Those long rambling talks...

From time to time, my dad and I will get on the phone and talk and talk and talk and before I know it, it's been an hour or even two and one of us realizes it's probably kind of late and we are tired and need to go to bed.  I really love those rambling talks.  More often, it's just a quick hello while I'm walking to or from the train, or on my way to the store, or on my lunch break.  I treasure the long talks.  We talk about everything.  Last night, while we talked, I finished up the chocolate pudding pie I had started when I got home from work.  FYI: if you ever start whipping cream in the KitchenAid, and then walk away so that the noise doesn't drive your dad bonkers on the phone, and it whips a little too long, you can add a little more cream, stir it up, and whip it again to save it.  Just don't walk away again.  If your dad is like mine, he will wait patiently while you watch for the cream to get perfectly whippy. 

After I finished putting the whipped cream on the pie, I roasted some vegetables to take for lunch at work, and he told me funny stories from when he lived in Greenwich Village in the seventies.  I walked out on the deck and watched a summer thunderstorm roll in, all dark purply clouds and distant thunder.  I was in and out, talking, writing down some of the funnier things Dad said.  The storm broke like a water balloon over the city, and of course that's when I realized that I wanted to put fresh basil in my roasted veggies.  Grabbed some scissors and walked out in the rain for my first harvest of the season!  One lovely sprig of fresh basil (ah the joys of buying plants instead of seeds), snipped, chopped, and tossed in!

I wish my dad were here to have a piece of pie at my kitchen table.

Brown Rice and Roasted Vegetables

I made this specifically for take-to-work lunches.  I didn't plan ahead for it, I just used things I had on hand.  I would like to do something similar to this each week, so that I can save money on lunch, and also so that I can dictate what I eat, instead of trying to rely on restaurants every day.  You could do this about a million different ways, and you could incorporate leftovers if you happened to have some.  Grill the vegetables, use different beans, change the seasonings, use quinoa, wheatberries, or kamut instead of rice.

2 cups cooked brown rice
3 carrots, peeled and halved or quartered, depending on how big they are
2 yellow summer squash, quartered
1 onion, cut in 8 pieces
1 bunch asparagus, tough ends trimmed
3 cloves garlic, smashed
olive oil
lemon juice
salt and pepper
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
about 1/4 cup fresh basil

Put all the veggies (not the basil) in a bowl, and dress with olive oil and fresh lemon juice, salt, and pepper.  Toss to coat.  Lay them out in a single layer onto a foil-lined (unless you like scraping up burned bits) baking sheet.  Roast for 20 minutes in a 450 degree oven, until starting to char, and barely softened.  Return to the bowl, and let cool until you can comfortably handle them.  Chop them all into small, uniform pieces.  I think mine were about 1/2-inch little cubes.  Combine with brown rice, beans, and basil, taste, and add a little more olive oil and lemon juice, and salt if it needs it. 

Makes about 4 lunchtime servings.