Sunday, October 7, 2012
Breakfast at home: 2 eggs scrambled with mexican cheese blend, green onions, refried beans, and seitan. Recharge Spa form work for Drew: form testing. Lunch: fried rice with green onions and clamshell mushrooms. More form work. Nap. Dinner at home with Patrick: spinach salad, toasted pumpkin seeds, heirloom tomato. Dessert: Vietnamese-Irish decaf coffee: coffee with condensed milk and Bailey's Irish Cream. I decided today that in my journal I will no longer specify "organic" unless there is a specific need. You can assume that our meals at home from this point on are mostly if not entirely organic. Patrick has been grocery shopping at Whole Foods on Haight more than Trader Joe's or Safeway not just for the better quality of food but also for the better customer service and better overall experience. We also realize that just because something lacks the label "organic" doesn't mean that it's necessarily of lower quality. More Recharge Spa work. After finding some mold on a large block of parm-reg cheese today, then searching Google for how to deal with it and how to store cheese, Patrick and I realized that we've been buying and storing cheese incorrectly all our lives, due, I think, to lack of proper education. There is not clear agreement amongst sources available on the web. There are different opinions on wrapping methods for hard versus soft cheeses, containers, whether and how to wipe with oil or vinegar, whether one needs expensive, special "cheese paper," and so on. I consulted my copy of The Joy of Cooking, but it talked more about how to make cheeses than store them, and regarding storage it lacked specifics I needed. We're choosing a method that I think will work for us: 1. Buy in small quantities. 2. Store loosely in waxed paper in the refrigerator so that air can get to it. 3. Eat soon. 4. Upon discovery of mold, wipe or rinse the mold away, or cut the moldy part away using a clean knife and cutting surface. To avoid recontaminating the remaining cheese, use a new piece of waxed paper. And if mold gets on the knife or cutting surface during mold removal, clean it immediately before continuing. Late snack: tortilla chips and hummus. Ironing. Late meal: small bowl of corn off the cob from frozen, water.