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I was starving. There was nothing to eat. In the fridge, a half eaten can of beans. Yes, still in the can. As a child I heard this leads to botulism and death, but I didn’t care. I was that hungry. I digress. On the counter, a handful of cherry toms. In the freezer, a quarter bag of frozen peas and, of course, a humongous bag of frozen wheat berries. Into a bowl go a handful of the peas and wheat berries and directly into the microwave for a minute, just until mostly thawed. Chop the tomatoes, toss them with the beans, peas and wheat berries.

Luckily my fabulous step mom, Dona, got me this set of killer oils and vinegars for my birthday. Navidi’s oils, vinegars and other things I’m guessing taste amazing too. So I splashed some of their basil oil and fig balsamic all over my salad. Seriously?! Yes, so good it deserved a question mark and and exclamation mark.

The best part is it took me way longer to write this blog than throw the salad together and eat it, standing up, while Bill put groceries away and debriefed me on Gretchen’s Grains biz progress today. Then I ran out the door, still swallowing, to sling food to the masses in the happy little land of Circa, my favorite restaurant in the world.

This little hangover is nothing close to debilitating. There is no way to deal with a Real One with three small kids at home all day and the spectre of a waitressing shift come 5pm. Today, however, there is the heavy head, the lethargic limbs, and the craving for something greasy. Bill and I have been lamenting the fact that little more than 2 glasses of wine each makes us feel less than up to par. When did we become so…..weak?

Anyhow, this little breakfast I put together helped. A lot. There is the salty-sweetness of fried sweet potatoes combined with the creamy satisfaction of a ripe avocado all atop a bed of quinoa to cut the fat, add fiber, texture and much needed energy. The only thing missing was a big douse of habanero sauce. Super simple. Super needed (along with 3 cups of coffee). Top the whole thing with a fried egg if you’d like. Not me because I am on the vegan thing these days, which means my poor man is pretty much on it too. Feels really good. Like crazy good. More on that later. Check out today’s mini-hangover cure~

Now just 13 more hours of work until bed…..no problemo.

Had some girl friends drop in today with their prospective babes.  It was a regular awesome kid fest.  Kids are always easy to snack out: crackers, peanut butter, cheese etc..  However, the gals and I know what time of year it is; rapidly approaching shorts and dress weather.  No more cheese in our mouths or on our butts.  Luckily I had some fat tomatoes (albeit out of season),  really good balsamic vinegar, olive oil and naturally, quinoa.  Slice the toms, top with quinoa, drizzle with balsamic and oil, salt and pepper.  Classic deliciousness with some actual satiety in the quinoa.  Without it, we’d be hitting those crackers with a billion grams of fat in about 10 minutes.  Not to mention the quinoa gives this snack texture.  Just saying.  Try it.

Oh yeah, the gals who came over are photographers. So as I worked on some experimental recipes (that were so disastrous as to not be mentionable) they shot art photos.  Here’s an example of a quick, impromptu shoot they did.  Seriously, how radical is this photo.  Dawndra Budd, how do you do it?  Melissa Fenno, you are amazing too.