the continuing misadventures of corrie
Starring Corrie as herself
Well. Yep.
I had some delicious chickpea curry that Pam gave me to take to school for lunch.
They had a lot of it + Daryl was away and I didn't feel like cooking = happy time for Corrie.
Did I mention I didn't feel like cooking? I was too lazy to make rice. We've made the total switch over to brown rice which takes about twice the time of white rice and it was probably late and I didn't have forty minutes of cooking time on my hands. So I thought, "Couscous!" Hooray! I love couscous and don't eat much of it because Daryl doesn't like it.
Daryl being out of town + Corrie being lazy = happy couscous eating
Couscous is one of those ridiculously easy things to make. I don't think it's even considered cooking. You take couscous and an equal amount of boiling water. Pour the water over the couscous and cover it for about five to ten minutes and then fluff with a fork. (fluffing with a fork is apparently very important, it ALWAYS says to "fluff with fork" on all the directions) So easy.
I was first introduced to couscous when I lived in France. I had never had it, but once I did, it was love at first fluff. It's distantly related to cream of wheat as they are both semolina. Both of which I love and Daryl doesn't love. Huh. Just made that connection right now... We used to keep our cream of wheat in jar above the stove on which Kurt had written his name on a piece of masking tape. He must have been pretty young when he did it because he wrote it perfectly backwards: truK. Thus giving birth to a long lasting nickname. I think of this often when I have cream of wheat. But I digress...
On that cold February night I turned on the kettle, poured out some couscous and got my fork ready for fluffing. A few minutes later lifted the lid with fork poised only to discover a gross sludge. What the what?
Did I mention it was late? Maybe I had made a mistake in measuring the water and added way too much. Got everything ready again, lifted the lid a few minutes later ready to fluff and SAME MESS!
I called Pam, "How do you make couscous? It's been a while for me and mine isn't turning out right." She was shocked, SHOCKED to hear this question coming from my mouth (it's that easy to make) I think Oscar even stopped nursing out of shock, it was that shocking. "But, but you taught me how to make it!" she said once she had gotten over the shocking shock of it all and Oscar was happily latched on again. "I know, but I can't seem to get it to work." The master had become the student. So humbling.
I gave it a try again, measuring everything exactly, no ahhhh-that-looks-about-right like I usually cook. Folks, five minutes later there was a goopy, gross mess in the bowl. I finally gave up in dismay and had chickpea curry with no starch (YES you read correctly, chickpea curry with no starch! The horror!) for lunch the next day.
How horribly sad. What a tale of woe. My husband away for three days and me losing my sensibilities and not able to make couscous any longer. Those were dark days. What would I lose next? The ability to chew gum? The memory of the sun on my skin?
A few days later I was cooking (and thrilled that I could manage such complex tasks) when I moved the garlic powder to discover this:
I had grabbed the cornmeal and was trying to make couscous out of it.
FYI: it doesn't work.
Last night I made chickpea curry and made couscous to go with it. Here's what I did differently this time: I USED COUSCOUS!
Chickpea curry + couscous + last night = Corrie's brain less worried about itself.
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3 comments:
HOly CRAP, I almost peed my pants reading that. I should've known the problem was something completely different!! That's almost as good as Justin's flour/cornstarch pie story. Except he was a novice cook. Better get your glass markers out.
I thought of you tonight as I made corn muffins... I wonder how they'd taste with couscous?
As I was reading about your Couscous mess, I just had the thought that it must of not been couscous. I have done the same mistake with some ingredients. Hope you enjoyed your meal. :)
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