Ding, Ding, Ding Went the Bell

Roasted broccoli spears are super good and transform the regular flavors to something truly special. Right now broccoli is bountiful and inexpensive. I am a late bloomer when it comes to knowledge, not as sharp as I'd hoped. Sometimes the most obvious things are completly lost on me. Like cutting broccoli into spears. It was like a whole'nuther vegetable to me. I never got it before, how they got the spears attached to the florets. Just cut down the damn stalk and you've got yourself a spear. Eeediot! Bells are ringing, but only for me.

At work, we have a staff caf (eteria), and they serve BBQ chicken wings, ribs, mac and cheese, corn bread, fried plantains, lasagna, sweet and sour shrimp - All this amazing but fatTEE food that I can't really do unless I wanna gain tons of weight and be sleepy by 2pm. Instead, I eat the 'salad'. But its good, they provide fresh cherry tomatoes, black beans, cucumbers, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, olives, cauliflower and yep, broccoli. So my lunch is mainly raw with sometimes a scoop of tuna or hard boiled egg. All for 3 bucks! I could get a side of soup and a fountain drink with that if I wanted. My catholic guilt with only allow water though most days.
I've come to appreciate the 'staple' vegetables more and more. If you eat enough of something raw then any type of cook on it probably is a step up flavor-wise. Broccoli roasted in the oven can give the florets almost a meaty taste and the stems become tender and juicy. I usually add bread crumbs or cheese but this time only garlic, lemon juice and some sesame seed oil at the end.

The other night we had take out from National, a local Thai restaurant that has amazing curries and is also affordable. P had the Kang Kyo Whan Nuur - sliced beef with eggplant, bamboo shoots, peppers and carrots in a green coconut curry sauce. I had the Kan Masaman, which is the sliced beef with potatoes and peanuts in a masaman coconut curry sauce. Both really different. P's was better but mine was good too, more unique. It was a little sweet, no heat from chile and the potatoes made it feel more home style. It was actually better the second time around, as a side dish to the small steak and broccoli.