Alice in Wonderland: The Oysters...

"'O Oysters, come and walk with us!' The Walrus did beseech. 'A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk, along the briny beach. [...] A loaf of bread,' the Walrus said, 'Is what we chiefly need. Pepper and vinegar besides Are very good indeed"  --Lewis Carroll

I think maybe the sheer boredom of being uncomfortable in my eyeballs but not in enough pain to actually enjoy having to do nothing but rest is getting to me. I definitely have to rest them. In fact I'm typing right now with my eyes closed. I'm not kidding. I'll let you know when I open them.  And I apologize for any typos, but now this feels like a challenge to me.

So I've been writing a lot of reviews in Yelp lately (plug: check out yelp, by user: Katherine H. Filter with Location: Washington, D.C. you should be able to reach me.)

**eyes are open so I can check this info on yelp: go to "Member Search" small tab on right. Type: "Katherine H." Filter by "Location" 2nd mini-page should be "Washington, D.C." Select it. You should see me. eyes closing again...**

A few things about having no kitchen for five weeks. You end up eating out a lot. And hten you start noticing things. At first you think it's unique, or that it's you. It's not. Sometimes patterns are there. I'm not talking Beautiful Mind or Consipiracy Theory here, I'm talkin reality.

I don't like that every place I go to get oysters, they always serve crappy little oyster or saltine crackers. Sure, I get it, that's why they're called oyster crackers, and you don't want anything competing. But honestly, you think cheap little plastic baggies of prepackaged crackers can cut it in  your fine dining establishment??

Now I want to make my own oyster cracker recipe and take them with me next time I go oyster-eating. And then I will pull them out and ask the chef to please eat one with one of his oysters and come talk to me if he wants to get serious about oysters. Like cannonball heavy serious.

Rant over.

Opening eyes. Still stings...

First Night: New Kitchen, New Vision

Finally. It is complete.

Our long-awaited kitchen renovations are finally to the point where we can use it. The days of feeling sick from eating processed food is over.

Sweet hallelujah.

As is my luck, it was finished yesterday, the same day I voluntarily underwent PRK corrective eye surgery. That's a different story for a different day. Like maybe Halloween. Anyway, the recovery process hasn't been that bad, and eager to return to my normal self, I cooked my dinner tonight. With my new eyes. In my new kitchen.

My kitchen wares are not yet fully unpacked. And my eyes are a distraction. But I managed to concoct a "curried" chicken and couscous. "Curried" because I think that's a similar familiar flavor, but really it was just an experiment.

First I took a boneless chicken breast L left for me in the fridge and I liberally sprinkled both sides with an herb mixture I obtained in Turkey--primarily dried oregano and basil. I added fresh ground pepper and cayenne pepper. I then hand-crushed Turkish lemon sea salt until it was a fine powder and rubbed all the ingredients in my hands so that there'd be just enough salt and so the chicken would absorb the other ingredients faster. I then marinated it in a white wine vinegar and olive oil. I put it on a small plate and popped it back in the fridge.

After 1.5 hours, I pulled that bad.boy out and heated up the wok. I put a little bit of olive oil in it and then laid the chicken breast. After the side was brown, I flipped it. Separately I chopped up three stalks of celery and a handful of dried apricots. I added those to the wok with some water, a little belgian white wheat ale, some pomegranate molasses, and half of a lemon. Impatient, I pulled out the chicken, chopped it into bite sized pieces, and put it back in the wok. I added a few grape tomatoes, reduced the heat and simmered.

I had some leftover couscous, so I just poured some of the hot liquid over the couscous to bring it back to life and heat it without hurting it. I then added the chicken mixture with the sauce, and some slivered almonds to finish it.