Trial & Error

Today was a day of learning. Not only in cooking, but in life. It was my first day of classes and it started off pretty well. I had plenty of time to get ready in the morning, I put together a great outfit, and made it to all my classes with more than enough time. I met up with Katie for lunch again and we dined al fresco seeing as it was a beautiful day.

I had to go to the field house during my lunch break to get into my practice clothes, then went to my 2 p.m. class then straight to the turf for practice. Being that it was the first practice after preseason, our team was beat. We really didn't have much spark left in us. However, since we didn't lock the shed Saturday night and forgot to bring a bunch of equipment to the high school clinic yesterday, we had to run a timed mile on the spot. Lesson learned: Make sure the little things are taken care of.

For me, practice was terrible. I couldn't seem to do anything right, and if I did do something right, I didn't know because I wasn't told so. There were moments when I focused solely on field hockey and it seemed as though I improved, but those were few and far between. Lesson learned: Concentrate on one thing at a time.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that it rained during practice like it has all throughout preseason? I can't tell you how sick I am of being outside in the rain. However, lesson learned: There's no sense in complaining about things that we can't control.

When I got back to my dorm, not only was I hungry, but I was relieved because it was time to cook and that is what I look forward to all day! As I mentioned in my previous post, I wanted to make something with chicken and eggplant. Not to toot my own horn, but I definitely need to give myself an A for creativity tonight. What is pictured above may not be the prettiest of dishes, but it was sure delicious.

Let me first start by saying I went in and out of my room at least five times to grab something I forgot before heading down to the kitchen. Hot start, right?

I started by peeling a huge clove of garlic and cutting a tomato in half. I seasoned both with salt and pepper and a teaspoon of EVOO, and let them roast in the oven at 450 degrees. I then cut the end off the eggplant and peeled it while a big pot of water was set to boil. My intention was to create a faux pasta out of the eggplant, so I used my vegetable peeler (which is pink) to create some eggplant "ribbons." This was much easier in theory. Eggplant should come with a warning that reads: "If you intend to peel this, it WILL take you an eternity." As I got down to the middle of the eggplant, I halved it and then just cut thin strips to save some time.

Once the water came to a boil, I added some salt and tossed in the eggplant ribbons to cook. Next, I chopped some garlic and heated it in a pan with another teaspoon of olive oil. I then cut my chicken into smaller pieces and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Once the pan was hot enough, I added in the chicken.

At this time, the tomato and garlic clove in the oven were perfectly roasted. I pulled them out of the oven, let them cool, then put them into a glass bowl. Now this next part is not my original idea, therefore, I will now give my mother MORE credit. I smashed the tomato halves and garlic together to create a light sauce for my dish. Note to self for next time: add some basil too!

I then put the boiled eggplant into a strainer (which is also pink) once it was nice and soft. As that sat, I continued to cook the chicken. Chicken is another thing that should come with a warning that should read: "If you do not properly defrost this, it WILL be tough and you WILL have a difficult time checking to see if it is completely cooked." I had thought about putting the chicken in the fridge this morning while I was getting things together, but never followed through since I was trying to do ten things at once. Lesson learned: Concentrate on one thing at a time.

Once everything was ready, I put the eggplant on the plate, added the chicken, then topped it with the sauce. I gathered all my supplies and pulled a major Rachael Ray back upstairs to my room (I'm pretty sure I could give her a run for her money. She only carries all her ingredients from the fridge or pantry to the counter. I carry all of mine up and down two flights of stairs). As I walked back, I looked down at my dish and noticed a lot of water collecting along the sides. I knew I hadn't added too much oil to anything, then realized I didn't fully drain the eggplant. Lesson learned: Make sure the little things are taken care of.

The dish turned out very well overall after I drained the watery-ness out of it. The sauce turned out great and the eggplant was perfectly al dente. We'll work on the chicken for next time.

After a long and stressful day, my food therapy and writing therapy were exactly what I needed. I now must get ahead on my reading for classes so I will have time in the future for MORE cooking and writing :)

Update: I forgot to mention that I did add a bit of parmesan cheese to the sauce. Just in case anyone wanted to try it for themselves!