This morning was a continuation of dental work. It wasn’t bad like having a root canal. I watched The Deadliest Catch and I think they lasered my gums or something. Anyway, the numbness is gone but there’s no intense pain or death or anything. True, I’m on some painkillers (3 ibuprofen), but this is still a pretty good deal.

As I prep for apartment living I’m plotting and scheming eating locally and seasonally. With the help of a friend this may not just be probable, it may be AWESOME. We’re talking about going in together on a share in a CSA. That’s a Community Supported Agriculture group, kids. And this one provides some very nice food options in addition to the lovely variety of produce. It would mean having to find some creative recipes to use a variety of veggies, but I’m up for the challenge. Vegetables and I are slowly becoming friends. And the more I meet, the more veggie friends I make.

Speaking of veggies, I made a delicious lunch and at least 2 days worth of bento today. I used a convenience food of awesome: Trader Joe’s Fire Roasted Vegetables in Balsamic Butter Sauce. Cause vegetables are good for you, but maybe you have a bad relationship with them. Maybe you loved green beans at the tender age of 3 and declared them “yucky” by the age of 6. The truth is, even the veggies you don’t love (like carrots!) can be fantastic with a flavorful sauce that brings out the yummy taste of the vegetable.

Which brings me to the Roasted Veggies in Balsamic Butter Sauce. They’re awesome. Microwave them a few minutes and you’ll have a bowl full of delicious smells. This mix has carrots, peppers, pearl onions, green beans, and the occasional tomato or button mushroom. They are covered in a delicious balsamic butter sauce that tastes every bit as good as it smells.

Today I was in the mood for a slight bit of comfort food so I put some naan in the oven (also from TJs). While it was warming up I boiled water and found my veggies. I put the veggies in the microwave and some spaghetti noodles in the water. After everything was cooked I tossed the spaghetti with some EVOO and a little basil and oregano. Some noodles went in the bento for tomorrow, some went in a bowl for later in the week, and the rest stayed in the original bowl. Then I put veggies in the bento, a tupperware container, and my bowl. I sprinkled the bento contents with a bit of parmesan cheese and put a bit of cheese on my noodles, too.

So I had spaghetti with balsamic butter vegetables for lunch. And naan. It was delicious and amazing. If you need a reason to eat more veggies, you should totally get a bag of this stuff from Trader Joe’s. It’s a good idea.

My music collection got a good thorough cleaning with MusicDB, but in the process many files were renamed. Sadly, iTunes is bad at finding things. So I reinstalled. That’s right. All my ratings and play counts got reset.

It’s all good. This gives me a chance to go through and rate stuff. I’ve been playing with smart playlists recently so I’m having fun with it.

Monday is day of errands! I got my eyebrows done and went to Dierbergs. Then I spent an hour prepping for dinner, prepping for 2 weeks worth of bentos, and cleaning up the kitchen. I made the soycutash I got from Trader Joes. I gotta say, I was totally not sure about the stuff when I made it. But it does taste like yummy corn succotash, and that’s just from tasting a room temperature bite after packing it all up. Victory is mine!

My bentos mostly revolve around some particular standbys: rice (still have 3 frozen servings!), frozen veggies, frozen chicken, sushi (I need more from TJs), raisins, cheese, and miscellaneous leftovers. I need things to be quick and easy, and these are!

I want to play the Sims again so I can make pretty buildings, but I’m not ready to take the plunge. That game consumes my time all too well.