8.28.10--Lunch

So as I mentioned, as soon as I got home from the market today, I started cooking. I generally like to make a few big batches of tasty food to refrigerate and take to work with me (and send with Adam, of course). This morning, since I bought some fresh ginger and onions, I decided to make a split pea curry soup. Only one problem though--the split peas were filled with moths. Gross, I know, but it happens a lot with bulk products that are purchased at natural food stores.

The simple solution is to put everything that you buy in bulk in the freezer for about 24 hours. That will kill anything that has laid eggs in there. Might not be the most vegan practice, but when it's an issue of preserving food resources, I'm okay with a few moth eggs perishing. The same goes for natural flour and other things that come in paper bags. I've never seen the moth problem happen with Pillsbury all-purpose flour, but that's probably because it has some preservatives. At any rate, try to use up your bulk items quickly. Don't let them sit on the shelves for months.

Anyway, I already had my onions, garlic, ginger and spices cooking in a pan, and with no split peas, I had to decide on a different route. I decided to toss in some tomato juice and defrosted some tempeh. We buy ours frozen, so I zap the tempeh in the microwave before I cut it into cubes. I've heard that you're supposed to steam tempeh before you use it, but I've only done it a couple of times. It doesn't matter that much to me. Anyway, the tomato-tempeh addition was delicious. However, I didn't eat this for lunch! I saved it for dinner, because we decided to go to our friends' house for lunch.

Our good friend, Brianne, is not the primary cook in her house. Her partner, Matthew, is a pseudo-stay-at-home-dad (he's a PhD student and works evenings), and he is a fantastic cook. Brianne had some traumatic experiences cooking rice, so generally she feels pretty nervous whenever she's cooking for others. But today she made perfect rice and warmed up some frozen African Peanut Stew to serve on top. It was yummy. Very creamy and tangy, with a bit of a spicy kick. I loved it. I think the tang was from swiss chard, which I once helped her process in bulk for making this soup. I need to get the recipe from her sometime. That's all for lunch!