Orange zest makes everything better

I was a terror last night, at least at first. O. had me come downtown to meet him at the Union terrace, where we were engaged in highly unsatisfactory people watching for near an hour before leaving. To make matters worse, I’d had a difficult time getting downtown, and there was severely unmarked construction at a vital choke-point near Orpheus’ apartment. Long story short: I was wound tighter than a bloody banjo sting, and ready to pop by the time I got back in the car to leave downtown. This meant that, when we got near Trader Joe’s to buy necessaries for dinner, I scared the living shit out of O. by driving a touch too aggressively for his tender, poor-to-middling driver’s sensibilities. As we parked, he castigated me (nicely, mind you), which just pissed me off even more, though I saw his point. Why make it a stressful day for him, too?

Anyway, I mastered my discontent with the lack of driving skill exhibited last night by every single person on the road in Madison, WI except me, and got us home both sedately and in one piece. Once there, I found my calm center, and cooked an amazing meal. We’d picked up some very high-quality wild salmon steaks, which I marinated in grapeseed oil, garlic, orange juice and a splash of vermouth. In the meantime, I roasted Yukon Gold potatoes for a good roast mashed potato w/garlic, minced white onion, orange-blossom honey, fat-free sour cream, salt, pepper, a touch of powdered ginger, and a splash of orange juice. I also made orange and grapeseed oil drenched asparagus with fresh-cracked pepper, and pan-fried the fish until it was perfectly done. I served the fish with a dollop of sour cream with dill, very finely minced white onion, orange zest and a touch of orange juice. It was delicious.

Unfortunately, it was also not quite as filling as I’d have liked. We had to get snacks later, and had a little chocolate as well. We also watched some Moral Orel, which wasn’t nearly as satisfying as the first disk O. got for us to watch, but was still pretty darned amusing. Fortunately, I slept well last night, but today has sucked a lot. Wish me luck with this evening. I’m ornery, and so is Orpheus, per my lunch-time phone call.