Dinner At Eight...

Above:  Dinner at eight... well... not exactly.  More like 11:30.  

Even as kids, we never really ate early.  We would try to squeeze in as much activity as possible before our evening meal.  Nowadays it's no different.  Usually I try to snag a quick bite of take-out before settling in for the night, but tonight I decided to cook.  I think there's something very human about preparing a meal.  It taps into a part of the brain that's almost primordially connected to survival and home.  Unfortunately I haven't had much time to do it and instead opt (or rather default) for the fastest and easiest route to filling my tummy.

Tonight, I decided to cook.  I made an altered version of an old family recipe for adobo – adding sliced portobello mushrooms, caramelized onions and tangy tomatoes.  I also used boneless thigh pieces.  Even though the bones add flavor and moisture to the cooking process, I don't like picking through them when I'm trying to quickly devour my meal.

It was nice to have a home-cooked meal after a long day.  I finished staining and sealing the shelves and almost finished hanging them.  I also had to run out to Home Depot again to pick up new bulbs for the kitchen light and get paint for the bathroom.  A leak had formed and every time the upstairs neighbors would take a shower, a steady trickle of water would drip from the ceiling.  This of course caused the drywall to get soaking wet and mold to grow behind the paint and tiles.  The landlord hired contractors to rip everything out, repair the leak, and fix the walls.  It looks great and I can breathe easier knowing I'm not inhaling black mold spores, but the bathroom is a little stark and lacking personality.  So I'm staying up late tonight and finishing painting the walls.  The color selected is called, "Velvet Morning."  It sounds like a cheesy romance novel, but it's actually a robin's egg blue.  I'll take pictures of everything once it's all done.