Good Monday, everyone! It's Monday of the Holy Week. Yes,we've embarked on the Holy Week which will eventually lead us to Easter. How are we doing so far, as far as observing Lent and Easter? Have we been prayerful, repentant, forgiving, giving alms, fasting/abstaining? Good. Me? I'm trying. That's all I can say. Thank God, we're alive and well.
What a lousy Monday weather we have over 757, otherwise known as Hampton Roads! We have overcast, cloudy sky, cold, chilly, and drizzly, as yesterday. What happened to spring, I wonder? Where's the sun, again? Will it remain hiding from us for days? I'm done with winter; enough with the snow, you know. Hey, Mr. Meteorologist, bring in the mild, sunshiny weather, please! Thank you.
What's for dinner today, Man? Wait a minute, let me check what's in our ref/fridge. Okay, we have these veggies that I bought from a chain grocery store: asparagus, broccoli, carrots, celery, green pepper, and onion. And frozen sliced okra, and broccoli, too. We also have frozen whiting and salmon, some sausages and meatballs, and frozen vegetables in small bags/packs. Now, I got an idea of what to prepare for dinner---steamed (or baked?) mixed vegetables arranged nicely in an aluminum tray, sprinkled with two or three tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and one-fourth cup of soy sauce, and baked fish with some butter in it.
While the bag of whiting is being thawed, I washed and sliced all the different fresh vegetables mentioned above. Man, it takes minutes to do them. The onion, even though how careful I peeled off and sliced, made me shed a bit of tears and it's not good for my teary, irritating eyes, especially the problematic right one. I had to go to the sink and wash my eyes. Man, what a day I got today! I started cooking the steamed rice on our rice cooker.
After all the veggies were sliced, I arranged them in an aluminum tray that I bought weeks ago from the Commissary. No, I didn't mix the vegetables in the tray. I arranged or grouped them in rows. Then, I sprinkled them with olive oil and soy sauce, covered the tray with an aluminum foil, set it aside. Next, on a separate aluminum shallow tray, I arranged the half-thawed whiting, and placed slices of butter on top of the fish. Then I set that tray aside. On a small round aluminum tray, the one they used in making apple or sweet potato pies, I arranged those big meatballs (ones that you can use as one bite mini-sandwiches). Everything was ready to go to the oven. Well, that's just me---I want everything ready before I start cooking. Unlike someone, that I know well, who doesn't have clue with regards to cooking even simple (healthy) recipes.
Cooking time. I know what you have in mind at this point in time. I should have preheat the oven, right? Well, I didn't because, as I've said, I wanted everything to be ready. Besides, it doesn't take minutes to preheat the oven. In two-three minutes, after setting it to 400 degrees, the oven was ready. All the trays were placed inside the oven. All I did was to wait for thirty-forty minutes. And, there you go...cooking time is over. Done! Now, taste tests followed. It's eating time, for me. Come on, join me, guys! Bring out that bottle of red wine. Bon apetit! Yummy! Thank you, gracious God.
This is all for now, my dear folks and friends. Until next time around. Take care and have a holy, peaceful day, everyone! As always, I pray, "May God bless us all!"-chris a. quilpa, 25 Mar 2013
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