I can rarely read food related material at night. That's problematic because night time is when I usually have the time and energy to tackle reading. If you've ever expereienced the following symptoms, you may relate.
Symptoms of a late night reader tackling the subject of food:
-Growling stomach
-Mental inventory of fridge and pantry, with the frequency increased as more it gets later in the night.
-Visions of endless meals and dishes, combined with serious hunger pangs.
-Debates with self or companion(s) on how long it would take to cook up Dish X.
One late night, I was reading the James Beard book on Pasta, and making mental notes. A pile of dog eared Gourmet, Saveur, Chile Pepper, and Organic Living magazines sat in a pile on the floor. We were planning on making lasagna inspired by the book the next day, for dinner. My brain and belly had other ideas. I asked Oscar if he would eat some with me now.
"Hon, it's almost eleven," he said, eyes buried in a book.
"I know. But... I'm hungry," I said, with a barely perceptible hint of whining thrown in for drama's sake. I had to change course. "It will only take two hours to cook!" I enthused. I couldn't wait to cook some Niman Ranch ground beef, chop onions, peel garlic, and make some thick and herby tomato sauce. We don't usually eat that late, and perhaps Oscar was wondering how enthusiastic I would be about cleaning up after all that cooking and gorging.
Guess who won? By 1:30 a.m., we were taking the lasagna out of the oven. "Wait 'til it cools," Oscar warned. He pointed to the recipe. "It even says to let it cool, right here." I shrugged. The cheesy-tomatoey combo looked and smelled amazing. How could I resist? I sunk my spoon into the steaming lasagna and barely blew on it before tasting. I made some awkward, "Ah, ummmm," noises, and tried to hide the fact that my mouth was burning a bit.
"See? I told you," he said.
"I can't wait a full half hour for it to cool!" I muttered.
"Okay, let's drink some wine and let it sit for awhile."
We feasted and drank ourselves silly that night. I have made other late night impromptu dishes for us, but that one stands out because it was a first. If I could figure out how to avoid or ignore my late night hunger and still tackle my food reading, that'd be another first.
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