Rainy day coconut conundrum

     Today is pretty blah.  No school, no work. And while this is greatly appreciated, and even though I should be doing homework, I'm feeling that boredom feeling where you know you're bored because you're not doing anything, but you don't actually FEEL like doing anything.  Usually, this would be when I cook up something crazy and ambitious and possibly hyper-healthy.  Problem is, I'm not freakin' hungry! What's that about..
     Also, I've got this coconut.  I bought it because it was 99 cents at H-mart.  It's just been sitting on the dining room table for a week waiting to be turned into something awesome, yet I've done nothing. Tonight should probably be the night for this coconut to try at glory.  I'm thinking about trying to put together some kind of rice pudding with it, but I'm really lazy right now, sooo...anyway..
     By the way, the falafel came out...well, like I told my Dad when he asked, "fal-AWFUL." Then I proceeded to laugh like a maniac.  I took way too much creative license with this pretty simple food, especially since it was my first time both cooking and eating it.  Lesson learned.  Example- I didn't have any fresh herbs on hand other than some dried mint, so I used spinach instead.  And I threw some chestnuts in the mix, among some other unlikely ingredients.  Plus I baked them.  Really, if they hadn't come out so dry, they would have been pretty alright. 

     I should mention that my laptop, finally, was sent back to Asus yesterday and hopefully it'll be back in with me within a couple of weeks, FIXED.  This means that I can post more often, post BETTER posts, and actually include more of my own photos.  This is very important. If anybody was wondering (which nobody was, because nobody reads this but me), that is the explanation for my stark lack of visuals.

     Good luck, coconut..

Falafel virginity

     I think that today, I am breaking mine. 

     It's true, I've never actually had falafel. As a long-time [mostly] vegetarian and part-time vegan, this seems pretty strange to me.  But there you have it.  However, I've always really WANTED to try it, and it's always seemed simple enough to make.  The only problem is that I'm not too big on frying stuff.  Sooo..I'm gonna bake it.  And omit some ingredients, either because I don't have them or because I don't like them.

     I bought some pita rounds at Trader Joe's yesterday with the intention [and craving] to eat them with babaganouj, buuut seeing as how they had no eggplants in stock, they will now be dedicated to some falafel-y adventures.

Update on mystery root vegetable:

     I was wrong.  Boy, was I wrong.  It was taro.  Repeat: taro.

     That is all.

Today is significant, food-wise.

     I will tell you why.  First things first, I'm roasting beets.  Not significant, you say?  Well, it is when you've never worked with fresh beets before.  Not sure why, just never have.  So I'm slightly excited, even with my hands hopelessly dyed red.
     I will tell you another reason that today is special (culinarily speaking.  Otherwise today is blah).  Let me ask you this: have you ever had a certain food or ingredient within a certain food that you can't quite identify, but wind up craving at random intervals that can last days?  Have you ever, then, stumbled across this food right at your fingertips, right at the perfect moment, without warning? You see, there's this root vegetable.  I've had it in Trader Joe's Root Vegetable Chips, in tempura, and I'm sure elsewhere.  I never gave it much thought, always forgetting to look further into identifying it.  It's a funny, speckly, potato-like thing, but with a slightly more complex flavor.  I assumed it was just one of those root vegetables I always hear and read about, but have never bought.  I've been thinking about it for days. 
     The other day at H-mart (see last post), I bought a purple yam out of curiosity.  Today I cut it up to roast with the beets.  Imagine my delight when I find that the inside contains that same (I THINK) speckly flesh that's been on my mind.  I always pictured the inside of purple yams to be a more solid purple, but nope- it looks just like my beloved mystery tuber. Guardian [food] Angel? 
     I'll letcha know how it comes out.

Over-toasted sesame seeds. I don't like 'em.

     Just thought I'd throw that out there.  And somehow, I always manage to overtoast them.  I had to waste a couple of teaspoons of them just now and start over, because I'm adding some crushed sesame seeds to this weird, experimental stuffing I'm throwing together for some mushrooms, and gross over-toasted sesame seeds could ruin the whole thing. 
     I had a very long night last night and slept away today, only to wake up feeling crappy and blah and discontent with nothing to do for distraction.  So, naturally, I'm spending hours and hours in the kitchen.  I'm making said mushrooms, stuffing them with some...breadcrumb-goatcheese-sesameseed-parsley-egg-whatever else I feel like throwing in...mixture.  I'm also gonna make these eggplant roll-ups with mozzarella and tomatoes I found the recipe for in one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks (remind me to rant another time about my suspicion that all of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks are British).  I'm making these because they remind me of this awesome fried green tomato/mozzarella dish I had at Galaxy66 in Ocean City, and I don't exactly have any green tomatoes on hand, seeing that it is February.......anyway..

     Along with that, I'm trying these sweet potato gnocci I found at Trader Joe's.  They come with sage butter.  They sound badass. Meanwhile, I'm watching a Saturday Night Live special until like 11.  Yes.
     Today is fat, blah day.

Hmm..fake tabbouleh?

     Today it's really warm. Like 75 degrees. And it's February.  I spent a lot of the day outside, which was awwwesoooome..anyway, I'm in the mood for food that reminds me of warm weather.  I've really wanted to make tabbouleh lately, even though I've never tried.  However, probably because I haven't looked hard enough, I haven't come across any bulgur anywhere, sooo I'm substituting quinao. I know. Me and quinao.  It's ridiculous. Oh, well..
     I think I'm also gonna throw together a nice Three Color Salad with some tomatoes and mozzarella I picked up yesterday, and an avocado I HOPE is still good. mouthwatermouthwatermouthwater.
     Oh, by the way, got an 'A' on my paper on Food Network Magazine. Win.

Sheesh.

     It's been too long. I know. I'm sorry. Haven't been cooking too much over the past month what with a couple of bouts of mystery-sickness and school starting back up and everything.  Speaking of school, I'm taking a journalism class and I did my first assignment on Food Network Magazine. It was an oddly easy assignment. I should post it on here.
     I'll be posting more regularly soon, promise! Oh, by the way, I recently found meyer lemons for the first time. They are lovely things.

      (These are not my meyer lemons.  But aren't they cute?)