Leftovers for Lunch!

After a hard morning of playing Fallout 1 playing Torchlight cleaning, what better and more convenient way to refuel than with leftovers? Couscous from yesterday, John's vinegary cabbage salad and Magic Bag peas from Monday, plus a few slices of Spam fried so they're crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside. Turned out to be a wonderful mix of sweet (peas), sour (salad) and salty (guess which one?), as well as a colorful meal.

Pasta and Pictures

I've got a miniature secret camera - well, more like a Canon Elph. Thanks, Tita Tessie and Uncle Dave! Now this blog will also be subject to my occasional clumsy attempts to learn how to photograph my food. While I obviously won't have a setup as fancy as Michael Ruhlman's, digital cameras are wonderfully forgiving, and it will be fun - for me, at least.

And now to the food. Last night I made a riff on this pasta with leek sauce recipe - olive oil instead of butter, added a minced anchovy and about 1/3 tsp. red pepper flakes with the garlic, skipped the cream and served with grated Parmesan. Below, an action shot!

The pasta was good, if a tad dry - John's mustardy carrots (not pictured) on the side helped, but in retrospect I should have used some of the pasta water and perhaps a bit more cheese. This morning, for breakfast, I fried some thin slices of Spam, reheated some pasta in the resulting oil, diced the meat and added it to the dish. Breakfast of - well, if not champions, stay-cationers, at least. It was more nutritious than my usual morning convenience fare: instant ramen, one of my longest-reigning comfort foods and guilty pleasures.

(Yes, I had some of it before remembering to take the picture.) Note that I least tried to health it up with a handful of greens, in addition to the usual scallions.