Well, darn.

So I was just about to sit down to write this blog post boasting my culinary prowess when the fire alarm went off. Why, do you ask? Because just before I left the kitchen, I put the wet cast iron skillet on the burner (turned on high, of course) to dry. Normally I am doing other kitchen tasks and then take it off and turn off the burner when it's dry. But today I wandered away, leaving the burner on and causing something underneath the burner to smoke and eventually, flame. Sigh.

Eh, I'll write the blog post anyway. James and I have decided to call it the joy of un-cooking. At the farmer's market today, I fell in love with baby white Japanese turnips with green tops still attached, 10 for $2. We brought them home, sliced them up a bit, and doused them with my very own creation: a combination of about a tablespoon of olive oil, several drizzles of balsamic vinegar, a teaspoon or so of spicy brown mustard, and hefty sprinkles of thyme and pepper, with a tiny bit of salt. We coated them and roasted them at 400 degrees until they were slightly wrinkly and tender when poked with a fork.

My other creation of the evening? Take the remainder of a can of pinto beans from the fridge. Add canned diced tomatoes with green chiles (also found in the fridge) until you are pleased with the concentration of each ingredient. Add a few sloshes of lime juice, and mix coriander and cumin in your hand until it looks like the proper amount and add. Stir, and heat in the microwave. Grate sharp chedder cheese on top. Lament the lack of tortillas in your life. Boyfriend remembers large container of leftover spaghetti. You think it's weird, but he assures you it is not. Serve bean mixture over heated spaghetti with extra grated cheese and little crumbles of tortilla chips from the bottom of the bag. A little cilantro would've been ideal, but the week's grocery shopping still hadn't been done.

After creating this masterpiece from a small conglomeration of random things, I wonder why my high school cafeteria couldn't do a more impressive job on clean out the freezer day.