Decisions & food making

Shortly after my last post, I decided to put my two week notice in at my employer.  It has been building up for years, YEARS.  The thing is, I forgot to be grateful everyday, find happiness in the small things, and let my art fall to the wayside, losing myself along the way.  I had my exit interview on the day of the election, explained that I needed to take some time to take care of myself, was thankful for my job, and left on a good note.  In the in between time, I hope to wander onto a path that suits me better.

Meanwhile, I have been finding more meaning in cooking.  My friend and I just started back up on our recipe exchange (which it has been a few weeks without a recipe, because I picked one with a hard to find ingredient, more on that later).

The first recipe we tackled was garlic mashed cauliflower.  I love cauliflower raw or roasted, I will tolerate it prepared in other ways.  This recipe was seemingly easy, I learned what "smashing garlic" meant, which is more like putting it a garlic press or making it more paste-like.  Obviously, not what I did and I looked it up after the fact.  I was slightly put off by the addition of the cream cheese but, I think it may have given it a more potatoey taste.  If I make it again, I probably wouldn't add the cream cheese.  It was a nice change.

Looks like mashed potatoes, right?

The second recipe was harissa roasted vegetables. The harissa proved to be difficult to find, I went to my local food co-op, they had a harissa spread, went to Trader Joe's, they didn't have it.  Luckily, Amazon exists and I ordered it on-line and was a little delayed with making the recipe.  Once I got the harissa in the mail, I visited the Italian Market in Philly, while I was having lunch with some friends and spent my Saturday night roasting veggies.  I couldn't find the appropriate describing words for the way harissa hangs on your mouth after you eat the veggies, so good.  I highly recommend this recipe.  I was also gifted sunchokes from a friend, which I never came in contact with before, I roasted those the next night, find the recipe here.

This is a sad photo of the harissa roasted veggies, roasted sunchokes, and a harvest roast.