Friday randomness

1. I found $5 next to my car when I left the gym yesterday. If I found $5 every time I went to the gym, I'd be A LOT more willing to go.

2. I'm sitting a home today because of a predicted major snow storm. When I was growing up (and attending school in this same district) I remember one horrible winter morning--when my mom kept me and my brother home despite the fact that school was in session--and we stood at my bedroom window and watched our school bus not make it up our street to our bus stop. I don't think we're wimpier than we used to be--I think there are more people who would sue the school if the weather ended up being bad and there ended up being an accident, I think it's harder for kids to go home in the middle of the day because there isn't anyone who's there or can get there at a half hour's notice, I think there are tons more kids who don't have warm enough, sturdy enough clothes to be out in any kind of weather. It all makes me kind of sad. But it is snowing harder now and maybe this will end up being a good call on the part of the school district.

3. Two nights ago I made baba ghanoush. For the second time. This week. It was sooooooo good. Derek and I both like to snack, so I'm always looking for some healthy and economical snack things for us to have around. Those of you familiar with the humuus--food processor--injured foot saga from the week of our wedding probably understand that I've been reluctant to try making my own dip again.* This week, I was listening to the Splendid Table on NPR and someone called in asking for ideas about how to use of tahini. The host mentioned baba ghanoush, which is an eggplant-tahini puree. When I went to the grocery store later, eggplant was on sale, so I took that as my message to make baba ghanoush. The recipe is from allrecipes.com, which is my favorite recipe site. I've cooked some with eggplant before, but there always seemed to be a lot of peeling, slicing, salting, draining and baking before it was even ready to put in a recipe. Frankly, I never found it tasty enough to be even close to worth all the work. What I love about this recipe is that you poke the eggplant a bunch of times with a fork and stick it in the oven for about 40 minutes. Once it's out and cooled a little, you can peel it with your fingers. Super simple. I've been eating it on crackers and tortillas and, once I start eating it, I have a hard time stopping, thus the need for a second batch. BTW, I skipped the sesame seeds (which seem a little redundant with the tahini) and it really does need to sit a few hours before it tastes good.

*Cliff notes version of the humuus--food processor--injured foot saga: Derek loves the premade humuus from the store and could eat several cartons of it in a week. Figuring I could save us quite a bit of money by making it from scratch, we asked for a food processor for a wedding gift. Some of my wonderful girl friends got it for us as a shower gift. The Sunday before our wedding, I decided to open the food processor and make my first batch of humuus. In my attempt to get the machine out of the box, I dropped it on my foot, cutting open my big toe and breaking the food processor. Once my toe stopped gushing blood, I finished the humuus--using a blender--and it was pronounced "not as good as the store kind." I decided it just wasn't worth the trouble.