” Johnson’s 2016 debut prize-winning memoir about her childhood, her relationship with her mother, and the process of emptying out the family home after her parents died. While the experience of getting rid of family stuff was not something our mother burdened us with (being more of a “I’ll do it myself” kinda mother), the story was nonetheless a great read. Indeed, Mom read it herself last year, noting, when she returned me the copy she’d borrowed, how much she was glad she saved us from the task Johnson described. (With a hint of martyrdom, you may ask? Well, yes but that’s for another blog.)
I’m enjoying a series of online writers’ talks right now. Plum Johnson appeared a couple of weeks ago as a guest. She talked about her writing process, getting her first memoir published past age 60, and whetted my appetite to read about the failed relationships that prompted the title of Johnson’s second memoir, The Trouble with Fairy Tales, published earlier this year. I added it to my running list of “holds” at the Toronto Public Library and was a little overwhelmed when it came in with three others on the same day.
I grabbed hers first and wasn’t disappointed. Johnson’s a couple of decades my senior so had a lot more pressure in the early part of her life to conform to the expectations of traditional women — marry, have kids, be a homemaker, and so on. But that was just the first of a few fairy tales she fell for, each of which took her through different lanes in life.
By the end of the book, she posits that reinvention is not only her pattern, but everyone’s, something I’ve begun to realize through writing my “lane changer” series. Because, let’s face it, right now everything I do somehow relates to that series:-)
Read a good memoir lately? Tell everyone about it in the Comments below.
I watch: The Commander
Clare Blake leads her team of elite murder investigators through five seasons of good British crime drama. First released in the early 2000s, if nothing else, the series if fun to watch for its very dated technology. But it’s good for more than that. Commander Blake is unbelievably unwise in her interpersonal relationships, up to an including having an affair with a convicted murderer. Truth is, her lack of judgment annoys me to know end, but yet I’m fascinated to see what stupid thing she might do next. And the sound of dial-up makes me smile…
And it likely goes without saying, but this streams on BritBox.
What are you watching? 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)
#26 (tofu, pepper, and shiitake stir fry on rice)
#27 (stuffed zucchini)
#28 (pulled duck tacos with cauliflower-stuffed red pepper)
#29 (Slow Cooker Chicken and Creamed Corn)
#30 (Beef stew with apple juice)
#31 (Eggs, Eggs, and More Eggs!)
#32 (Creamed Salmon on Sourdough)
#33 (Moroccan Tomato Soup)
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