Spreadin' the Love

This morning was my first time making steel cut oats.

Being so used to the quick simplicity of rolled oats and the many forms they can take, I just assumed sister steel cut oats would be a not-so-distant family member.

Wrong.

I staggered out of bed this morning, made my coffee as usual, then lugged out my new container of Steel Cut Oats, eager to swiftly down some sustenance to see me through the morning.

But to my horrified surprise: "30 minutes to cook one cup of oats?!" I thought after checking the directions on the package. "I'm not sure how long this affair's gonna to last... when a girl needs her breakfast, she needs it fast."

I took my chances nonetheless and reduced the portion to a quarter cup of oats and 1 cup of water.

They cooked up way faster than expected- only about 7 minutes- just enough time to throw in my fixin's (pumpkin, banana, cinnamon) to produce:

Pumpkin Oats on Oats

This morning's oat combo topped with last week's pumpkin granola bar crumbles.

Delish, but it's apparent I still need to play with my steel cut oatting skills.

Lunch was week 3 of the Food World Series with Christian and Richmond.

This week: Afghan food.

Based on today's experience, I'm officially a fan- vegetarian friendly, spices galore and yogurt. Lots of yogurt. On everything.

We started with the Chef's Collection of Appetizers,

which included aushak (a leek and scallion-filled dumpling topped with yogurt and veggies), bulanee (a savory turnover filled with leek, scallion and herbs) and sambosa (fried pastries filled with chickpeas and ground beef) + a side of yogurt for dipping.

I obviously passed on the meat filled option, but highly enjoyed the veggie:

As you can see by my half finished, torn up plate.

Lucky for me, there was a "Vegetarian Entree" section on the menu, so I happily gobbled down another of the Chef's Selection Platters:

sauteed butternut squash topped with yogurt (SO good, so sweet, so yum), stew of spinach cooked with onion and garlic (not my fav) and a stew of eggplant cooked with onions and tomatoes, topped with (of course) yogurt.

I was thrilled with my dish- even the cooked-to-death spinach wasn't all that bad when mixed with the squash and eggplant.

We got a simple salad in between the apps and entrees

then came time for... DESSERT!

We had two.

Baghlava (interesting spelling, no? and, yes, this is week two of baklava for lunch) + firnee, a chilled light pudding with almonds and pistachios.

The firnee was amazing- light indeed and, with a touch of rose water, had a slightly soapy taste that I found strangely appealing.

This week's baghlava paled in comparison to last week's

A little too dry and crusty for my taste.

All in all, Afghan food certainly gets my seal of approval... if only the world leaders could come together over a delicious meal featuring these fine flavors, maybe all our problems would be solved?

A girl can dream.

I'm off to see Black Swan- So. Pumped. Natalie Portman is, hands down, my favorite young actress.

Who's yours?