The History of Eggplant

I have a history with eggplant. It's not a pleasant one at that. At my cousin David's Bar Mitzvah YEARS ago, his Aunt (from the other side) was helping me navigate the buffet table. It was late at night and I was tired, we were flying back to New York early the next morning, but the spread was fantastic and I was on the kiddie table. That meant, Mom and Dad didn't control what I was eating, so I went to TOWN! Anyway, back to the buffet table. So, the waitresses were serving up from hot plates and I saw something nice and cheesy/saucy looking. I asked the Aunt what it was, and she told me that it was pizza. Well, who doesn't want pizza? I got a big fat piece and brough it back to the table. Halfway through the pizza and I wasn't liking it. It tasted funny and I couldn't find the bread. My Cousin (I think it was Larry but can't remember for sure) turned to me and said that it wasn't pizza but eggplant parmesan.

YUCK!

I abandoned my plate and joined my Zaydie on line to the big make your own ice cream sundae buffett. The next morning, about and hour before we had to leave for the airport, I was ralphing BIG time. Dad wasn't happy with me, and I was soo sick. I lost count on how long it took me to empty my stomach, but vowed to never again touch eggplant.

And, until a few weeks ago, I stuck to the vow. But one night, Buggy and I were out at our favorite Italian restaurant, and I ordered the antipasti. Well, it came with grilled eggplant and I decided to finally get over my eggplant fears and dig in. It was surprisingly very, very good! So yesterday, when we saw these little baby eggplants at the fruits and vegetable store, I bought it and decided to make it today as our vegetable side dish.

Here's how I prepared it..



Yup, pan fried baby in some olive oil with a little salt and black pepper. Yumm! I'll be pairing mine with a nice piece of salmon, while Buggy will get his with salmon and some pasta with sauted portobello mushrooms and onions.

I've been spending a lot of time in the kitchen since we moved here. Cousin Neil was right when he mentioned that we eat out too much, and since we're both watching our weight, I decided to try to limit our eating out. I've been making 3 meals for us for the past 2 days and I'm already tired! How do people do this all the time? It was really easy feeding myself, I ate what I wanted when I wanted. But now, I'm feeding for two! It's a lot of fun though, I'm looking forward to getting some new recipes when I'm back in the States. I think I need to learn new ways to prepare some of my typical fare.

Last night, I didn't get much sleep again. This time, it's the alarm guys fault. He came and we set up some of the specific aspects to the system. One of the modes is a "night" mode and that means that we were able to alarm some areas of the apartment while not alarming the others. But, there I was, lying in bed and I had to go to the bathroom. It was 2:00 a.m. and I was soo nervous that I was going to set off the alarm. Finally, I couldn't lay there any longer, and I crept like a cat burglar to the bathroom. I did my business and then decided not to flush (sorry to be graphic, but the alarm is LOUD!). I repeated this two more times during the evening, so it's no wonder why my face has broken out and my eyes have big bags underneath. I'm dog tired peeps!

I flushed this morning and then told Buggy the story when he came over. He laughed and promised that things would get better once I'm used to the place. I'm just thrilled we've got an alarm! I had nothing in my apartment in Tel Aviv!

Today was a productive day. We spent the morning in town, going to various places to run some errands, and picking up some additional freezer items for the week. Tomorrow, we're going to have to get some meat and chicken for Shabbos. The men came to install the gate at the front of the building and they needed to hook into our juice to power their drill. So, my afternoon walk on Emek didn't happen. I had to sit and wait for the men to finish up. It was worth it, I think the gate is really a nice addition to the building.

Buggy just ran out to duplicate some new keys and I'm trying to figure out when to marinate the salmon and how much pasta to cook him. In the meantime, I think I'm going to have to go back to studying for next week's final.

Crave of the Day is Dunkin Donuts munchkins in all different flavors! I could use a nice big box of munchkins right about now! Hmmm, I wonder if I'll be able to pick some up on the way from the wedding hall to our hotel. Hahah, can you imagine what the Dunkin Donuts employees would think if I ran into the building in my gown?? They'll probably think I'm crazy but who knows, I might have THAT much of an urge!