Temptation

I’m going to talk about food in this post. Before I do, I want to stress that I’m grateful I’m not worrying about food. I know a lot of people are.

This plague has a lot of us keeping more food on hand than we’re used to. Food management is learned. Budgeting, discipline, planning. And if you’ve followed this blog, you saw this coming – Home Economics 101. Anthony Bourdain talked about home economics in Medium Raw. I almost gave that book away. Glad I didn’t. I want to read that section again.

I’m bad at it. I used to buy groceries regularly, and my poor planning (single, out a lot) resulted in a lot of food being tossed out. I don’t have any good excuses here. I grew up around someone who makes sure that everything from the grocery store finds its way into a delicious meal. Hi mom. When things did get thrown out, it was that avocado or apple that sneaked by the quality control person. Rotten on arrival.

But I’ve made some progress during the pandemic. For example, I had a light, late lunch today. Chickpeas, grape tomatoes, Laughing Cow cheese, cauliflower, and some olive oil. You say weird, I say delicious. I put half of it back in the fridge. For (first) dinner I just chucked in a can of tuna. Voila.

Night Owl + Food in the Fridge = Temptation. Stay with me. Something segue this way comes.

I’ve been Netflixing Merlin (or The Adventures of Merlin?). I was obsessed with the Arthurian legends as a kid. I loved Excalibur. I grew up thinking Carmina Burana was a martial song celebrating the chivalry of the Knights of the Round Table. Arthur and his knights, outnumbered, riding off to face Mordred. But here’s how Wikipedia describes the piece.

The selection covers a wide range of topics, as familiar in the 13th century as they are in the 21st century: the fickleness of fortune and wealth, the ephemeral nature of life, the joy of the return of Spring, and the pleasures and perils of drinking, gluttony, gambling, and lust.

I have a ton of complaints about the show Merlin. There are a lot of things wrong with it. But I keep watching. They weave in a lot of the legendary characters, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and the actors, despite being campy sometimes, aren’t phoning it in. They know they’re being campy.

But this isn’t about Merlin. It’s about temptation, late at night. Just have a snack. So I got an English muffin, used the second half of an avocado (that’s the circle back, the tie in to home economics!), spread some Laughing Cow (Laughing Cow, I am not above ridiculously profitable sponsorships) on the muffin, sliced up some grape tomatoes and a pickle, and added some jalapeño mustard for good measure. It was fantastic.

It’s way too late to be crafting sandwiches. Need to start running again, or that 1 sandwich will become 2 sandwiches.

My mom told me something my dad’s mom was fond of saying. Trust people, but don’t tempt them. I’m sure it had Biblical origins, but I can picture her saying it, generously and genuinely. Don’t leave that red purse on the dashboard while you go for a hike. I feel like my refrigerator didn’t get the memo. Its demon voice calls out throughout the day and night – hey idiot, there’s food in here!

For the record, that was a nice light sandwich. I think it’d be perfect for a summer walk and picnic. Now I’m off to look up the difference between grape tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes are a thing, right?