More Delicious Food - This journal has been turning into a Food Adventure, rather than a "So I ran from city to city having fun" journal. I suppose that's not a bad thing. But soon I'm going to have to give in and start including photos. Right now, you'll have to settle for the word pictures.

Ages ago, I pondered why I was never enthusiastic about pasta. There's so many great shapes and colors, but I just never really stocked my pantry with pasta unless I needed a specific dish for a potluck or something similar. Then I found fresh pasta. Oh. My. Goodness. This explains it -- fresh pasta tastes SO MUCH BETTER than anything made from dried pasta, and I became a Fresh-Pasta-Snob. (Great. *sigh* Something else to limit the foods I prefer. Well, pressing on.) Fortunately, I love stores like Whole Foods and Wild Oats, and they often carry fresh pasta in strange and wonderful flavors, shapes, colors, and other delights.

During my New Year's Day hunt for some fresh black-eyed peas, I lingered over the fresh pasta display and although I wanted to take home 4-6 flavors, I limited myself to just one tortellini package. This one was labeled Pumpkin Amarettini ... I'm not sure if there's anything "amaretto" about it, but the pumpkin filling is subtle and nice. In this case I boiled the pumpkin tortellini, then diced some two little yellow sunburst squash (also called pattypan squash or scallop squash), two carrots, and two roma tomatoes. While the tortellini were cooling in the boxes, the veggies were cooking, and I finished dishes and making my morning coffee. Drain the veggies, spoon over the pasta, split a small container of a nice blush/creamy sauce over the whole thing, and pack a little container of grated parmesan. (Actual coarsely grated parmesan cheese, not the shake-the-powder kind.) The whole combination is very tasty, colorful, and I can actually enjoy each flavor separately and in combination. Very, very nice.

Total time in the kitchen this morning: 45 minutes. Meals: two, plus I was right -- the lentils & tofu from the day before lasted an extra meal for today.

Car Goodness - The new clutch is a world of difference! I cannot believe I drove for as long as I did on that original clutch. I used to zoom towards hills, because I needed the oomph to get over the climb. I couldn't really push the car hard on a hill, because the gears/engine would rev high with a very scary sound. This morning, it dawned on me I can accelerate up hills! Oh. My. Goodness! I have so much car love right now! *wheee*

Wrapping Up - I did manage to post the baronial newsletter today, and was *exceptionally* happy that Grainne had the time to read so carefully. She's =amazing= at proofreading! I also was hit with some "eep! urgent, now! now!" updates for the theatre's website ... good thing I had the time to drop everything and apply the fixes. *head desk* I'd rather do that for a living, but hey, as a hobby is working for now.

Oh, and I found one problem with my current cooking plan -- I have to start including drinks after my morning coffee, too. Water never tasted good before, and less in the past two weeks. But when I have been a responsible consumer of liquids, I do best with a small container of juice that I spike my water with all day long. So, that'll have to get added to the shopping list too. *sigh* See why I had gotten lazy? I've used up all the food I bought on New Year's Day, and there's nothing at home for me to cook [in the way of fresh produce... there's plenty of dried goods, but you can only eat plain lentils or rice for so long with out going batty].

So tonight I'm headed to our Baronial fighter practice where I'll pick up some largess, participate in Tai Chi, and then head to do laundry. And somehow I need to buy fresh groceries (and now a few jugs of juice, for my new water regimen). Better get on the road.

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Today's Blessing That I'm Thankful For: Peregrine, maker of amazing largess!