random truths – Day 1,026 (Saturday) – negative events

The most splendiferous day began with a negative COVID test. Finally, and hooray. There are still sniffles, but at the normal winter level of mild snot suckery and not the recent excessive volume of gross unwellness.

Early in the afternoon, the idea struck to peel, chop, and boil the few remaining potatoes. Before I could think too long or procrastinate my way out of it, potato peels were flying from the last three white potatoes and a lone sweet potato. Part of the idea was to also drain the water from the cooked potatoes into the latest batch of soup after having read that potato water and pasta water both thicken soups. The plan for the potato chunks was to mash and bake them in a dish with pretend meat crumbles and mixed frozen vegetables in a loose interpretation of shepherd’s pie.

In a scene of domestic industriousness, laundry tumbled in the dryer and potatoes cooked on the stove in my favorite saucepan. In the living room, Amazon was being browsed for scarves that were being imagined worn in Rome in March, and new drapes for the dining room sliders and café curtains for the window over the kitchen sink. No suitable drapes or curtains were found, but there are six scarves in the shopping basket pending further deliberation.

Oops. 

At some point during Season 2 Episode 2 of Netflix's Ginny & Georgia, a charred, burnt smell wafted into the living room. That’s when I remembered the potatoes, which had been unattended for about an hour because I totally forgot I was cooking. 

The water had boiled out. The top surface of the potatoes looked ok, but beneath that, potatoes were blackened and stuck to the pan. So much for adding potato water to the soup. The whole thing started from a desire to not waste the aging potatoes, so they were mashed with butter and milk and mixed with Italian blend cheese. The bottom of the baking dish was layered with the browned fake meat crumbles and a layer of Italian blend cheese and topped with the mashed potatoes.

Tasty, considering.

The oven timer was set to prevent another fragrant but negative kitchen mishap like burning down the house. A candle was lit in the living room in an effort to cleanse the air. It wasn’t until partway through the baking it was realized I forgot the vegetables. 

After 30 minutes, the timer buzzed and the dish was removed from the oven. It was pretty good. A smoky flavor was infused in the potatoes, but it was mild and not horrible.