Worth the Weight*

Dear Mouse,

Remember when we took that road trip (ahem, intervention to pry me from Los Angeles) across the country? And the WHOLE time I was like, 'Where are the moose? I wanna see a moose! Where are all the moose?' and then, FINALLY, we turned a corner in the middle of Yellowstone and all these cars were lined up at the side of the road to check out this, well, basically this blot down the river, silhouetted against the sun, but you could totally see the antlers even from far away, and everyone took pictures even though we knew it wouldn't look like anything?

It was awesome. Totally satisfying.

I have a friend who lives pretty much by a theory of Delayed Gratification, that all Joy in life is made much more Joyful if it does not come easy or too soon.

Yep, I think I'm gonna let that sentence stand.

Anyhoo, even since way before entering the era of conscious diet restriction I have known that this idea applies to nothing else so well as all things Snackworthy. For example, I know that I will never forget the toasted whole wheat bagel with peanut butter, bananas and honey and the hazelnut coffee with cream that I had in 1998, around 7AM, at a yuppified coffee joint in Jackson Hole, WY that happened to be open when we rolled into town. It was the road trip TO Los Angeles and I had been sleeping on the ground, fighting with my then-paramour, and eating canned soup and Folger's crystals for a week and a half. I remember every detail of that breakfast. It was pouring, we were wet and cold and my back was sore. The place had a porch and warm yellow light. I think there's a picture somewhere of me holding this sandwich and basically weeping with joy. Seriously, I JUST told someone that story YESTERDAY and it happened TEN years ago.

One of the best things about the current restrictive diet has been the surreptitious and occasional eating of Forbidden Foods. And no, not only because they are forbidden and I am basically still an adolescent. But because I have discovered, in some cases, how much more I actually like/appreciate them when they are not an everyday occurrence (the transcendent bacon/egg bagel I had yesterday!), and, surprisingly, in other cases, how I dont' actually really like or need them that much (potatoes! and gasp!! - regular pasta). Pretty much the only thing I KNOW I cannot live without is milk in my coffee, and I have come to accept that as proof of something meant to be. If you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, you probably aren't that lactose intolerant.

Finally, wasn't your soft shell crab roll at Souen tonight SO much better when the kitchen totally forgot about it and we had to wait, like, 25 extra minutes? (Maybe not.)

And... this reminds me rather... of that steak marinade I made.

I had a free Saturday morning and the Farmer's Market had 5 ears of corn for $2!! and there was a small package of steak in my fridge, a bottle of maple syrup, and some other stuff. I hadn't cooked in weeks, I think... and maybe it was that delay that gave rise to a new frontier for the Boo... not only cooking something well according to someone else's recipe, but Making Some S*T Up Herself!! I wondered when I'd do that.

Basically, I made your corn salad, though I had no jalapeno and lime. Instead I mixed in a little fresh basil pesto I bought at the market, from a stand that makes a version with walnuts and WITHOUT cheese!! (I of course can't remember the name. Will find.) Then I cut up the eye-of-round steak in my fridge into strips and put it in a plastic bag with the following :

Steak Marinade:

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 or 2 cloves garlic, chopped

generous Pinch of 'Pride of Szgedo' Steak Rub (from Whole Foods) or make up some combination of cayenne, salt, pepper, other stuff

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

Taste it. Mess around with it.

I let it sit a half hour in the fridge before pan-frying it (3 min on each side, turn once.. I turned too often and it was a little chewy), but I bet it'd be way better marinating overnight. If , of course, you can wait that long. :-)

Love,

The Boo