Since moving to Baltimore I have come to greet Thursday with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I'm only one day shy of the weekend, and even closer to my favorite day of the week (Friday). On the other hand, it's the second of two days in the week that I have agreed to spend in our Bethesda office.
While I love a majority of the changes that have come with life in Baltimore: more space, car ownership, cheaper wares, closer to my family, there is one thing I loathe about my new life....the commute to Bethesda. To put it bluntly, it's a bitch. It takes me a solid 2 hours, door to door, to get from my apartment in Baltimore to my office in Bethesda. When I actually stop and think about all that goes into the commute (the insanely early rising, driving to the train station, taking the train to DC, and taking the Metro from DC to Bethesda) I get a slightly angry.
The train isn't all bad. I'm learning how to make the best of it from my fellow riders.
As you may suspect, alcohol is part of the solution to this problem.
Thus, I force myself to focus on the silver ling: my train and metro rides are paid for by work, I get to use my beloved noise canceling headphones to pass the time (in addition to reading, sleeping, and getting caught up on emails), and I only have to do it two days a week. The latter makes me so giddy that come Thursday afternoons I'm as anxious as a child on Christmas Eve. I cannot get off the train and home to my abode fast enough, all the while knowing that I won't have to return to life on the train until the following Tuesday.
Today I found myself especially anxious to get home as I'd failed to adequately pace my snacks throughout the course of the afternoon and thus was on the cusp of ravenous. Because I start my Bethesda days before the sun (4:30 to be exact), I'm beyond exhausted by the time I finally get home at the end of the day. Despite being both tired, and today hungry, I still usually want to cook something for dinner. As I've grown to enjoy, and dare I say love, cooking over the past couple years, cooking has become more a form of relaxation than a chore for me. I don't really make a menu or plan what I'm going to eat during the week ahead of time. Instead, I pick up things I think I'll likely be hungry for or want to eat during the week (along with the usual staples) and then just go where the wind (and my stomach) take me. One benefit to a long commute: I have lots of time to think about what I want for dinner and to research recipes if need be.
Tonight's dish de jour was one I've made before, but have to really be in the mood for to pull out of my tiny top hat: stir fry with peanut sauce. It's super easy, so I really wish I was hungry for it more than once every 6 months...and it's a great way to use up the hodgepodge of fresh veggies I so often have left in my fridge. This is a very free spirit dish (which is the complete opposite of my type-A personality) and perfect to round out a crazy work day.
Stir Fry with Homemade Peanut Sauce
Ingredients
Makes 2 servings
- 2 cups Shandong noodles (or an Asian variety of your choosing)
- 4 medium Brussels Sprouts, stems trimmed and halved
- 1/2 cup broccoli, stems trimmed
- 2 small carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 small leek, chopped
- 1/4 cup frozen peas
- olive oil, salt, and pepper, to taste
For Peanut Sauce
- 1 Tbsp peanut butter
- 2 Tbsps soy sauce
- 2 Tbsps sesame oil (I substituted olive oil because I didn't have sesame on hand)
- 1 Tbsp brown sugar
Things started out a little bumpy when I went to pick up the package of noodles and didn't realize I'd put in on the shelf upside down, thus spilling it all over the floor. Luckily, the package was huge so I was able to salvage the ones that weren't touching the floor (which was most of them) and press onward.
1. Bring pot of water to a boil and cook noodles according to package instructions.
2. Meanwhile, wash and chop veggies as desired. In addition to cooking, I've discovered peeling carrots to be extremely calming. I honestly think it's one of my favorite things, so if you ever need a bunch of carrots peeled, you know who to call!
3. Mix peanut sauce. Bax loved this part because she loves peanut butter more than anything else in the world...and because she knows that if she looks at me with her sweet puppy eyes I will put a little on a tiny biscuit treat for her. Sly, very, very sly.
4. Heat a Tbsp or two of olive oil in large sauce pan (I prefer my wok) and add in larger veggies first, then smaller ones after a couple minutes and cook until warm and at desired tenderness.
5. After noodles are cooked, drain and add to veggies.
6. Toss a time or two to combine, then add in peanut sauce. Toss until well coated.
Hello perfection
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