It all began with a Sunday Brunch

I have a significant backlog of stories I might like to write here. However, the stories for this blog are mostly about what I'm doing and who I am now, not the me I used to be.

I began today with a clever brunch scheme at my funny, lovely house.

Allow me to briefly introduce my house so you might get a sense of this story: There are currently 17 of us in a huge 100-year-old house. We are a co-op, so technically we own the place. We share the chores, the maintenance, the finances, communal food, and we all meet each week. We decide things by consensus. As our state representative half jokingly proclaimed while he visited to get to know more about us, our living situation is kind of a communist plot.

Safia (my housemate and our resident Math nerd) and I had an informal potluck brunch for all interested parties. Since it's almost the week before finals, it was pretty quiet. She made pan fried potatoes and yams, I made tofu scramble (recipe below).

Then John, Eve, Richard, Miles, Zoe, Safia and I had a nice breakfast together followed by a compelling game of "Sorry." People who didn't play were official hecklers. They did their jobs well: Miles excelled at saying sorry in a loud, grating voice whenever someone got bumped off of their spot. John approached the game with his firm belief in Karma, and made sure to inform all of us of the energies he was channeling from the room to ensure his success. I had a slightly existentialist view that the game is almost entirely chance. Eve lost her voice from a cold, so she just made rude gestures. Safia won, but it was close.

Song of the week: "Hours Last Stand." Elvis Perkins. Dearland 2008.


Tofu Scramble: (readers should note I almost never measure anything)
Firm tofu
Bell Pepper
Carrot
Onion
Garlic
Jalapeño
Nutritional yeast
Curry powder
Salt/Bragg's liquid aminos/Soy sauce
Black pepper
Agave/honey
Canola oil

Crumble the tofu into 3/4" amorphous blobs with your hands. Chop up all the veg until it's pretty small, especially the garlic. Dry roast the jalapeño whole until it's blackened on a few sides, then take out the seeds and cut off the stem. Add enough curry powder and nutritional yeast that the tofu turns yellow. Add black pepper and the salt (or aminos/soy sauce if you'd rather). Add the tiniest bit of agave or honey. Mix it all up in a big bowl.

Heat up some canola in a skillet (cast iron is what I like) and throw in the ingredients. Just cover the bottom of the skillet with a 1" layer of stuff; cook it in batches if there's too much. Leave it to get a little brown for a bit before you try to flip it. Tofu likes to be slightly crispy on the outside. Cook it until the onions are clearish.