Friday, July 18, 2014

Strange Powers

I've been back in Peshkopi for a few days now. While the weather is hot and sweaty in the south of Albania, Peshkopi continues to look as if it's going to rain.

It's 3 o'clock, and I'm cooking some food that will hopefully last me until tomorrow evening. I just took the pilaf out of the oven and a pot of fasule soup has simmered for its second hour of four on the stove.

As someone passionate about cooking, I find fasule to be a useful exercise for an often overlooked culinary quality: self-restraint. Without delving too deeply into the cooking process, today's pot contains 1/4 kilogram of white (perhaps navy) beans, one small onion, one very small carrot, one tbsp of tomato paste, water, and a little salt, pepper, and butter. It's tempting to get fancy with this dish and feels awkward cooking with such small quantities of vegetables. I've cooked the dish twice before and consider my previous attempts "works in progress" at best. This time, I held back on green peppers, chicken stock, and most all my creative impulses. However, so far, it looks as if I'll be proving the old adage: "third time's a charm."

Continuing the trend of my last post, today's title comes from a song that I've been listening to a lot lately: "Strange Powers" by The Magnetic Fields.

My new carpet!

New body soap that I bought, an impulse purchase that I'm quite proud of. 

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