okra lovin

OK, I'm still not really convinced that I like okra - I think that it's just coincidence that every dish I've had with okra since I moved here is yummilicious.

But now I'm taking the next step. Chopping up my own okra. So there it is, in its own bowl - by the yams and carrots and onions and peppers (red bell and anaheim) and short-grain brown rice (yes, it matters, definitely) and peanut oil (the trick here - high heat cooking) and tomatoes (I only eat fresh if I grow 'em myself - otherwise they taste like plastic) and cayenne pepper and Tony Chachere's.

Oh - I forgot to picture the peanut butter and awesome Italian tomato paste in a tube that I found at Central Grocery when I stopped by one time for a muffaletta. Yes, there's peanut butter and all this other stuff in this soup, as well as chicken - which I'm not displaying here for the faint of heart. This recipe is slightly different than the West African soup I was making a lot of this fall - mostly with the addition of the okra.

Two things should be clear from this picture: why I need a dishwasher (because I use so many dishes when I cook and my hands break out when I have to wash much by hand) and why I need a backyard (it can't be hard to grow all these things in New Orleans - and I always make friends when I give away fresh produce ... I'll just have to negotiate because he has a lawn back there with yardcare, and I'd rather not pay for pots).

So, I called the guy back and I'm moving in. I'll go back tomorrow and give him a check and find out when I can move in (the people moving out are waiting for their Lakeview house to be finished painting). Hopefully I can work it out with Ahmed's schedule because he's Super Duper Moving Man; otherwise I'm sure I can draft some folks. And I called my landlady and told her I'll be out before the end of the month.

Now I just need Jen to come visit and help me paint. Not that I have permission to, and it looks fine like it is now (a drab dark beige, like where I live now).

I'm just so FREAKIN STOKED about having a house again where I can have people over and really live. And I'll have space for guests! It's only one bedroom, but there's plenty of space in the front two rooms for visitors - and my bicycle. And maybe even a TV.

Yes people, I'm actually talking about owning a TV. I miss Netflix, I realized when I was at the yurts - I had it when I stayed with Susan last summer, and it was great fun.

OH! An excuse to go on a roadtrip to a place with an Ikea!!