SunBurst of Simmer

[ismo]

It was a beautiful day--perfect summer weather. It rained a little in the night and early morning. I got up a little late after being awake for an hour before dawn. I can tell you from personal observation that at this time of year, the birds start singing every morning right around 5:40. I did some grocery shopping and put everything away. I got almost another thousand words in. The long-awaited kidnapping is in progress. I used the two eggplants that I picked yesterday to make a stir-fry of eggplant, beef, and basil, with garlic and ginger. I sort of smushed together a couple of different recipes, because I didn't have all the correct ingredients. It was a different kind of flavor. It's nice to break out of the ordinary frame sometimes. I also used the leftover mujadara and made kind of an unusual lentil soup out of it. To be blunt, I think they burned the mujadara. I know it's supposed to be cooked dark, but they went too far. I added more onions, carrot, and parsley, plus broth. It's still not exactly the way I want it, but I think that eating it with some Greek yogurt may remove the lingering hint of burnt taste. If not, the hell with it. One must experiment every now and then.