Well, given the way I’ve…

Well, given the way I've been driving myself these last weeks, I'm only surprised it hasn't happened sooner; I woke up this morning feeling really ill. Just exhaustion, I think, although I've been sneezing too, so maybe there's a bit of a cold. Called and told Julie that I wouldn't make it to morning class; tried to go back to sleep and couldn't; worked on the recipes some more. I *think* I've got them all now, and the formatting is almost done. Another half hour or so and I think they'll be ready. I realized while I was doing them that another side benefit is that I now know what recipes have been mentioned in the journal. There were times when I thought about adding a recipe, and then couldn't remember if I'd ever typed it in before (for example, there are two versions of the potato curry), and got lazy and decided not to bother. I no longer have that excuse -- I can easily check. :-)

Of course, I should have been working on other things, but I think I'll have enough time today to finish everything. Things to do:

• Call Cleis and see if the new Queen book is out
• Finish transcribing interview
• Edit interview
• Fetch it to e-mail, since my disk drive is broken
• Go to campus and put on disk; print out; mail to Jeff
• Revise "Poly"
• Print out non-fiction
• Write self-assessments for fiction and non-fiction
• Hand whole pile in to Julie
• Take sailing test

It looks like a lot, but I actually think it shouldn't be difficult to finish by 5, even if I take it slow. I should remember to eat. I'd cook something for breakfast, but the pile of dishes from last night is truly scary; maybe I can persuade Heather to come by and help with them (she offered last night, but it was late and I told her to leave them). Think good thoughts for her, guys; she has an interview today.

Speaking of last night, and food, and recipes, here's a couple of the recipes from dinner.

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Spaghetti Squash Frittata

Okay, so this is my first experience with spaghetti squash. The only reason I even made this is 'cause I had some to use up. The only reason I had them is 'cause El asked me to buy butternut squash for a soup she was making and I bought these by mistake. Heather apparently really likes spaghetti squash, though, so I nerved myself up to cook them. It came out really well; the two of us polished it off. Long recipe, but not hard. Feeds two (with sides), takes about a half hour.

Cooking the Squash

This is the first part of the recipe. You can cook the squash ahead of time and freeze it; it keeps for about a month. 1/2 a squash comes to a little more than a full cup cooked (or it did for me, anyway).

1. Cut squash in half lengthwise. Remove and discard seeds. In microwavable baking dish large enough to hold them, set squash halves, cut-side down. Add 1 c. water and microwave on High (100%) for 20 minutes, rotating dish 1/2 turn every 5 minutes, until squash is tender.

2. Remove from oven and let squash stand for 5 minutes. Remove squash from water and let stand until cool enough to handle. Using a fork, scoop out pulp.

3. Store 1/2-cup servings of pulp in resealable plastic freezer bags or containers. Label and freeze for up to 1 month.

Okay, all right so far? Easy, if a bit time-consuming.

Squash Frittata

1 c. thawed spaghetti squash
4 eggs, beaten lightly
2 T chopped fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
1 T grated Parmesan
1/2 chopped medium red onion
3 minced garlic cloves
1/2 t. salt
Dash ground red pepper

1. In large mixing bowl combine all ingredients, mixing well. Grease microwavable pie plate and spread mixture over bottom of plate.

2. Microwave on High (100% for 6 minutes. Sitr outside of mixture toward the center of pie plate.

3. Microwave on Medium (50%) for 6 minutes, stirring mixture once half-way through cooking. Let stand 1 minute before serving.

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Okay, here's a really simple recipe that goes well with the spaghetti squash frittata and that you can cook while the other is going (one in the microwave, one on the stove :-).

Creamy Tomato-Corn Soup

2 c. canned stewed tomatoes
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. frozen corn
a little cream if you have it
1 T. butter
a few grinds of pepper
1/2 t. salt

1. Combine tomatoes, milk and corn in small saucepan; bring to a boil and then turn to a simmer. Simmer 5 minutes.

2. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine; simmer 5-10 minutes. Serve. :-)

I also used some pizza bread and sprinkled with sundried tomatoes and fresh rosemary from the garden (*that* was exciting! got the parsley there too) and drizzles of oil and burnt garlic. The burnt part was a mistake. :-) Bake ten minutes at 400.

Okay, enough chatting about food. Going to call Cleis and get started on the real work. Have a good day, my dears.

12:20. Well, feeling kind of stretched, but still going. Wish I had some juice here. Good thing I had some frozen tamales in the freezer that I could microwave for lunch; not up to cooking. I'm supposed to go out to dinner with a friend tonight; hope I'm feeling okay for it. That's not 'til 7, though, and I need to drop everything else off by 5, so maybe I'll take a nap in between.

I'm halfway through editing the Queen article. I stopped transcribing at 9000 words when I realized that while I still had a good 1/3 of the interview left to transcribe, that since I had less than 8000 words for the article, including intro, I'd really just better stop now. Hopefully I can finish transcribing it later, and perhaps publish the full version at some point; it's an amazing conversation -- she's so darn cool.

Okay, drink some tea, then back to work. I think tomorrow I'm just going to rest! Sleep, sleep, glorious sleep...

2:15. Well, finished the Queen article, but realized that I have a fever. Life goes up, life goes down. Took some acetominaphen (sp?) and am planning to lie down for the next hour and hope that Heather has a chance to give me a ride to campus (assuming she actually gets my message in time) If not, I'll have to think about walking there. Ick.

The suspense mounts. Will Mary Anne finish revising her story? Will she write the self-assessments? Will Heather get the message? Will Mary Anne fall over on her way to campus? (Okay, that one's highly unlikely). Will everything get turned in on time, and will she still go out to the Blue Nile for dinner? (I know you care. :-)