Weekly goals, 28 June 2009

This time I'm planning with last week's upsets in mind, and expecting some more in this coming week's appointments.

# Prepare notes and questions for counselor and doctor sessions. Go feeling prepared.
# Choose places to eat after Wednesday and Friday appointments. Enjoy two meals out.
# Shop for some shorts in preparation for time with compression devices. Allow myself one clothing indulgence.
# Check out vascular specialists; go to Friday appointment with a reaction and preference.
# Get clothes ready for donation to Goodwill donated.
# Read three books purely for pleasure, with no thought of work relevance.
# Do 5 hours' free writing, with no topicality constraints at all.
# Fight down the urge to do anything about Project N this week, except maybe finishing the research reading in progress. Respect the stress, dammit.
# Take 5 pictures I want to share.

And that should do it for this week.

Cooking notes: Barbecued seitan and layered vegetables

This is just food porn, I swear.

This is my first time cooking with seitan, pronounced "say-Tan", which is basically wheat gluten. It's got a texture and consistency similar to a boneless skinless chicken breast, and slices up about the same way.

This particular dish starts with onions browned in oil in a skillet, and put into the bottom of the crockpot. A layer of potatoes follows, and a layer of yellow pepper, and then a layer of grated carrot. The recipe calls for zucchini, too, but I sometimes have trouble with that, so I just added more carrot. The seitan gets sliced into quarter-inch-thick chunks and browned too, and then goes on top of all that. Finally there's a classic barbecue sauce: tomato paste, dry mustered, molasses, soy sauce, vinegaar, brown sugar, and some water. That gets spooned on top of all.

The recipe says to cook it at low (200 F) for 6-8 hours. Having found that I like these recipes slightly more cooked, I ran it at 250 F for seven hours, with a walk to the library to help pass the time. Now I've got a cup of it sitting here while I figure out how many Weight Watcher points it is (6, if I'm doing my math right), and nibbling at it some. It is so good.

Visible in the picture: seitan, on the right, potato slices, onion curls at the back, and the sauce surrounding and embracing.