Life since moving back to full time employment, especially the position I took on, has been relentless, as evidenced by the mostly drafted and never published blog post I started at the beginning of last summer, thought about posting mid-summer, considered posting at the end of the summer as a reflection instead, and transitioned so rapidly from my busy summer back to full time work that it just sat there. I decided to publish it as-is to at least fill in some gaps before today’s piece.
As a small matter of follow up, I did all the things I set out to do over the summer and it was pretty magical. As my SO resigned his position in May, we made the choice to dig into our savings and have a summer of unemployment together, so I got to spend a lot of time with him, too, which is difficult when I’m working 40 hours a week, commuting 15, and dead tired the rest of the time. The only heartbreak of the summer was losing my slot in the Master Gardeners program due to a stupid bureaucratic oversight, learned some hard lessons about organization and keeping a handle on life administration while you’re trying to unwind and let go. I am currently considering applying to the Master Food Preservers course in the meantime and hope to take deferred enrollment on the former next year. I’m working a different schedule at a new unit at work and am having a radically different experience. There’s still some of the same underlying dysfunction, though much of what made my last unit a hostile environment did not follow me to this new assignment and I’m almost kind of liking my job.
That said, I still work a wonky, irregular schedule with a long commute that has me tired much of the time, and has done some damage to my feet that require that much more rest. So when I saw an online class celebrating tinned fish being offered by one of my favorite organizations, 18 Reasons. I’ve only got enough mojo to do one or two things on my weekends, especially if it involves getting dressed, going outside, and/or peopling. I hesitated briefly, the class fee was not insubstantial, though it supports a phenomenal organization, I’d probably have to do no small amount of prepping and planning ahead of time. As a food nerd, though, I’m excited about tinned fish–it’s affordable, nutrient dense, shelf stable, and most options are very sustainable sources of protein. Though setting aside the ubiquitous tuna, my repertoire is mostly limited to sardines with crackers and/or other charcuterie style nibbles or the occasional anchovies for umami saltiness, I’m short on ideas. I even recently bought some smoked oysters on a whim and still haven’t opened them because I’m not sure how best to enjoy them other than with crackers and the like in place of sardines. So I signed up, not even sure if I’d get a shipment of fish as part of the package or if I had to go out and find it all myself. I got that email two days before the class and I questioned my life choices a little, knowing I’d be spending Friday (my Saturday) shopping for ingredients (many likely hard to find readily in my neighborhood), after the online user feedback interview I’d agreed to for a friend, doing as much prep that evening as I could manage, which wasn’t much, then getting up Saturday (my Sunday), and probably finishing prep, which I was still doing well into the class while furiously trying to keep up. I did all those things, participating in all of the recipes except the optional one, learning about vermouth along the way, and landing at the end of class with a delicious spread of nibbles that easily comprised a satisfying meal for the two of us. My palate was delighted, my belly satisfied for much of the day, my brain packed with new ideas for using tinned fish, and I’ve spent the rest of the day since sipping the remaining vermouth while following my spark to do some writing. My kitchen looks like a war zone. I walked into my kitchen this morning with a strange feeling of being a stranger in a strange land. I didn’t feel like I knew my kitchen anymore, since I don’t spend much time there these days, save feeding my cats, making instant coffee in the early mornings and tea for my evening wind down, and eating my regular yogurt, berries, and granola at 4 AM before I run out to catch my bus to work. I’ve been so spoiled for so long, the food service professional has become dependent on her SO for home cooked meals, which he regularly indulges me in, especially now that he’s home so much while looking for his next job. It felt good to get in there again and reclaim the space, dig in cabinets and drawers in ways I haven’t in a while, using equipment and tools I rarely touch anymore, and getting back to the kind of cooking that inspired me to pursue a career in the culinary field. Working in a university dining hall is just a very, very different animal and it was good to be home. Like, really be home. In my kitchen. My happy place.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a giant mess to clean and it will certainly be about bed time by the time I’m done. Someone has to get breakfast on the line for those starving college students at 6 AM, and that person, for the moment, is me.
It Starts With Quiche 