weekend update, June 9,

 If you ignore the rules people will, half the time, quietly rewrite them so that they don't apply to you." 
— Terry Pratchett 

I didn't ignore the rules. Not exactly. 

I just realized, with the help of a friend or two, that a few of the laws that govern this kitchen were only ever of my own making, and  I was absolutely free to ignore them, rewrite them, or break them. 

They were broken the way some rules ought to be broken- good and hard. 

And while my hands were busy stirring up a few rebellious dinners, my mind was busy remembering a few real rabble rousers and rule breakers- scientists, suffragettes, artists, a woman who sat down in a bus, writers,  students who sat down at lunch counters, astronauts, chefs, and poets. 

Including the poet  Jenny Joseph, who wrote "Warning" just to let every one know that someday, she was going to break a few rules. It starts "when I am old I shall wear purple, with a red hat which doesn't go..." and it gave birth to a cultural phenomenon- the red hat society.

Which I considered joining. Then I found out that because I wasn't yet 50, I'd have to wear a pink hat (it's sort of a rule) and that after that I'd need a red hat and that I'd at least sometimes have to wear purple. But I don't especially like wearing purple. Or red.

So, I investigated the cat hat league

but it made me sneeze.

So I tried the crustacean hat coalition

But after a three day convention,
they started to smell funny.

I thought with the bird hat society that I'd finally found the devil-may-care group for me.

Such style! Such Joie de vivre! Such remarkably steady heads!

Here I am on initiation day, so happy:

You start by wearing as many birds as you can to every meeting.
After a year, you can just wear them as hats.
It's a sort of rule. 

But alas!  I found out that the cat hatters were calling us the bird brainers. 

And that made me so crabby....

that I joined the full lobster ladies, whose motto is
"We can get along with anyone- in a pinch."

And while all that silliness was going on, I learned a few exciting new things in the kitchen!

First-Gluten avoiders, rejoice! All those wonderful summer pasta and couscous salads? They are just as tasty with rice! 

That epiphany struck as we dished up  Greek rice and chickpea salad, and I thought, "Gee, this is so familiar, but I absolutely have not ever....wait! I HAVE made this before! Lots of times! But with couscous instead of rice, in pre-gluten awareness days!" 

 And it looks and tastes even nicer with rice:

As an added bonus, the nutty flavor of brown rice would've
actually made this tastier! 

I am SO happy about this! And I feel like a dope for never having considered it! Fave pasta salads? Get ready for the rice redo! 

Second- the slow cooker? My new summer love.

 It did a great job on the ribs and kept the kitchen cool. True, they did not taste like ribs slow roasted on a grill. On the other hand, no one had to stand roasting slowly over a grill.

We'd been going to turn the leftover pork into tacos, but I just have not been able to get the glories of this no knead bread dough out of my mind. Gluten or no gluten, I simply had to have more. So I squished up a batch and shaped it into sandwich rolls, made some coleslaw and turned the pork into sandwiches. Phenomenally easy.

 A real "Oh my gosh, did that really come out out of this kitchen" moment.
In a good way.

Third-the coolest result of this week's exercise in personal rule kicking?  The fish in parchment parcels. 

Ok. Ok. So. (This is so exciting that my fingers are stammering.)  Early on Friday, I sliced up some bell peppers and zucchini, and set out the little packets of cheap frozen tilapia. Later, we assembled our packets and popped them in the oven. Entertaining and easy!

                        ready                                                                          set                                                          go

And somewhere in the middle of this, I realized what a great thing this would be for a summer party! All the veg can be prepped hours or even the day before, and everyone eating can make their own parcel at cooking time! What fun! I'm pretty sure that these would work brilliantly on a grill, as long as direct flame stayed off of the paper. (Though that'd be entertaining too.)

And the best part? Relatively zero clean up. No pots, no pans, only a cutting board to rinse and paper to toss. And the flavor! Wow! I nearly jumped up and down squealing as I described these to my daughter, Liz the Baking Wonder, and she tried it using chicken breast, carrots, celery and grape tomatoes. The Liz concurs. This is spectacular. 

The things I learned this week! Crock pots never were just for winter! Rice can go more places than under beans and curries!

 There are more stupid rules that deserve breaking than even I ever imagined! 

And I hope you had the fun (or terror) of smashing a few of your own unexamined rules.

And I want you to know that it matters. 

It matters every time that you grow and work and love in a way you once thought you wouldn't.

Or feared you couldn't.

It matters every time that you turn tedium to play, and routine into a wild rumpus.

And it matters every little time that you wrest 

from the jaws of what you were told was inevitable defeat

some unconventional sort of victory.