Cooking notes: Slow-fashioned potpie with biscuit crust

Oh boy did this turn out well. This, as previously mentioned, is from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, and comprises half of one of this week's tasks. :)

The recipe is very simple. Onions and carrots softened up with a few minutes on the stovetop in olive oil go into the pot with potato, chickpeas (garbanzo beans to me), frozen peas, and vegetable stock, with some soy sauce, salt, thyme, and savory. They cook for five hours at 200-250 F. Then a crust of flour, baking powder, baking soda, and milk goes on top, and it all cooks another hour at 300-350 F degrees.

The result, sitting here on my desk, is really tasty. The crust is puffy and flaky, and naturally broke up as I dished out a cup's worth. Nothing in here is hard or crunchy at all; it's almost like a highly variegated pudding.

Total fixing time: 10 minutes or so at the outset, and maybe 5 do to the crust and get it applied. (I am not good with pastry handling, but I think that experience will help.) This one's going into my repertoire for sure. I would be happy to serve it up for vegetarian and omnivorous company alike, too, it being one of those vegetarian dishes that has so much going on there's no sense of anything left out or substituted in a make-do-kinda-sorta way.

Mmmm.

A funny thing happened on my way to appointments

This has been a glorious day on the medical front.

First, Seattle Counseling Service called back for scheduling I'll be seeing the woman who did my intake interview - whom I liked and trusted right off - with my first session on the 1st. That's faster than I was expecting, and I'm really happy about it.

But it doesn't begin to compare to what happened next. I called Capitol Hill Medical, a GLBT-oriented physicians practice that SCS recommended, and they can see me tomorrow for an initial appraisal. That's very much faster than I was expecting; I'm not used to service like that from doctors.

I have to fast tonight, but that's okay. I have time to prepare stuff I can take with me and enjoy snacking on right after tomorrow's appointment.

I am so bubbly tonight. It's been years and years since I had a good general physician. It's hard to start from scratch explaining my condition to someone new. But part of the advantage of dealing with people used to work with GLBT patients is precisely that I'm not - between AIDS, transitioning, and all the rest, they have a broad foundation in systemic health strangeness. So I'm getting my info in order and really, really looking forward to this.

Weight Watchers week 5

A minor disappointment here: up a pound this week. But I got in good exercise (particularly the day I went to my counseling intake interview) and I'm eating right; I have a touch of a summer cold, and allergies from major work the landlady's doing in the backyard. I'm confident it will come back down.