Tonight was inspired by a book that I failed to return to the library ( I guess by now its a permanent item in my collection) called “Alone in the kitchen with an eggplant.” Not that there are any actual eggplants in my kitchen – I do not wish to upset one ‘Katherine the wife.’  However, on a completely separate point, she regularly keeps poison fruit in the house at most times, and even talks on about how delicious apples are and how she couldn’t live without them.  Anyway, the book is about cooking for one person, themselves or yourself, and how people approach this scenario.  It might be a complete breakdown of all adult maturity and one eats uncooked ramen, chucks of cheddar cheese, and potato chips dipped in krab dip, or frozen pizza with a side of blue box mac, or a complete avoidance of the need to refuel and go straight for cereal and yogurt, or those select special few that decide that they deserve a meal more well prepared and personal then that normal reserved for a love ones birthday.  I, of course, belong to this last category of species, and really had to talk myself out of buying diver scallops for dinner.  I just lost my god damn job, and it takes my complete will power to not spend $40 on dinner for one.  Blue box mac is so much cheaper.

So compensation, and compromise, and we arise at a menu that can please both myself and more importantly, my myself again.  I went to the grocery store that has discount vegetables, and that is where this culinary journey begins. The discount rack at Edgewater produce.  The bounty that was discovered there!  I opted with turnips and red bell peppers, then picked up the regularly price beets with stems attached, mushrooms, arugula, parsley, that’s it,  Off to the jewel for ocean perch, that’s it.  Homeward, on the battlefield complied the dinner one for one (items not mentioned above where located in the pantry):  arugula salad with roasted beets, hazelnuts, goat cheese, balsamic; roasted turnip purée with rosemary served with brown butter perch, topped with beet stems and greens, mushrooms and onions.  For dessert, dark chocolate.

Epic fail: no picture

Epic win: everything else.