Water Boils: Demystifying Brown Bagging

I am not going to make any excuses for not blogging, because they tend to get lamer every day. But this is perhaps one of the more interesting brown bag lunches I’ve had during these days of mediocrity. More importantly, it incorporates the first crabapple I have ever ate. I know you are not supposed to eat them raw -most North Americans think you shouldn’t eat quinces raw either. Sis-sies!-; but I didn’t know this before getting a tiny basket of what I thought were tiny juicy apples.

Now, I am not a jam-maker kind of person -so crabapple jelly is out of the question-, nor am capable of making braised pork dishes, which was suggested as the best use for this fruit. Goddammit, I cannot even cook pork properly, probably due to a culturally conditioned culinary dysfunction. I am an atheist, so the fact that pork is a big taboo where I came from should not matter to me. I can also cook and/or eat bacon and other cured friends lovingly, but why do my regular pork dishes taste like something you don’t want to eat? Allrighty, this dilemma probably requires another blog entry.

Long story short, with a tiny box of crabapples, and no suitable recipe in hand, I decided to eat them raw, as they are. While the raw crabapple was not mealy or unpleasant, it was sour and tannic enough to be avoided next time. But jolly gosh, isn’t it cute? Well, that was my motive in incorporating it into my lunchbox. Perfect size and shape, and some bonus cuteness factor would make me eat anything. Then I read that it is suggested for “spiritual cleansing” of obsessive compulsives. Who, me?

If only it didn’t get so boring… Well it is not a particularly complex fruit eaten raw. There is the novelty factor, and thats all. I still have two left, and after a week the apples started getting mealy.

Rest of the bento is my attempts to provide myself some proper nutrition, so that I can deserve a plum paczki afterwards. On one corner, I have quinoa and lentil salad from the night before. It is basically a mixture of cooked quinoa, lentils, onions, fresh oregano, lemon juice, olive oil and crumbled feta. Kind of the salad your vegan friend would bring to every potluck; perhaps her version would be without cheese. Next there is an overboiled egg (note to self: get one of those egg timers that you thought were ridiculous) sitting next to some cherry tomatoes. There are pecans, prunes and a couple of tiny biscottis for the afternoon coffee break…What?… Break?

OK everyone, it is time to announce that I now have a coffee break. Well actually more than one. The new work structure is mostly self induced, but indeed I have a formal office life; with the proper attire and all. We also have a water cooler, around which we gather to talk about the Britney comeback. This is everything I dreamt about. “Yes dear, isn’t life swell?”