Indulge

I was not so great over dinner last night.

I was underslept and feeling surprisingly hung over. A surprise because while I'd certainly had enough to drink on Saturday night to warrant the hang over, I'd woken up feeling fine. By late afternoon, even after a nap, my edges were somewhat wavery. A damn shame, too, since dinner was at the Manx around a table full of extraordinarily cute, smart and funny girls. I really would rather have impressed them with my stunning wit than what I did do, which was to check out a nanosecond after I finished eating and stare into space until Shelley brought me back.

The food, however, was the definition of great.

If you haven't had the Manx's smoked tofu bowl yet, you really should. Beside the tasty bean curd, it's got spinach and brown rice, and black bean and lentil patties, and ginger. I've been eating quite a bit lately, since liquid smoke is on my endangered food list. I'm currently pretending that the cooks make the tofu taste so good by putting extra vitamins into it, instead of a probable carcinogen. Eventually my ability to suspend my disbelief is going to fail and I won't be able to order it. So until it becomes an indulgence that alarms me, I'm going often and getting it every time

Yesterday was a day of it, indulgence.

Breakfast was going to be simple. Paul, who lives three doors north of me, had bragged about his knack with the eggs. During that conversation, I decided to work my mojo and look doubtful until he put his money where his mouth was. It didn't take long before he offered to make me some.

But then you can't have eggs without bread, and neither of us had anything wheat-free for me. Okay, but I had kamut flour, so pancakes, we'll make pancakes instead of bread. And then, well, there are those two wee potatoes that didn't go into the stew a couple weeks ago, so why not homefries, takes just a second, really. And coffee, of course, there is no breakfast without coffee. And well, while you're cooking the eggs, why don't I make a smoothie instead of just standing around.

The water? That's just for show.