God Damn I Need that Karma

Friday
I was wearing a light gray cardigan that reached to mid-thigh. It had two pockets, like most cardigans. These pockets were shallow. I placed my iPhone in one of the pockets. It fell out of my pocket and into the toilet.

Sunday
I was at the farmers market on Sunday, about to buy an Herbs de Provence cheese for my brother’s birthday (Herbs de Provence is our inside joke), and when I looked in my wallet I realized that my debit card was missing.

Tuesday
I was in one of those beer, wine corner grocery stores and was paying for whole wheat pocketless pitas.
Clerk: That’s $3.99
Me: <Handed the clerk a $5 bill>
Clerk: <Handed me $2.01>
Me:<Hmm, I know I’m not quick at subtracting, but why am I getting 2 dollars back? Did I miss hear him. I’ll just put it in my wallet. Wait, you know what, this isn’t right.>
What’d you say the price was?
Clerk: OH! How much did I give you back? It’s $3.99.
Me: <Gave him a dollar back, smiled and left.>

God Damn I Need that Karma. Fuck. I fucking drowned my very best friend and then I lost my only source of money. I didn’t need that dollar. I need some fucking luck.

And before I get to parsnips (again), if anyone knows how to resurrect a water damaged iPhone or figure out how not to pay $450 for a new one – please let me know! gansie@endlessssimmer.com

Let’s get back to that whole wheat pocketless pita.

My friend Vio had friends over for LOST. But more enticing, well, not more enticing, but pretty exciting was that she declared the grill would be on. It was a warm day and we wanted to celebrate the fact that we could be outside and not be cold or be rained on.

I wanted to use the grill, but also use up the very winter time vegetables that occupied my fridge.

Ricotta, Parsnip and Sweet Potato Pita Pizzas

Using the leftover broiled parsnips, I created a creamy base for browned sweet potatoes.

For the “sauce” I blended together: one broiled parsnip, two spoonfuls of ricotta, 5 cloves of garlic (use more garlic than you’re comfortable with, you’ll need the tangy rawness to cut through the sweetness of the root vegetable), 3 stalks of scallions, parm cheese, oil, salt, and pepper. My hand-held blender is getting old and couldn’t slice through the parsnips, so I would do the blending in stages, adding a bit of hot water to get it going. And adding more salt at the end.

Before I got to the parsnip-ricotta mixture, I peeled and diced two small sweet potatoes. I browned them and then let them cook on low heat, tossing the potatoes around every once in a while.

I brought the mixture and the potatoes in two separate containers. 80 put the pitas on the grills to crisp up, then I spread the mixture over the pita and topped it with the diced potatoes.

Did I mention that when I got home from buying the pitas the electricity was out in my apartment building?