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: