Comfort Food and Job Loss

I'm not really prone to depression. Sometimes that actually bothers me. I can cry over the most ridiculous things (the story of Nestor, the long-eared Christmas donkey, always has me reaching for a tissue), but a full blown funk is bit difficult. Yet there are times, like now, when I wish I could wallow in a little self pity and eat my way through a bag of Fritos, drink a bottle (or at least a glass) of wine, eat an entire pint of gooey ice cream and maybe some chocolates, and generally brood. Okay, my family will tell you I am quite capable of getting seriously cranky, but that's just not the same. 

For the past eighteen years I have worked for the same people doing desktop publishing/layout design. And now, after all that time, I had to go apply for my own job. Well, to be more precise, the editor's job and my job were combined. We were both "invited" to apply. Neither of us quit, neither of us got fired. An ad was simply placed for our jobs and we were told we had the same chance as anyone else who applied. Times is tough, they said. Budgets ain't what they used to be. This new combined position requires a physical presence in the New York City office, which only happens to be a 3 hour commute each way. I gave it a try. I went for the interview. I was one of four people applying. Annalee bought me a new outfit to wear. A 40-minute drive to the train station, a drive around the parking lot looking for that rare open spot, a panicky dash to the ticket booth, a 90-minute train ride, and then a 30-minute dash (while eating a hot dog bought from a street vendor!) across the City because I had no clue how to ride New York's subway system, had me arriving at the office with 5 minutes to spare—and completely sweaty. I barely slept that night, scared to make the decision to take my name of the list of candidates yet knowing a 6-hour-a-day commute was just too much. I was exhausted after one day. But I had to wonder at the total lack of concern or compassion from people for whom I had worked for so long. I wanted to look everyone on that interview committee in the face and tell them what I really thought, with their questions all lined up, smug in their position of power and the knowledge that they can make someone do both jobs for less pay, less time. Two days later I sent that e-mail.

The rolls made the kitchen smell heavenly.

With a need to do something I woke up early this morning and cleaned the house, did two loads of wash, made a batch of rolls, put some country ribs out in the solar cooker for a pulled pork dinner, made homemade mayonnaise, and shredded cabbage for coleslaw. It wasn't the best of days for solar cooking; in fact, it was pretty darn cloudy. But, damn, I was set on using the solar oven. Today. Luckily, despite the clouds, the solar oven hovered between 200º and 250º for several hours before it dropped down to 175º. I finally took the meal inside at 4:00 pm, by which time it had been cooking outside for six hours. When I baked the rolls, I heated the pulled pork back up in the oven. I have to say, the meal made me feel a whole lot better about things, at least for the moment. Homemade rolls, solar cooked pulled pork, homemade coleslaw made with homemade mayonnaise, and some of Rick's refreshing kombucha. Comfort food. When we're stressed food is a gift we can give ourselves. Or in this case, what I can still give my family.

Still, if I had any Fritos or gooey ice cream . . . 

Mexican Style Beef

“Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.” ~ Al Bernstein

June is my favorite month. Okay, I'm biased. My birthday is in June, as is my anniversary. But despite that, June would still be my favorite month. It's a month of promise. The garden is looking good and beginning to produce, flowers are blooming, the air is warm and the sun is generally shining. It hasn't gotten too hot yet here on Long Island, although we did have a few extraordinarily super hot days last week, but for the most part it's pleasant. I can still feel the excitement, buried deep down from years past, of anticipation: School is almost over and summer is around the corner. Growing up that meant vacations to historical destinations with my family, or maybe even a summer crush. In high school I began dating Rick near the end of June, 6 years later I married him in the beginning of the month. June is named for Juno, a goddess of the Roman Pantheon. She is the goddess of marriage and the well-being of women. Perfect.

June also gives us here our longest days of sunlight—perfect for cooking in the solar oven. One of my all time favorite and most requested birthday dinners growing up was pot roast. Maybe a bit odd for a warm weather birthday dinner, but I loved it. Comfort food to the max. And since my birthday just passed I was feeling a bit nostalgic. I rooted through my freezer, but the best I could come up with was a 1 lb. package of beef stew already cut into cubes. Well, we just had a stew of sorts the other day, so I wanted something slightly different. After some thought, I came up with this recipe.

1 lb. beef sliced into fat strips (I cut each cube into thirds)

1 cup coarsely chopped onion

Dinner on its way in after cooking in the solar oven

1/2 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped

1 serrano chile, finely chopped

1 tomato chopped

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

handful of fresh parsley

2 tablespoons olive oil

Extras:

tortillas

salsa made from 1 tomato chopped, 1/4 – 1/2 cup finely chopped onion, 1 teaspoon of salt, a bunch of cilantro, and a splash of lime juice. Keep adjusting to your tastes. I used a lot of cilantro.

1. Heat the oil in a pan and brown the beef.

2. Add garlic, onion, green pepper, and serrano chile (I'm a wimp, but if you like spicy food add more serrano peppers) and saute for a minute.

3. Add ground black pepper, salt, and cumin. Stir to coat.

4. Add 3/4 cup of water and bring to a boil. Add a handful of fresh parsley.

5. Cover pot and place outside in solar oven for several hours. I put this outside at around 11:30 a.m. If you don't have a solar oven, cook slowly in a crockpot or even your toaster oven until the beef is tender.

6. Near the end of cooking add the chopped tomatoes.

I made saffron rice and a simple salsa to go along with the meal. When the rice was about done I brought in the beef and warmed some tortillas. We used the tortillas like bread, for dipping in the broth and for picking up the meat. We each used the salsa differently—spread on the tortilla, on top of the rice, or on top of the meat. Eventually we had it on everything.

Annalee wasn't home for dinner, so it was just me, Rick, and Erica. This meal served the three of us with some, but not much, leftovers.