Knee in Waiting

There are 15 days left until I have my Total Knee Replacement. Surgery is set for 9/1/09 at 2:30 PM. While I am scrambling to get all my work lined up and organized for the three weeks I will be unavailable, I feel like I am personally on hold with the universe. I have shifted from "When is it going to happen" to "What I will do when it has happened." In the meantime...i cook.

Julia and Julie was such an amazing influence- and not necessarily a good one. Friday morning, I wanted an egg on toast for breakfast. After all these years of Pam in a Non-Stick Pan, I got out -no, not a knob of butter- really just a teaspoon. As it melted slowly, I put in one fresh egg and cooked it just till the white was mostly solid. I pulled it off the heat, dropped in a little cotija cheese and gently folded the egg over the cheese, stirring easily till it all became one. I glowed from the taste all day.

Last night, a friend came for dinner. I had thought about the meal all week. There was the Columbian flank steak marinated in beer, with cumin, oregano and green onions. The lovely Aji sauce should have been too hot with jalapenos but was instead perfect, the Texas caviar and fresh corn rounded out the edges. And for dessert? Yeaaaahhhhhhh!!!! Chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and praline topping. No, I didn't take a picture, but hopefully, this will lead you there.
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/07/chocolate_cake_with_ganache_and_praline_topping

Not satisfied with that evening of indulgence, this morning I watched a YouTube video of Gordon Ramsey making scrambled eggs. This was a whole different Gordon Ramsey from the obnoxious screamer on Hell's Kitchen. This was a laid back charming Brit who amde vaguely risque comments regarding taking beautifully scrambled eggs to the missus in bed. So what did I do? I went back to the stove and proceeded to put his ideas into practice, treating scrambled eggs like risotto and at the last minute folding in a few tablespoons of cheese and chives. Oh, sublime. No, I'm not drowning them in butter, though there is certainly some in there. At any rate, cooking is almost all I can do right now and I am probably doing too much of it. In September, it will all be leftovers and simple things Tim can do without stress. Maybe that will be an incentive all on it's own.