The power of thought (a small brag)

We went downtown for a free concert at the cathedral. The Christmas in the Park extravaganza is happening downtown too, so lots of people are taking advantage of the free parking in the evening. We end up on the top level of a five-story garage and decide to walk down instead of waiting for the abysmally slow elevator. A good decision, because as we're coming down, we meet the maintenance person going up, posting 'Elevator temporarily out of service' signs on each floor.

Just as we come to the last flight of stairs, we encounter three young women trying to wrestle one of those monster baby carriages up the stairs. "Why are you doing that, " says I. "Because the elevator's broken," they reply irritatedly. "No, I mean, why don't two of you stay down here with the baby carriage while one of you goes and gets the car?" I say as I squeeze past. Everyone (including M and our friend P) is stunned by my logic. "We never would have thought of that," one exclaimed. Indeed.

I'm happy to have helped, but honestly, I wonder sometimes.

Peeled green wheat

Dinner tonight was chicken in white wine sauce (slow cooked with leeks, carrots, and salt pork -- yum!) and a side of peeled green wheat. We're fans of grains other than white/brown rice: wheat berries, rye berries, black rice, kamut, black barley, etc. One day I was in an international market and spied a packet of Peeled Green Wheat. Of course I couldn't resist, although at $2.99/lb it's more expensive than most of the other grains.

It's delicious!! Apparently it's wheat that's picked before it's totally dry (hence 'green'). It has an amazingly rich flavor, as if it had been cooked in chicken broth, not just water. No other grain compares. I particularly like pairing it with chicken dishes since they enhance each other's flavors.

They must treat the green wheat somehow to stop its natural enzymes from causing it to deteriorate. There's an Egyptian grain called freekeh which is green wheat that's been smoked and chopped. I can definitely taste the smoky flavor in the latter, but if the former is smoked, it's very, very lightly. A mystery.

So I cooked a packet tonight. Since many grains take 40-60 minutes to cook, I've taken to cooking large batches of them and freezing the extra in 2-person serving sizes. Not only does it save time, it means I'm cooking the grain while it's fresh instead of letting it go rancid in storage (whole grains have oil in them that can go bad). The alternative, of course, is to store the whole grain in the freezer and cook as needed, which I also do, but having ready-to-heat packets of grain is just so nice. The green wheat actually only takes 20 minutes, one of the quick ones, but I'm still happy to have a new stack of round containers in my deep freeze awaiting future meals.

I'll rave about kamut and black rice, our other current faves, at some future time. But if you ever see Peeled Green Wheat (imported from Peru -- the brand pictured in the link is the only one I've ever seen), do give it a try.