rice and dal in crockpot - kedgeree

so i have decided to try something new in the crockpot. Most times, i don't have time to cook rice in the steamer because it can be over an hour. now i get home at 630 sometimes and too tired to do tm, nap, and eat. so i eat and think about tm later. or not.

anyway the new thinking is to make 1/4 c dal and add 1/4 c rice. It actually has a name: kitcheri. The rice and dal mixture is very mushy. Rice will absorb water, and absorb water, and absorb water. So that has to be considered. tomorrow. lots of water.

No TM tonight

this job commute is getting to me. tonight i went home on I66 which is bumper to bumper at 1-2 mph for half hour so I bailed at washington blvd and lee highway, and I'm driving through arlington taking my time, and a car next to me beeps loud and long and I seem to be in the other lane, but really I'm not paying attention to the car that is trying to zip by me on the right. After we get to a stop light and I look over and a young lady is yelling and giving me the finger as she turns right.

I get home and eat some toor dal and tomato sauce with whole wheat flat bread that I made on sunday night and froze. Plus steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Didn't stop to do TM. For 36 years I have been stopping to do TM just before eating dinner. Last night and tonight I decided to eat and skip TM.

There's no time! If i do TM at 630 it will be past 7 before I wake up from sleep and finish TM and then eat. Then about 8 pm. That leaves about 2.5 hours before bed and the food can't digest before bedtime. So trying to eat at around 6:30. but when to do TM. tonite tried at 845 but just took a nap.

If I put rice in the crockpot and do TM then it will just about be ready at 7:15. But I'm really too wired to take a quck nap and do TM.

Tomorow is Friday. Plan is big lunch then movie after work in Herndon. Then home. Probably the roads will still be clogged. Thinking this job is like a temp job with benefits. getting another raise. being asked to work saturday sometime in the future.

: (

dahl slow cooking overnight

wow. crockpot was going from 7am friday until 11am saturday. had lotsa water and little bit of lentils. put rice on cooker, and rode bike on potomac bike trail. COLD, windy, temp was 50 degrees. will continue future bike rides around arlington neighborhoods. did that last week. rode bike to library. what a workout!

on return home, took a ride up GW parkway to check out alternate route from 193 and, SURPRISE! it's an entrance to Langley. the road is on the google map but in fact, it is a CIA exit only. duh!

the rice and dal was very good, especially the dahl which had been slow cooking for over 24 hours.

a cook at an indian restaurant told me that they do it in India by, putting dal and water in a pot overnight on coals, to cook. anyway it turned out good. real good.

new job, new commute

My new job in Herndon is about 30 miles. and takes a half hour at 7am. The home commute at 530 can take over one hour slogging it out on the highways. the clogged artery is an apt way of putting it. everybody's trying to squeeze onto a few roads at the same time.

Last week it rained for three days and traffic came to a standstill. One evening I was so disgusted. After an hour and a half, I stopped to do TM. Total time for commute, including TM, was two hours!! I was dreaming of stopping to get pizza while driving through the rain with all the other cars. On Friday I did get pizza at a new place near here. Very nice people, the manager sitting by the door said, thanks for coming. Pizza crust was too wet and cheese just ok. don't have the heart to tell them, make thick crust, use different pans.

Note to all pizza lovers. Hot bread gives off condensation. The bread must be flipped out of the bread pan to cool. or else it gets soggy from perspiring hot steam. My innovation is to take a fresh hot pizza off the tray and put it onto a rack and the crust remains crispy. Most pizzas are flipped just onto a box which lets hot steam make for soggy crust.

So all this week I have been driving through northern virginia in search of a slow steady commute. All the back roads are slow going, but no standing still. Unfortunately, it can never take less than an hour going that way. I have a new option of going right through Tysons Corner on Rt 7, but I seem to remember that it gets clogged around 66 and 495 interchanges, so I opted out of that route a few years ago, and decided on the 193 and GW parkway idea.

As it turns out, everyone else has discovered 193 and GW parkway and now that can easily become a total standstill. I think GW Parkway, even moving at 5 miles an hour will be quicker than going through Arlington and McLean. My last untried option is 193 to that road next to CIA headquarters, but I wonder why nobody uses it. And it is hard to find, but it is there on the map. I want to try that route on the weekend to see how it goes.

I hate sitting still, and the car hates it even more, the engine gets really hot, so I want to be constantly moving to keep the engine cool.
At least I have this to come home to:

dinner was very good. lentil soup, zuchini, oatmeal. lentil soup is always good.

didn't eat the breakfast oatmeal this morning because of an interview at asce which went too long and then was late for work so no breakfast. work was excruciating because of the bad feelings, because i had resigned on friday, and mr rusell called me up, and he persuaded me to come back in.
Then had to do filing for about half a day as punishment.

Needless to say, I'm leaving the house at 7:00 am and home at 6:30 pm, then tm, so don't eat till 7, and that leaves only a few hours to digest so want to eat right.
I usually eat too much rice.

9/26/07

OK so last night was the eggplant and dal with some poha and zuke. nice meal but soo tired and watched tv all night which made me a zombie. tv does that. tonight i am foregoing that stupid ken burns war documentary. no strategy, just whining about how hard it is. the washington post write about the documentary was more interesting than the tv special.

tonight more whole masoor dal and eggplant. masoor is always good. Peggy last night said we are hiring two temp section 8 specialists so I was concerned if i'm needed. since we kept me when we got lindsey and the specialists are dependant on me for their paperwork, I'll last till december. could not sleep

raw foods-spinach papaya white radish

Ms Woods is on raw food diet. she posted recipe: spinach leaves, papaya, banana, orange juice (4) dandelion root and parsley. blend. yeck

on sunday I made the following. spinach leaves, half a papaya, cilentro leaves, white radish root. It was like pesto, but gave me horrible gas with all that raw veg.

Today for lunch I had tofu cubes in lime juice and soy sauce with radish root, 2 hot pepper with seeds removed, half papaya soaked in lime juice, spinach leaves. for salad, microwaved 1.5 minutes to wilt greens and heat salad. Don't want ice cold salad. Very good very delicious.

dinner 9-24-2007

Last night I had my crockpot with a half cup lentils and two chinese eggplant with cashews. I got home and added 2 small tomatillas, turned off heat, and put rice in automatic rice cooker, napped and did TM

almost forgot about last night. did not make rice, since tired and bored. Made whole wheat pizza dough, stored in freezer. This made a wonderful accompaniment to the dal, but about half way through the meal, decided to eat all the bread, which was too filling. Felt justified in eating so many calories, once in a while, under conditions of exhaustion, and needed a treat!

Since I was already pooped from an exhaustive Monday it was all that I could do to eat that meal. Ken Burns War was on t.v. and it was mildly boring during the first episode 9/23/07 but this episode was better. Plus the Bachelor started anew, with a new hunk from Austin TX nice looking guy is what the ladies said. We'll see if he is the Southern Gentlemen that all the ladies exclaimed, as the show continues. Last season's episode had the bachelor sleeping with the final two contestants.

But back to dinner. Planning whole mung/whole urad dal with chinese eggplant. Should smell and taste good with just about anything. So will make rice for the side dish. Also want to have a vegetable.

Last night, was drinking alot of water after dinner. Pee-ed three times last night. Thinking of eating a vegetable with preclude drinking alot of water, but will give the satisfaction that water gives. Maybe less pee-ing. Plan on making less rice and cooking a vegetable.