Vegetable Stir Fry with Quinoa

I’m a lazy friend. Not horrible, just lazy.

I keep secrets. I give the best hostess gifts. And I can make you laugh.

Getting me to actually show up at your house?

Terrible. As in 99% unlikely. Which is why Roo was surprised to hear where I was going on Friday.

“You’re actually driving to Gardner. Gardner, Massachusetts?”

“Yes. Past Framingham, near Leominster.”

“But it’s Friday,” Roo said, sitting down on the couch and putting up his feet, “We get tired on Fridays.” *

I shot Roo a look as I felt for my keys in my purse, “Of course we get tired on Fridays! But I still need to go. I haven’t seen AA in over a year.”

“You can’t reschedule?”

“You are the worst!” I said, throwing a pillow at Roo. “Besides, JL is going to be there and I haven’t seen her in ages either.”

AA and JL are dear friends. And powerhouses.

They are the women seen tearing through a Warrior Dash, just because they got up early that morning and thought, “You know what would go well with this cup of coffee? Mud.”

Photos from JL

I am not built like them.

Photo from AA

I’m deathly afraid of heights, whine when I get a blister on my toe, and despite my love of power yoga, I hate sweating.

But the three of us love to laugh, drink wine and share the most humiliating stories. It’s what we do.

I love it.

Conversation ranged from “how girls don’t fart,” followed by “then I woke myself up by farting. On my boyfriend.” to “do they not see me? why am I always sat on? I’m a person!” that night. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while. And on my drive home I was inspired.

AA recently became a home owner and JL has two children. They both train for whatever endurance event is coming up while living very busy lives.

When they get home they need a quick, easy meal that can refuel them while satisfying the taste buds of little ones and in AA’s case, her big guy.

Stir fry was the first thing that came to mind. It’s a one pot meal (especially if you have leftover cooked quinoa) and can be thrown together less than 30 minutes.

Reformatting

Hiya,

I’ve been trying to reformat the settings for the past 24 hours so there may be periods when, if you have stopped by and then again, the blog may look different.  Somethings may have even gone missing but they will pop up again. Hopefully. (If I can figure it out!)

Unfortunately neither Roo or I are HTML oriented and this is taking much longer than I thought.

Please forgive me as I continue to mess around with things.

*Updated to add: I just got a tweet telling me that an email was sent out to subscribers last night with a post dated March 2011. If you received that email, I sincerely apologize. I have no idea what happened with updating the blog (late) last night, and why an already published post went out via email. I’ll try to figure it out so it doesn’t happen again!

Baked Baby Artichokes with Crunchy Scallion Breadcrumbs

“Hello Monkey! Hello Stink!” Roo said as he walked into the apartment.

“You will not believe what happened in yoga today,” I said, calling out from the kitchen.

Roo dropped his messenger bag on the floor and took off his shoes, “What happened?”

“There was a girl,” I paused, “moaning.”

Roo laughed, “Sounds hot.”

“No! No it was terrible.” I said, ripping the outer artichoke leaves off in frustration.  ”It was like I was trapped in a porno movie.”

“It couldn’t have been that bad.”

“It was!” I said, dipping another artichoke into the acidulated water. I removed it and gave it a good shake. “It was so distracting,” I continued, grabbing and ripping the leaves off. “Shit!”

“What’s wrong?”

“I stabbed myself with a thorn.”

Roo came into the kitchen and gently took my hand into his. He looked down at the tip of my ring finger and then back up at me. “You’ll live.”

“I know. I’m just…” I said, taking back my hand, “I couldn’t relax.”

“Maybe you just misheard her.”

“How can I mishear -” I started, then proceeded to moan as I heard in class.

“Like I said, sounds hot.”

“You cannot be serious.”

“Since when did you get all uptight about yoga? Isn’t it about being connected with your true self or something?”

“Perhaps. But my true self isn’t someone who listens to a porn track for 90 minutes.”

Fully Loaded, Thick and Chewy Granola Bars

With Almonds, Sunflower Seeds, Dark Chocolate, Unsweetened Coconut, Dried Cherries, Dried Cranberries & Golden Raisins

I got up from the floor and brushed off the back of my legs. “We need to vacuum.”

