By the time I got home I was very shaky. It didn't make sense to me, because I really had started to feel noticeably better earlier that day. Until I remembered that because of my lack of appetite and recent fear of 'real' food, I had essentially not eaten since the Wednesday lunch debacle which set this whole chain of events into motion. All I'd had in 2 1/2 days was several glasses of tea, 2 yogurts, a handful of gluten free crackers, two bites of a plum, and a bowl rice cereal with almond milk. What an idiot. I needed real food. Yet, I felt too weak to cook.
Luckily, Amanda was home, so I called her into the kitchen to recruit her as my sous chef. I grabbed some CSA veggies from my fridge."Here: peel these," I said, handing her some carrots.
My hand was shaking so hard, it was difficult to hold my knife steady, but I didn't care. I quickly quartered some potatoes and a small onion, and threw those, with a head of garlic, and the peeled carrots, onto the well-seasoned oven stone and quickly salted everything. I turned the oven to 375 degrees, and set the timer for 40 minutes. "Come get me when the timer goes off" I said, and went straight up to my bed to lay down.
About 35 minutes later, I could tell by the aroma wafting up the stairs, through my closed door, that the roasted veggies were done. So I slowly got up and went down to check. They were done; the potatoes were perfectly browned, and the onion and carrots were caramelized.
I was actually hungry. And craving a meal. I ate a couple of the carrots right away, not even caring that they were still very hot. I called out to Amanda again to start some rice, which she immediately started making (which was really sweet, since I don't think I'd even said thank you to her earlier for her help.)
Meanwhile, I quickly threw together a veggie curry of sorts, using the chopped roasted veggies, adding an heirloom tomato for some acid, and chunks of a green & yellow summer squash to the saute pan. (Curried summer squash has oddly become sort of a comfort food to me.) Anyhoo, when it came time to add the spice I was nervous, thinking about how my tricky stomach might react. But, just how a really bad hangover calls to add the heat, this was calling to add the spice. I just kept shaking on the garam masala until it felt right (I'm guessing about a teaspoon). I let it cook in the pan until it got sticky looking and could smell the roasting spices, then poured in a healthy serving of coconut milk (maybe half a cup?) until it looked on the soupy side. I stirred it and turned the heat on low, and let it bubble away while the rice finished cooking- about 5 more minutes. Then I added a few shakes of salt and it was done!
Okay, I admit, seeing the picture now, it does not it look appalling. But the smell was heavenly. Don't ask me what they spices they put into the garam masala blend, I just know it's good. Spicy, but also very slightly sweet, with a hint of heat.
I served it over a small bowl of cooked rice. Didn't want to go all crazy with the serving size when my tummy is still riding on training wheels. It was very satisfying. And, so far, I'm feeling better, inside and out.
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