Lockdown Day 52: Spanish tapas on the balcony
Sunday morning. I had a little breakfast while I chatted with my family over Zoom. Tea and yogurt.
This was one of the yogurts my friend had given me, and this particular flavor was pomelo and mango popping boba! The little bumps you see in the spoon are those popping boba. Really a unique yogurt, and tasty!
Our call ended just in time for a PCR test. I changed and put on my mask well in advance, as soon as entryway leader said to start preparing, so I was one of the first in line when she announced it was finally our turn.
Before the Zoom call, I actually took the dough that I had put out to rest on the counter Friday night…
… and transferred it to a pot lined with parchment, to lift more easily into the hot Le Creuset in the oven. There was something off about the consistency - it was too watery, yet at the same time there were these harder lumps inside the mixture.
Well, the bread didn’t dome up as I had expected it to, but it was quite a delicious loaf, with a strong chew. Much more chew than the breads I had made, kneading with the food processor.
As the bread was baking, I made a Spanish tortilla. My go-to technique now is to slice the potato into relatively thin chunks, and to cook with the lid on, so they steam in just a few tablespoons of olive oil. I also add in onions (of course) and a clove of garlic.
Then I add the mixture to the eggs, taking out the garlic beforehand. Here I use 5 eggs.
I kind of mash the potatoes into the egg as I’m stirring.
And then I add the lot into the pan, flip a few times with the help of a plate…
… and voila, a Spanish tortilla de patatas.
While the tortilla was cooling, I made chickpeas and spinach espinacas con garbanzos, a kind of tapa from the south, but I added in too much water to the paste consisting of bread, spice, and tomato pureed together, so it became a bit wet. Still, I liked the taste! And because it was a bit wet, it stuck together better when I ate it on toasted bread. I also grated a tomato to put on the bread.
The tortilla was fine, but a bit overdone to my taste.
While the bread didn’t dome up as I had expected, I realized that it was just the perfect geometry to fit a cross section of the tortilla perfectly!
It was a pretty warm day, and baking the bread for an hour at 450 Fahrenheit / 230 Celsius made the apartment quite warm. It was nice to be able to have lunch on the balcony, where there was a strong, cooling breeze.
It was quite lively in the alleyways of the compound, with some people playing badminton right in the alley.
I took some of my bread and tortilla, and 8 eggs to give to my friend.
When I saw her outside, she presented me with this dried, sweet and salty pear.
It was good! I had it with some tea, before a nap on the couch.
Today, I also roasted the broccoli from last week. Well, what was left of it. I was so thrilled to get broccoli, but by the time I took it out of the fridge, the crow was moldy. I cut off the moldy parts, and roasted the stalks.
After my nap, I made up a spinach-artichoke-chicken spread with mozzarella and parmesan, using an artichoke antipasto which I had bought in Trader Joe’s at the very beginning of San Diego’s stay-at-home era in early 2020! I brought it to Shanghai to use finally.
A friend invited me to join her in trying out this workout with a fitness influencer Liu Genghong 刘耕宏. He’s become quite a sensation during this lockdown, leading hour-long aerobics workouts from his home. It was definitely fun, though with lots of chatty breaks.
After the workout, I showered, and then toasted the bread first by itself, and then topped it with the spinach-artichoke-chicken spread, and toasted some more.
While the workout was going on, I also had a red lentil and tomato soup in the Xiaomi. It was quite filling. I added in a lot of Chinkiang vinegar to liven it up. I’ve been saving my very last lemon for a special occasion, and I’m not sure if this is it…
For dessert, I had my very last navel orange. I saved the peel to use in some baking recipe. Amazingly, this navel orange was still excellent, despite spending weeks in my fridge.
And of course, my midnight antigen test. Though we weren’t given the special brand of antigen test, so this maybe means that we’re not doing PCRs tomorrow?
