I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #35
photo credit eyedostudios
I eat, I read, I watch — dining solo #35
Today’s post is the 35th 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’m not eating (yet): Asparagus Vichyssoise
Regular readers will know of my June asparagus pilgrimage to a Niagara Region farm owned by friends. I pack my car full of green gold and prepare it daily for a couple of weeks. To eat it at this time of year, however, would seem as wrong to me as stuffing with gravy in the summer. But it’s never too early to start thinking about next season. Here’s a recipe I love.
Begin by blanching the tips of 2 pounds of asparagus. Just the tips. Just one minute. Then chill them under icy water and get them into the fridge. You’re gonna love them as a garnish.
Then melt 2 tbsp of butter in a large saucepan and sauté 3 chopped leeks for 5 mins - just the tender bits. You can leave the heavy greens for your next stock. Add the chopped asparagus stalks, half a pound of chopped potatoes (Yukon gold are best but I used the small red ones this time), 2.5 cups of chicken broth, 2 cups water, and a sprig of thyme. Bring to boil and reduce to simmer for 15 minutes.
Pull the sprig out, remove the leaves (be careful, you’re likely going to burn yourself), toss the leaves back in, discard the stalk, and get your immersion blender in there for a long whirl. Once it’s smooth, add 1.5 cups milk and salt & pepper to taste.
Serve it chilled with the asparagus tips chopped up on top and perhaps a little drizzle of your favourite flavoured oil. I used chilli crisp this time.
Prep Time: 45 mins maybe? And then chilling time.
Origin: Everything here can be Ontario produced when the season is right. And that’s the thing - if you only eat veg in season, then it doesn’t travel long distances and come from foreign farmers. I’m going to try a few asparagus plants in my yard although I will never give up my pilgrimage!
Cost: $20 if I had to guess - 10 servings
What item are you looking forward to eating again when it’s in season? In the Comments below please!
I don’t read: The TBR beside my bed
Honestly, even if I stopped ordering, buying, and picking books out of the Little Libraries now, I’d still be reading the unread books in my house for a decade. There are currently five books on my dining room table that I’m partway through and will finish. Well, maybe not the Elizabeth Gilbert book - I’m on the fence. Then there 20 books in the active TBR (‘to be read’) on the side of my bed with the alarm clock. These are the ones I think there’s a reasonably good chance I will one day read. There’s about another 20 sitting on a shelf on the other side of my bed, some of which I’ve owned for 15 years or more, that I aspire to read. I’m not even thinking about the ones upstairs in my bookcase that are really just showpieces.
And then people keep writing NEW books that I have to read for my own interest or because they are touted as important for memoirists. How the hell is a person supposed to keep up? Retirement may be the answer. Until then, I will keep plugging away.
One thing I have realized is that if a book doesn’t grab me pretty much out of the gate or if it requires too much work to read it, I’m not going to persevere. Even if “important” or everyone else is reading it. There have been a few of those in the last while. There needs to be an element of enjoyment to the process and I really don’t need to feel stupid on my leisure-time!
Got a strategy for clearing the TBR? Please share it in the Comments below.
I’m not watching: The Christmas Classics
Most people my age associate Christmas with watching classic movies. You know, Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty, Grinch, Miracle on 34th Street, It’s a Wonderful Life, etc. These evoke images of magical childhoods, people snuggled together wearing matching PJs eating bowls of popcorn with fires burning and eyes collectively glued on the family TV.
That wasn’t my Christmas. There was no TV. We didn’t eat snacks (ever!). We weren’t a snuggly crowd. My mother had enough of open fires in her English childhood. We weren’t allowed to wear night attire except in bed. And my father was blowing snow out of the laneway every winter hour that he wasn’t milking cows or sleeping. In the years after I bought a TV and Dad was retired, he and I would engage in a cynicism-athon, mocking the saccharine offerings — while half watching them, of course.
While those Christmas classics mean nothing to me, I do have a guilty affection for Love Actually, a modern-day classic. But that’s about it. Instead, you will find me gathered around the radio listening to Fireside Al Maitland read the Gift of the Magi by O’Henry or Frederick Forsyth’s The Shepherd. That’s on tonight and I can’t wait!
What are you watching this Christmas? Or listening to? 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)
#34 (Squash Mac and Cheese)
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