Stuff my face with Pepperettes

Wow.

Beware - this is a rant. Hopefully some funny will come out of it.

So tonight was a TOTAL waste of time. Except that the Pepperettes I bought on my way home were tasty - all of them - because I ate them all, all at once. Yes, I know, that's disgusting. It does, however, beat fighting with my cat over them. I would also have gotten Cadbury Cream Eggs had the store carried them. (Who doesn't have Cadbury Cream Eggs this close to Easter?!)

I was annoyed before I got to the wine bar. I was turning off of Bank Street onto Fourth Avenue when my phone rang. I picked up because the guy who was calling has cancelled in the past, just an hour or so before we were supposed to meet. Clearly, not promising.

I suppose I agreed to meet him tonight (we met through an online dating site) because my standard for write-offs is if he stood me up.. it's not happening. Where this guy was concerned though, he always sounded so apologetic I thought, why not? And too, there is an element to all of this of - I just wanted to meet him to get it over with so that he'd stop bugging me for a date. Bad idea; so bad. I need to raise my write-off bar.

This guy, when I saw him, instantaneously became 'Old Guy'. He was a fitter (I use the term loosely) version of Philip Seymour Hoffman but with fuller cheeks, somehow. I really, badly wanted to say 'Yeah.. no' and walk away. I had been asking for better photos from him online and never got them. I now see why.

He called when I was turning onto Fourth because he was on Bank Street looking for the Fourth Avenue Wine Bar. My reaction: Are - you - kidding - me? Readers take note, I had sent him the address prior to meeting. No surprise - the Fourth Avenue Wine Bar is - yes, on Fourth Avenue. Two points: 1) We have Google now and 2) I teach kids all day; I DO NOT want to school a man.

Old Guy is actually younger than my ex-boyfriend but somehow he seems waaaay older. Hopefully I will age more like my ex and less like Old Guy. Old Guy reminded me that there was a time, when I was in my early and mid twenties, that I dated older men and felt that it was strange and not for me. Then I met the ex and that changed. Now it feels like that barrier is broken but it seems that these older guys are more like Old Guy. I can practically smell mothballs. And while I want to say that it just goes to show that it really isn't about age, in the end, given the probabilities involved.. it mainly IS about age. Lesson: I'd probably have more fun with someone closer to my age.

One more thing about Old Guy. Let's do the math together, shall we? So.. Old Guy moves to Ottawa from Montreal about 8 months ago. Bam! He meets a lady, they start to date. Bam! 7 months later, it's over. In the meantime, how long do you think, dear reader, that Old Guy has been making lamo contacts with me? Hmm.. definitely more like 2 months than 1 month.

Old Guy is sucky and lame.

Final confession: I also bought marshmallows to go with my Pepperettes.. *I will metabolize this*, *I will metabolize this*..

ps: Who should I go out with next? 2BELOVEDBYU? Dys_func? What about Aidan_76 (his real name is Blair)?

I swear to God, these guys make me want to buy a collection of chastity belts.

Time for a Change

Truthfully, I'm not yet sure where this blog is going. I keep coming back to it and perusing it like a canvas with the thought that it really ought to be put to use. What purpose it may serve is unclear to me at present. It may be that it has no real purpose. For now, I'm happy to let it evolve or morph into whatever it will. It's not something that I often let happen; usually I know exactly what outcome I want and I work towards it.

As my colleague (sensei, really), Paul, said to me: 'Oh - you're one of those goal-oriented people' - followed by a notorious Paul eye-roll/near-smirk. Needless to say: best sensei a yr. 6 teacher could have.

Keep in mind that Paul has run both the NYC and Boston marathons and was dismissive of the change that Boston is bringing about next year. He waved his hand and said 'Well that's still fine' when we were talking about the qualifying times being shaved by 5 minutes (http://bo.st/hS24GX).

He's right though. The qualifying times for NYC are definitely tougher (http://bit.ly/idPkMK).

Still, he's not goal-oriented - ha, ha. Actually, in all fairness he probably isn't. It's just that it's hard to believe that he could be a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kinda fella given that he's got salt and pepper hair and is a fantastic teacher.. then again, he does sneak out the backdoor of staff meetings like his pants are on fire. I am more and more often on his heels.

I think Paul would be pleased to have me announce that I was going to spontaneously run a half marathon.

Well, there's some food for thought.

For real food, I've been making this easy (see below) dish for some weeks now and have started to adapt it. Always delicious.

POLENTA AND VEGETABLE BAKE

Ingredients -
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium eggplant, diced
1 small zucchini, finely diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup water
10 ounces baby spinach
1 1/2 cups prepared marinara sauce
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
14 ounces prepared polenta, sliced lengthwise into 6 thin slices
1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella, divided

Directions -
1. Preheat oven to 450F. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add eggplant, zucchini, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and just beginning to brown. 4 to 6 minutes. Add water and spinach, cover and cook until wilted, stirring once, about 3 minutes. Stir marinara sauce into the vegetables and heat through. 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in basil.
3. Place polenta slices in a single layer in the prepared baking dish, trimming to fit if necessary. Sprinkle with 3/4 cups cheese, top with the eggplant mixture and sprinkle with the remaining 3/4 cups cheese. Bake until bubbling and the cheese has just melted, 12 to 15 minutes. Let stand for about 5 minutes before serving.

Adapting -
The best thing that I've done to this recipe is to add cooked quinoa to the eggplant mix so that there's some solid protein in there. In addition, I've now tried replacing the polenta with cooked rice and that worked very nicely. I've also frequently used cheddar instead of mozzarella because I really like that sharp taste. One of the great things about this recipe is that all kinds of veggies can go in in lieu of the onces suggested; no need for anything to go to waste. One last adaptation that I've successfully tried is to replace the marinara sauce with 8 ounces diced, canned, tomatoes, and 8 ounces canned tomato sauce - no problem, easy peasy, and still a great flavour.