Three Beautiful Things 02/16/15: Emergency Trip to Shoppers, Averting a Dog Food Disaster, Green Curry

1.  The Deke and I spent another night at Molly and Hiram's and awoke to a bulletin that our region would be ravaged, starting in late afternoon, by a massive snow storm and that we could expect the DMV region to be paralyzed.  I sped to Shopper's supermarket and piled a shopping cart high with eggplant, onions, mushrooms, broccoli, yellow squash, cans of tomatoes, coconut milk, curry paste, bullion, and other emergency supplies, saving us a trip to the store in Greenbelt, should we be fortunate to make it back to our apartment home alive.

2.  We joined other drivers grayed with anxiety on the Capital Beltway and made our way back to Greenbelt.  Surprisingly, our trip went smoothly, but when we arrived, I realized we were dreadfully low on dog food.  I decided I could get to the Co-op and back ahead of the impending doom of the snow storm.  Once at the store, I helped an elderly woman load her groceries in her car and then entered the Co-op where I jostled my way through the mob of other frightened shoppers and plucked a bag of Rachel Ray dog food off the shelf, picked up Dingo treats for the dogs as well, paid the nearly frozen and dispirited checker, and got back to our apartment home before the snow event got underway.

3.  Earlier in the day I had bought green and red curry paste and decided that green curry would be a great dinner as the temperatures continued to plunge and the snow started to blanket our region.  I had also, for the first time in my life, bought coconut oil.  I sauteed onion, garlic, and ginger in the coconut oil, then added cauliflower, green beans, mushrooms, eggplant, and red pepper.  While these vegetables slowly became tender, I made a mixture of green curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, soy sauce, and turmeric, dumped it in the vegetables, let them cook more, and then poured in nearly two cups of coconut milk and added cilantro and spinach.  While this awesome Thai mess cooked, I had been making brown rice, and soon the Deke and I were eating bowls of a warming dinner, a perfect way to fight off the cold and wind and snow outside our sliding glass doors.