Friday Before 9:00 AM

Three newspapers are thrown onto my driveway long
before the sun comes up. I can appreciate what
the newspaper delivery people go through, having
done the same job myself about twenty years ago
when times were a bit hard. I kept at it until
analyzing that the nickels and dimes that I pocketed
for each customer hardly paid for my gas and car
maintenance. In any event...

To me, the New York Times, Daily News, and North
Jersey Record newspapers represent a barometer of
my brain functioning. Each morning, I do the
crossword puzzles in each paper. When I was healthy
and un-drugged, I would zip through all of the croosswords
in about 45 minutes. At the height of my Oxycontin/Oxycodone
addiction, it took me all day, and on Fridays, rarely
finished the puzzles.

I am not entirely 100 percent, but as I give up the drugs,
my neural functioning improves. The fog lifts. The mind
works. I would much rather live with pain than tolerate
again that horrible curse brought on by opiates.

After finishing today's puzzles in just under two hours,
everybody still slept, so feeling energetic, I decided to
play in my kitchen. I cut up ripe cantaloupe, honeydew,
pineapple, and watermelon and put the pieces into the
fridge for the other occupants of my house to enjoy.
Even my Boston Terrier (Tyke) loves honeydew, but
cantaloupe is her favorite. Perhaps she has the internal
wisdom to know that cantaloupe not only tastes good,
but has more Vitamin C than oranges and more Vitamin A
than carrots.

I also chopped, sliced, and diced vegetables for dinner.
I am making Indian Food tonight. When I attended the
CIA (Culinary Institute of America) in 1976, I learned
a very important cooking concept: "Mis en Place" or,
"everything in it's place." Cooking dinner will take less
than ten minutes. I have green and yellow zucchini, carrots,
parsley, celery, red onions, garlic, shallots, cauliflower,
broccoli, red pepper, pablano and jalapeno peppers, broccoli,
potatoes, eggplant, and chick peas, ready to go.

I'll make three different dishes, combining ingredients
as I cook. To flavor, I'll be adding a wonderful vegan
powder consisting of pomegranate, mango, ginger, coriander,
cumin, and chili. That will probably result in an Aloe
Chole, cooked with potatoes and chick peas. The second dish
will contain a pistachio, saffron, cashew nut, coconut milk,
turmeric, and cardamom. Finally, I'll cook some tiny orange
lentils (takes about five minutes) flavored with a curry
sauce.

I have a half dozen different varieties of rice in my
grain cabinet, and nothing beats Basmati rice with
Indian food.

Note: Here is where I purchase my Indian flavorings:

http://tinyurl.com/2r7jk5

Enjoy your weekend!

Robert Cohen
http://www.notmilk.com