weekend update, December 16, 2013

 "The things that make us human often make us ill.” 

Jonathan Rosen

Put down that warming beverage and limber up your fingers for a quick count, okay? 
 Ready?
How many people do you know who have had some sort of icky coldy fluey buggy thing since oh, let's say Halloween?
Include yourself if you need to, and me, and the Home Audience and....and....and...

Oh bother!
I've lost count again. Every time I get past five,
my fingers need a tissue grabbing break.

Now ask your mucus-muddled mind to think back to how you were caught by those nasty germs- chances are you were doing something very human.

like having a blast at that crazy wild Christmas
party with your besties.

Or flying home to see your dearly beloveds, even though the only germ-free seat on a plane

is outside the plane.

Or maybe one of those germ-stricken others you know is like a woman I met long ago, who was seasonally overtaken by that beautifully human compulsion to be superhuman. 

She earned from me the nickname The Napoleon of Christmas.

No, not because she was short, and not because she was a delicious creamy-flaky pastry. It was because she conquered Christmas the way that Napoleon conquered Europe-

on four hours of sleep a night.

As she wrapped and tinseled herself toward her inevitable January breakdown, she'd grimace up a smile and say "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger".

Which struck me even then as a strange little adage.

Because what doesn't kill you often only leaves you meaner and madder than you were before you were almost killed. Plus, it almost kills you!

In fact, that little adage is probably only universally true in a universe populated only by little sentient bacteria:

Those harmless-looking fluffy strep-balls have been waging pitched battle against me and several of my own dearly beloved  for most of the week. And though they're gradually surrendering, the little saboteurs easily derailed this week's menu train. 

We enjoyed (to one degree or another) a few planned meals before we yielded to the expediency and comfort of after work drive through- here are the most interesting bits:

First, the lemony pork chops and shaved Brussels sprouts-

Sending the sprouts through the slicing blade of the processor is a brilliant idea!! They cook so fast!! And all these exclamation points may explain why I spooned out the paprika so very enthusiastically!

Because that's what I did. Here's a pic of the excessively paprikaed panful on the right, and a handful on the left that was sauteed with a slice of crisped bacon:

Shredding is a great concept, but maybe in a different recipe.
Or maybe with a little less paprika.

The pork chops are a winner though- look how tender and juicy! 

Not to worry, mom-
we won't be adding salmonella to
 the list of this week's ailments.
These photographed pinker than they were.

Next up, the pork and broccoli stir fry  . All the groceries for the stir fry were in the fridge, except for the leftover pork. Because we'd eaten all the pork chops.  But there was a bag of pulled pork in the freezer leftover from not-so-long-ago barbecue, and you know what? It worked really well!

This opens up all sorts of exciting possibilities for leftover
barbecued brisket too!
(though it looks like I spooned stirfry onto torn paper, those are just
super fun rice noodles.)

And last, a great new way to use kale. It really upped the nutrition and taste of this kale and potato hash-

Thanks for pinning this recipe, Deanna- this was a really yummy
spin on the standard hash.  And we love hash.

The carrot tangine and the butternut squash I'd planned for last week are patiently waiting their turn, which will come tomorrow- or maybe the next day. Maybe.  Dinner may yet succumb to an all-too-human wish for comfort food, even if said comfort food isn't exactly healthy. (And the human desire to be comforted by the things that may do us harm is a topic for another day.)

for now, 

I hope you know that in this world

full of beauty and disease, 

you matter.

And it matters every single time you

practice random acts of healing.
Because if being human is what makes us ill,
then maybe
just maybe
being human is also 

the only thing that can help us mend.