So Much Better

Is there anything in the world that feels better than waking up the morning after a skull-crushing migraine and realizing that it's gone?

My body isn't my enemy anymore. The normal little irritations I'm used to are just that - irritations. I don't hate myself for the sheer act of existing.

I can think without having to swim through agony and fog. I can move, and walk across the room without shaking and crying. I'm hungry, and I can eat without having to worry that it'll come right back up. Colors and sounds and scents are just part of my environment, and not an organized assault on my brain.

Neutral has never felt quite this good. Even when I was recovering from my knee surgery, and had figured that I would never actually walk normally again, getting better was such a slow, gradual process that I didn't realize I was back to normal until I had been there for a while. This is like a light switch - going to bed broken and waking up fixed.

My head is no longer exploding. The world is a much, much better place because of this.

Cookbook Project, Books #98 and 99

Expect to see these posts a little more frequently, as I have just realized that, holy cow, I've got 3 months left to finish, and a bunch of books to still work my way through. At least the weather is becoming more conducive to cooking....

"Plain And Fancy Recipes," compiled by the New Jersey League For Retarded Infants, Inc.

This book was a hand-me-down from my paternal grandfather. Way back a million years ago, before heart trouble made him give up all food except steamed vegetables and brown rice, he used to do a decent amount of cooking. He also made the world's best matzoh-ball soup, but alas, that recipe has been lost to us. But when he stopped cooking, and later moved out of state, I managed to snag a handful of his cookbooks. This was more years ago than I cared to think about, and I honestly never looked at any of them. I wanted them because they were cookbooks, and they were his, and I didn't want them to be thrown away, but I never actually thought about using them.

This book, I believe, also has the honor of being the oldest book in my collection, having been published in September 1959. The recipes are a fascinating and bizarre mix of multi-hour, complicated dishes and newfangled quick food from cans. I had a hard time figuring out what I could make (mock scrapple? spaghetti and liver balls? busy day baked beans, which starts with canned baked beans and still somehow takes 2 1/2 hours?), until I saw It. And I knew It was the recipe I had to make.

It is referred to only as THE CASSEROLE, and has no other name. Somehow, even when you say it, you wind up speaking in all-caps. And THE CASSEROLE is the epitome of American 1950's cooking. It has canned tomato soup, and bacon, and egg noodels, and ground beef, and processed cheese. I had to try it. It felt like, by doing so, I was embodying the entire spirit of this cookbook. And, much to my husband's surprise, THE CASSEROLE wasn't half bad. It wasn't the kind of thing I'd serve to company, at least not without warning, but... it was casserole. Or CASSEROLE.

I don't know if I'll ever use this cookbook again. On the other hand, I have to keep it, if only so I can continue to gaze upon the recipe for that majestic thing, THE CASSEROLE. Plus, it has recipes with names like 'Molded Nippy Salad." This book is a gem.

"Weeknight Pasta And Rice," Betty Crocker

More glossy checkout lane booklet goodness. I swear, you guys, I had no idea of how many of these things I owned. This one I bought myself, and have used plenty of times. The recipes in it are convenient, and tend to make use of pantry staples, and the flavors are pretty good - if nothing else, it's full of ideas and good starting points. And when you need a quick dinner plan, it's a decent place to look.

So when I wound up needing to be able to put together a moderately presentable meal in little to no time, it was the book I turned to. Admittedly, that was in part fueled by my need to use it for the project, but hey, it did the job. I made Chicken Vegetable Couscous, which had the super-added-benefit of letting us use veggies and herbs from the garden, and it was good. This recipe is a keeper; it went together in less than half an hour, didn't require any actual shopping beforehand, and made enough for leftovers.

Now, to figure out ways to use up cookbooks, apples, tomatoes, and eggplant. Probably not all at once, though....