“What do you mean ‘we?’” Roo replied.

“There’s cat hair everywhere,” I said, picking at a couple stray hairs on my pants, “When was the last time we vacuumed?”

“You mean when was the last time I vacuumed?

“I vacuum!”

“You’ve never vacuumed. Or take out the trash.”

“I do! And…I thought you liked to do those things.”

“Really?”

I laughed, unable to keep a straight face.  “We need to vacuum.”

The kitchen timer went off before Roo could reply.

“What are you baking?”

“You mean, what are we baking?” I said, removing the granola bars from the oven; the smell of toasted almonds, coconut and cherries filling the apartment.

I could hear Roo getting up from the couch.  “Granola bars?” he asked, as he shuffled in behind me.

“For school. And that little girl who takes away your cookies.”

“E,” Roo smiled, “And she asks.”

He tore off a corner piece, batting the hot crumble between his hands a few times before popping it into his mouth.  “You know what?”

“What?”

“We need to make more of these.”

Rosemary Polenta with Roasted Asparagus and Tomatoes

I sighed and closed my laptop. “I just ordered $400 worth of shoes.”

“WHAT?!”

“I need a new pair of shoes for the wedding we’re going to. I can’t wear any of the ones I own.”

“Why not?”

“You know why. Stinkee got to them.”

Roo laughed, “They’re not that bad. No one will notice.”

“There are chunks missing! I can’t go to the wedding, looking like I anxiously gnawed on my shoes the whole car ride down.”

“It does make a great story.”

I didn’t laugh. “Listen, I’m planning on returning all but one pair.”

“Ok.”

Three days later

“So…I’m not returning any of the shoes.”

“Lys, you can’t keep them. You said it yourself, it’s $400 worth of shoes.”

I looked up from the floor, hugging the ripped open box, “I like them all. I didn’t think I would, but I do.”

“I’m going to say it again, it’s $400 worth of shoes.”

I started pulling out pairs of strappy heels, creamy colored pumps, then a set of ruby peep toes for good measure. “Look at them! Who knew I had such good taste!”

“Lys, you wear leggings and a t-shirt to work everyday. How are you going to wear those on the train? Never mind the bus.”

“I could do it.”

“How are you going to afford your share of groceries?”

I looked away, “We could totally still eat well.”

“What, what will we eat besides ramen noodles and canned fruit cocktail the whole month?”

“Polenta.” I replied, still feeling Roo’s eyes still on me. ”Polenta with roasted veg. Super affordable and delicious.”

“Yes, I love polenta, but the shoes. We’re trying to save up for a house, remember?”

“But what good is a house when there are no cute shoes to wear walking around it?”

“This from the  girl who makes everyone take off their shoes upon entering.”

“Polenta, Roo. And cute shoes. It’s a win win,” I replied, and began carefully putting my children new shoes back into their own boxes.

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

I’ve been holding onto some news.

What took me so long to tell you?

Well…I forgot what Roo said when he asked.

I’m a horrible fiancé.

It wasn’t until last night that I mustered the courage to ask Roo what happened.  I wanted to know more than what I had been telling my friends,”he laughed, then I laughed, and I said ‘Yes.” Because, really? Even a friend doesn’t want to hear an engagement story like that.

“I was going to write up that I we got engaged.”

“Oh. You haven’t done that yet?”

“Not yet.  It’s just that,” I paused. ” I kinda forgot what you said.”

Roo smiled, “Did you blackout from overwhelming emotion?”

“Perhaps. I remember you joking, saying that I had to take my sunglasses off so you could see me cry.”

“And you didn’t!”

“I know! Are you disappointed?”

“Not really.”

“I do remember somethings. Sitting on the bench with you, watching the rowers go by on the Charles…wondering aloud if those girls from Wellesley College actually started in Wellesley and paddled down to Boston -”

“Wellesley girls? That’s what you remember?”

“No! There’s more! I remember you getting down on one knee, removing the ring from your wallet – which was so sneaky by the way - and,” I laughed, “I remember saying ‘No’ as a joke.”

“But what I actually said to you -”

“Something about being a better man?”

“Yes. I said you make me a better man, even when you’re away, and I would be honored if you spend the rest of your life with me.”

“Oh. No wonder I blacked out.”