Tell me what you eat...

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are. " — Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

My fabulous mother in law sends us newspaper clippings with articles that might interest us and a couple weeks ago I received a clipping that featured people (like me!) who photograph their food. This quote was paramount to the article, and piqued my interest.

First of all, I have a difficult time figuring out who or what I am, and have an even tougher time putting it into words. When asked to fill out something that says "about me:" like on the blog, facebook, etc... I am always lost for words. About me? I don't know if anyone could adequately boil down a description about themselves that fits into a couple of sentences. It's almost my pet peeve - to think that I could say something along the lines of "I am a food obsessed, home renovating newlywed trying to become a domestic diva extraordinaire" and that this one boilerplate would give someone an insight into who I am. Even I can't quite figure out who I am.

But - the idea of showing who I am through my food is interesting to me.

Here's what we ate this week:

Sunday night: P-dub's Best Ever Lasagna. I think she wasn't lying when she described it as the best ever. Really, quite delicious. Paired it with french bread and because I had put all my energy into making the main course, I think we had frozen veggies (you know, to balance it out)...

Monday: Lasagna lefties. French bread lefties. More frozen veggies. (this says I'm frugal - into stretching a meal, and lazy... probably pretty accurate)...

Tuesday: Cooks Illustrated Brined and tenderized pork cutlets in a cider-mustard reduction sauce with P-Dub's Crash Hot Potatoes and...more frozen veggies. I think I was again quite lazy in the veggie department, but I think that the fact I am even slightly worried about a balanced meal shows progress over the last couple years. :)

Wednesday: Petesie had class, so day off cooking for me. He wolfed down a frozen microwave lunch for dinner and I ate a cheesy quesadilla and called it good. It was good.

Thursday: Dinner at my parents. Menu was for crappy comfort food, and it was anything but crappy. Ritz Cracker Pie (think enchilada pie topped with Ritz crackers and cheese), great bread, sauteed fresh from the garden kale and a gorgeous garden salad. And wine. And limoncello martini. We don't drink much Monday-Friday at our house so I take advantage of going out. :)

Friday: Took THREE trips to grocery/drug stores, but finally had everything I needed for crappy comfort food round two - chicken/broccoli/curry casserole. Yes, three trips were needed. Petesie got everything we needed at the grocery store, but I forgot Cream O' Chicken soup. So after our routine Friday night nap I headed down to Walgreens and grabbed the soup, along with some munchies for Petesie and cookies for dessert. The only problem was that I forgot the bag of soup at the counter, so after I got home and realized it, turned right around and went back. I was NOT going to forfeit and admit defeat.

Saturday night: Simple Carrot and Coconut Soup, fresh bread and salad... soup is simmering right now and smells delicious.

So... who does this mean I am? Um... both lazy and driven at the same time. Forgetful yet determined. Meticulous. Sort of thrifty. Into crappy comfort food big time. Tries to be balanced but often falls short. Gluttonous perhaps? Has a wide range of acceptance.

Okay. Must go blend my soup and finish the salad. Smells amazing. Can't wait any longer!

**Edited to add**

The soup was quite good and very easy. So good, I wanted to share the recipe with ya'll:

One onion (I used Walla Walla sweet)
6ish carrots
can of coconut milk
couple cups of chicken broth
salt/pepper to taste

Roughly chop the onion and carrots. Soften the onion in a bit of olive oil over medium heat (add pinch of salt to help the process). Add the carrots. Cook down for 10 minutes, stirring infrequently, so both carrots and onions start to carmelize.

Add coconut milk and broth. Simmer for 30-40 minutes. Just before serving, puree in batches in the blender. I returned it to the oven for a couple of minutes and thinned it out with a bit more broth. Season with salt/pepper to taste, and serve! Voila, it was so easy! I served it with croutons and cilantro.