Zoe’s Journal

Well, hi. How was your weekend, might I ask?

Mine was just great. Fancy fine, in fact. On Friday, the LotR and I went to see the Suns play vs the Orlando Magic - we won, of course (but it got exciting toward the end). On Saturday, we didn’t do much. If I remember correctly, I just lounged around the house reading ‘A Storm of Swords’, book three in the Song of Ice and Fire series. Awesome books, those. There are still 3 more books still to come out! I hope the author doesn’t die first - like the author of The Wheel of Time series, who died in the last and final book of the 12-book (?) series. George RR Martin is getting kind of old, yeah? Eh… he’ll live. The force of my will shall make him live and finish those books.

But I digress. Saturday evening, we went to some sort of game developer bash - where the guys (and some girls) just sat around in a big building programming. Four of us sat down to watch Blue Velvet, which one reviewer described as “The Hardy Boys on drugs”. I brought a couple of books, just in case it was bad, but it was good…

Sunday morning, I got up in the morning around 10. I was expecting to go to a movie with a friend from work, but she wasn’t feeling well, so I hied myself off to go shopping - to a new store! Last Chance - all Nordstrom’s clothing, but at cheap prices - last chance, y’know? I ended up spending $50 and getting 8 great new sweaters. I’ll have to go back there to finish up my Christmas shopping.

Then, that afternoon, I had Callipygian come over, and we baked all sorts of cookies and brownies and stuff. Chocolate chip cookies, rice krispy treats, molasses spice cookies, and even some chocolate brownies. She took some home, and I put a lot of the rest in the freezer, so that I hopefully won’t have to bake so many for Christmas this year. She left around 6:00, and I got on the treadmill for a bit… by 7:30, I was sound asleep in bed. I slept until 3, when I woke up and realized that I wasn’t sleepy anymore. Meh. I slept again - until 6:20. Then I got up and got on the treadmill for a full half of an hour. Wow!

Now it’s time for some delicious soup - the LotR’s mother is coming to visit in January again, and we had best empty that freezer or else risk her mild disappointment…

Okay, okay. You asked for them - here they are. I personally strongly VOUCH for these potatoes:

Viktoria’s Hungarian Paprika Potatoes
1 - 1.5 medium-sized potatoes (peeled and chopped) per person
1 - 1.5 tbsp onion (chopped) per person
3 tbsp paprika (per person)
2 tbsp oil
pepper to taste

Cook the potatoes in salted water until they are very soft. Drain.
Fry onions in oil until transparent. Remove from heat. Add paprika and stir.
Be Careful Not to Burn the Paprika!
Pepper to taste…
Mix the potatoes into the seasoning - it’s OK if they break up. Just don’t make mush.
Eat immediately.

Now, on to the soups. Delicious!

Viktoria’s Hungarian Bean Soup
1 deciliter (cup?) brown pinto beans per person.
1 carrot.
Bit of fresh parsley and/or parsley root.
Smoked ham bit (optional)
2-3 tbsp oil
1-2 tsp flour
1 clove crushed garlic
1 clove crushed paprika root

Rinse beans in cold water and put in pan. Fill until the beans are covered by 1 - 1.5 inch of water.
Add in carrot, ham, parsley, and salt.
Cook until soft, adding water as needed.

Brown flour in oil until golden-brown. Remove from heat.
Blend in crushed garlic and 1 tbsp paprika.
Immediately pour 1 cup cold water into mixture and bring to boil.
Mix thickening into soup and sprinkle chopped parsley on top.

**Add egg noodles if desired.

This potato soup below is pretty much the best I’ve ever had. And EASY to make!

Viktoria’s Hungarian Potato Soup
3 middle-szied potatoes (peeled and chopped)
salt (plain or seasoned)
Sliced carrot
Chopped celery
Chopped parsley root

Put all ingredients into cold water. Cook until soft.

In small pan, brown the 2 tbsp flour in 2 tbsp oil until golden-brown.
Add 1 Tbsp finely chopped yellow onion - cook only a short while.
Remove from heat.
Add 2 Tbsp paprika - mix in quickly.
Immediately pour in 1-2 cups of cold water.
Stir, and mix into soup.
Cook until boiling.
Sprinkle chopped parsley leaves on top.

(this soup is pretty thin - add egg noodles if so desired)

There you have it! Three great, tasty recipes - and all can be used in vegetarian cooking as well.

It’s only Monday, and I already feel like I’ve been dragged around like a gnawed up dog bone. I was supposed to to go to Spanish class tonight after work, but I really didn’t feel like going, due to hunger, tiredness, and aching stomach cramps. Yeah.

So I left all of my books at work and drove on home. The LotR enthusiastically met me at the door, and we went grocery shopping. The vegetable drawer in the refrigerator looks absolutely lovely now. Plump tomatoes, yellow squash, green peppers, onions, carrots, and avocados. Mmmm. I also found some rice cakes, which sounded really good for breakfasts, pickled herring, strawberries, fresh-sliced cheese, and two bottles of wine.

Tonight we’re going to cook an ‘enchilada cheese stack’ (delicious, for those who don’t know what it is), pour a couple glasses of wine, and watch a John Wayne movie. Then maybe I’ll finish my Dragonlance book, Saving Solace. And cuddle with my delightful LotR.

Normally, the thought of food - thick, juicy steak and a baked potato piled with ‘the works’ - will make my mouth start watering and my body to become almost aroused. Those who know me, know what I’m talking about. Food. It’s delightful! How can one not enjoy it?

Lately though, my thoughts of that juicy steak and mashed potatoes have been somewhere along the lines of seeing a dirty, mangy heifer plodding along through ice-rimmed mud and her hooves striking a rotting potato that someone forgot to harvest during the summer. So it sat there for three more months, with all sorts of slimy creatures - beetles and worms - crawling around it. Touching it with their filthy essence.

I’ve lost my appetite. Oh, I get hungry. My stomach still growls.

Sugar has become a kind of plant sap that is processed by tired old machines, packed into dusty cardboard, and placed on grocery shelves by grimy-handed stockers. Ice cream has become the milk that oozes from a cow’s udders. Vegetables… well, you saw the potato thing. Bugs. Fruit? Same thing. Shrimp, my once favorite food, have become little critters who crawl around on the ocean floor with 6 legs and huge, beady eyes.

Tomatoes are nice… until I remember having grown them while I was young. You see those worms? They’re real. And they really do crawl all over tomato plants. And they ooze green goo when you smash them. And they’re HUGE. You’re talking about the size of your middle finger or larger. I HATE worms.

Water is okay, but it flows through rusty pipes with crusts of unkown ‘minerals’. And all off the water on earth has been on earth for millions upon millions of years… being used and re-used over and over again.

I’m looking forward to digital sustenance. When you can ‘Click Here’ for a good, full feeling.