sylvar

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home and got some fresh broccoli, lemons, potatoes and portobello mushrooms. As soon as I came home, I started making Alton Brown's Chocolate Chip Muffins #7. Half the chocolate chips (by mass) were semi-sweet mini-chips, and half were huge honking Ghirardelli bittersweet chips. The cocoa, of course, was Penzeys natural-process.

While the muffins baked, I cut up a large bag of potatoes, about 4 liters when roughly cubed. I tossed these with olive oil, then mixed 1/4 cup Penzeys Greek seasoning, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup lemon juice, and 1/4 cup olive oil. I poured this Greek marinade and the potatoes into a two-gallon Ziploc bag and tossed it all together. It sat on the countertop absorbing yumminess as...

I then cut up two bunches of broccoli, about 2-3 pounds of it. I ran out of room in the steamer basket, so I ended up ignoring the bottom part of the stalks. The broccoli sat in the wire basket, suspended above a few cups of water in a large pot, as...

I used my new microplane grater to get the zest of two lemons, then I juiced the lemons. I measured out one tablespoon of cornstarch and set it aside while...

I sprayed a thick aluminum baking sheet with canola oil, then poured in a single layer of marinated potatoes, and popped the whole thing into a hot oven. (I found that 350F didn't do much in half an hour, so I bumped it up to 425F for about another half-hour.)

When Jodi came home, I turned the broccoli-steaming water to high heat, put the cornstarch into a small pot, added the zest and juice of the two lemons, and whisked constantly for two or three minutes until it thickened. As an afterthought, I ground some peppercorns into the lemon sauce, then put it on the cold burner.

The mushrooms went on the electric grill at some point, and despite absolutely no preparation, came out pretty well. (I'll marinate 'em next time.) Once the broccoli was done, I served it with the lemon-pepper sauce drizzled over it, aside the Greek oven potatoes and a limp mushroom cap.

That went over very well, although it took most of the evening to make.

And just now, I've started a double batch (2 cups bread flour, 2 cups whole wheat flour) of pizza dough, which is now doing its slow momentous rise in the refrigerator. It could be ready for tomorrow night, or it could wait until the weekend.

I still want to find sherry vinegar for Alton's pantry-friendly tomato sauce, but I'll use white wine vinegar if I must. And then there's the question of fresh herbs... I guess I'll be buying a basil plant or two to mercilessly mutilate into a chiffonade. Muhahahaha.

And I even managed to find time to take care of a load or two of laundry.

I was meant to be a housewife. I love this stuff. I love my wife and my mei-mei. This kicks ass.

...and now I'm gonna go get six hours of sleep.