Groom spends most of his time traveling, and I tend to eat cereal for supper when he’s not around—we have an ant problem and the raisins in my Total Raisin Bran (which I kind of view as a treat rather than a nutritional staple) were moving the other day, so I’m off cereal for a while.

Well, I wasn’t off cereal, but then my friend Liana asked me repeatedly whether it would bother me to eat anything with raisins in it after having watched my raisins turn into ants in my bowl as I was eating and…now I’m freaked out. We had mealy worms in our pantry when I was a kid. It was a full two decades before I could eat oatmeal again. Thanks Liana.

I’m still recovering from a week on a very crowded cruise—at one point while walking through the throngs of cruisers, I realized I was holding a spoon like it was a weapon and I was using “excuse me” as an act of aggression. Last night, I knew if I left the house, I would likely be picked up for homicide.

God bless him, Groom came home with a pile of vegetables (never veggies) from Blackie’s. Here’s what we did.

I washed some white beans (from Eden Foods because they are still in the pantry from before I knew what I know now. I will never purchase from them again. The CEO twisting the laws for his company’s gain are bad enough, but his choice of words and his insulting and patronizing behavior toss me right over the edge).

Man, I need a stool to get off this super tall organic, non-GMO, pro-choice, human rights, everyone should be able to eat, my tax dollars should go toward helping not killing others, why do you need to shoot the person who knocks on your door soapbox.

I washed some white beans and shucked some corn and tossed it into a pot of boiling water. Meanwhile, Groom made me a manhattan before diving into the refrigerator (never fridge) to pull out some leftovers. Into those white beans he added chopped grilled red peppers and grilled zucchini and summer squash.

dinner from the other night

We also had some leftover fresh sliced tomatoes (thank you Bow Street Market) that had been sitting in olive oil and fresh basil—not on purpose, mind you. It was just too much tomato for us the other night!

Then he cut the corn off the cob, which sounds like a naughty piece of business and I implore anyone reading this to come up with what that might be, and threw it into a skillet with a beep of olive oil and a bit of diced hot pepper that he picked up at Blackie’s.

Next, he washed some canned artichoke hearts, tossed that in a skillet. They got super charred, which I love and he tolerates.

Finally, the piece de resistance, was some chimichurri (courtesy of Bon Appetit) that he had made for dinner the other night.

All this was served over arugula with a side of True Detective. It was one of the best meals I have had in forever, and I’m including all the meat meals I’ve eaten in my lifetime. If you think vegan = bland, you, my friend, are sadly mistaken.

Moving deeper into vegan(ish) pesce land, I picked up some Lalibela Farm Tempeh (as recommended by my friend Mo) from Bath Natural Market the other day and plan to do something with it. I’m still not sold on tempeh. If you have any great tempeh recipes, I’m all ears. Otherwise, I’ll probably use one of the Lalibela recipes. They probably know what they’re talking about, yeah?

Here’s a recipe from dinner last night if you want it. I don’t think we’re culinary geniuses or anything. I just never have guests over for dinner and I really want you to try this, maybe without the existential metaphysical angst of True Detective. Not great for digestion. Honestly. Humans are an evolutionary mistake? Yikes. I had to chew on that for a full 12 hours.

White Bean Chimichurri Salad

• 2 (or more) large fresh tomatoes

• Olive oil

• Fresh basil, torn into little piece, about 10 leaves

• Salt/Pepper

Tomatoes are better for this if you prepare them the night before

• Two peppers (red, yellow, what have you), quartered, grilled or roasted

• Zucchini, sliced lengthwise, grilled or roasted

• Summer squash, slice lengthwise, grilled or roasted

• One can of white beans, washed, or beans that you’ve soaked and prepped

• Three ears of corn, shucked, steamed, and corn removed from stalk

• One chili pepper, minced

• One can of artichoke hearts, washed, halved

• Chimichurri sauce (We used Bon Appetit‘s recipe, but Cook’s Illustrated has a good one too—you just have to be a member of America’s Test Kitchen, said the white middle-aged middle-class woman on her way to the farmers market in her VW Passat.)

Slice the tomatoes and place them in a platter, drizzle with olive oil, add basil, salt, and pepper. Eat as many as you can, leave the rest overnight. If you’re eating the tomatoes prior to marinating them overnight, then slice up a couple extras. You could probably add balsamic vinegar too if you’re so inclined.

Add white beans to a large bowl. Dice the roasted peppers and zucchini and add to bowl. Dice the marinated tomatoes and add to bowl with juice and all.

Toss corn into a skillet with a little olive oil and the chili pepper (if you want) and cook until it’s popping. (Yeah, it pops.) Add to large bowl.

Toss the artichoke hearts into the skilled with a little olive oil if necessary. Sautee until browned or charred. Add to bowl.

Pour chimichurri sauce over all ingredients and mix.

Serve over arugula.

Voila.

This picture is really terrible. Sorry.