No Reason, Just Seems So Pleasing

I received another two huge bags of dried mushrooms from the 3caps farm!  One of which was Oyster.  What do I know from dried Oyster Mushrooms?  And apparently not a lot of other people do either unless I'm missing something from the interwebs.  You reconstitute everything the same, so I started there and just sauteed to familiarize myself with the taste.

For the first time out with these woody grey aliens, it wasn't bad. A little chewy, so I need to understand how to tenderize them.  Peas, sausage, homemade hot sauce over spicy corn meal masa.

True, not the most obvious pairings but you gotta use whatcha got.

In the Middle of the Road, You See the Darndest Things

This is a delicious black bean burger and the secret to making it taste like meat is a little pat of butter on a hot grill pan.  That allows the bean to sort of blacken and somehow magically transforms the taste.  I've made a boatload of veggie burgers but this is my favorite highly seasoned with cumin and a smoky chili powder.  Can of black beans drained but not rinsed, smashed up, add 1/4 cup oatmeal, grated onion, any leftover vegetables, flax seed, an egg white. Went so well with this jazzed up corn and tomato salad with Feta.

So out with my confession. On my recent Midwest Family tour we hit a beaver with our rental car.  The beaver was just there suddenly on the busy highway.  At first a fuzzy blob and then he came into full view.  Right out in the middle of the lane, and as if to sense us coming too, he stood up.  Right before we hit, I felt us all locked in a moment that seemed to run in slow motion yet happen super quickly.  My eyes grew to twice their size.  I would swear he was looking right at me.  I turned and screamed something to Patrick. Was it 'Beaverrrrrr!!!?'.  I caught P turning from looking at me to us now both facing forward and yelling.  Then thump.  Then silence.  I immediately contorted my body to see him out of my back window, a dark lump in the road but only for a second and then it was too far to make anything out.  P said he ducked down in time and was 'probably alright' but he says stuff like that when he thinks I'm gonna make a big deal out of something that he doesn't want to have to listen to.  I just sat quietly for a moment wondering if there was any way that could be true.  We didn't stop.  It wasn't the sort of shoulder you could safely pull over onto.

But even further I had commented the whole week on just how much road kill was along the highway.  We passed maybe 25-30 dead animals. Deer, possum, skunk, assorted non identifiables.  And now a dead beaver.  A morose thought but when I flattened that black bean burger on the grill pan with my spatula....and no, that beaver was not 'alright'.

I Gotta Have Some of Your Attention.... Give it to Me!

Was this corn meal mash as good as I believe it was?
At first sight this plate looks pretty boring but that chicken was baked to a juicy perfection and that corn meal was heaven.  Cheesy, a little spice, creamy but with enough corn grittiness for it to be hearty and more than pleasing.  And I have to say, the green beans, a perfect accompaniment.

I often wonder, is anyone special? 
Is everyone special?
I know acting is a real craft but are TV personalities really any different or do most people have the ability to play characters and be charismatic with the proper tools, lighting and direction?
Do we all carry some unique beauty or talent that if unleashed and filmed, we all have the capacity to shine on stage or screen?

But it also raises the question, is anything really distinctive? 
Was I just super hungry and anticipating the tasty mash because I already know I usually love it?
Do I know what good baked chicken tastes like and so I arrived at happy before even biting into the crispy skin?

Did you ever notice that when you first meet people they might seem so ordinary but after a few weeks you might find that same person intriguing in one way or another.  You find their quality even if it's faint.  You can't put your finger on it but that person gets a distinction in your mind.  They're filed and classified as friend, foe or pending.  Some need more research but one thing is for sure is that they are individually different. 

Or the opposite, when you meet someone and they shine so bright you can't ignore their presence even if you wanted to, whether you like them or not?  Is presence specialness? Or do special people usually have presence but presence does not necessarily mean someone is special?

This corn meal mash was that exceptional tonight.  The spices were that perfect balance of the cheese and texture.  It doesn't always happen this way.  I've certainly made standard blobby mash before, in fact probably the last three times.  It was good but not that good.

Perhaps we aide in the specialness status by hoisting our picks up the ladder and with enough nudges, people recognize their potential and that recognition grows like a virus until the perception becomes the reality? 

Could that work with food though?  Someone who does not like the taste of corn might not be moved when that combination hits their pallet. It may be perfect only to me, therefore special only to me, although P loved it too and I waited for his reaction.  He definitely got that it was really good and went on about it for a long time.  He made a point to say it was indeed special.