Anooshavoor

Waking up to a thunderstorm is one of the best things to wake up to on a Saturday morning. I was surprised that it was raining and cool and definitely took advantage of it. I started the morning off opening all the windows and heading down to the local Creperie & Starbucks, something that is becoming a Saturday morning ritual. I ate out on the patio which was so nice (and much cooler than inside the apartment). It started warming up as I cleaned out my spare bedroom, finally taking down the Christmas lights that were hanging around the room, removing the birthday decorations...the room looks pretty sad right now with nothing but a futon in it. I headed out to do my monthly Costco trip and even managed to make it to the gym. As I was doing chest presses, staring up at the ceiling, I had a flash back to working out in Oceanside at 24 Hour Fitness, and even further back to Fitness Now where the gym rat was born thanks to the cute boys that worked there and getting to know everyone on the staff... I used to hang out with the staff outside of the gym. It was weird having this flashback and after thinking about it, I know why. This gym down the street is MY gym. This reminds me of home. I feel happy working out here and am looking forward to the doors that may open by being a frequent gym go-er. An hour and a half later I exited the gym all sweaty as I was hit by a wall of hot air as I waited for the T. I was so busy being productive today that I lost all track of time. I fixed myself some carrot juice, at a small container of leftover pasta salad and decided to make some Anooshavoor- a turkish dish. Of course, starting this dish at 7:45pm was not the best idea. [I was getting a headache during the processes and fixed myself a burrito- I didn't eat much today and couldn't wait until this dish was finished]. It's a long process making this porridge dish. Similar to making risotto, you add liquid in increments, unlike risotto, it takes 2 hours versus 1. Pearl barley and some water, simmer, stirring every 10 minutes for the first hour, adding more water if necessary. At the beginning of the second hour, I added apple juice (no cardamom pods this time around b/c I don't have any) and stirred every 10 minutes, adding more apple juice at the 20 and 40 minute mark. 2 hours later, at 9:45, I have a hot, yummy porridge with sliced up dried Turkish apricots and honey. I guess this is going to be my dessert.