I have been slammed at work lately; grades due, retreats, etc.

Today I made hummus by hand. I had soaked the chickpeas on Saturday but didn't get to cook them until yesterday (Tuesday). Didn't have lemon juice, so instead of making a hummus that was lacking, I slapped on some plastic wrap and threw the chickpeas in the fridge. Finally tonight I got to them, I mashed them in a bowl with a potato masher. I added water and olive oil. I mashed the garlic on a board with some salt. I added the tahini and juiced a lemon. I also added diced lemon zest. Salt and pepper to taste. It tasted like meat, it was so good. It's the lemon that makes it good. Lemon is magic.

I woke up this morning with a tickle in my throat, so I know I'm getting sick. It was starting to hurt at work. I asked my colleague L for something herbal; she swears by the eight little black pills, but didn't have any on her. She did have some chewable vitamin C tasting echinacea tablets, which are basically placeboes, am I right? I called L on my way home to ask her what the eight little black pills were called, but she never got back to me. I did put a crap load of raw garlic in the hummus.

Actually, I felt a lot better after getting some congee at Ocean City Noodle Cafe. It was funny. I ordered pork and fish congee, but then the cook started yelling at my waiter; they argued for a while, and then finally the waiter came up to me and told me there was no pork left. I'm not sure what that was about but I absolutely do not believe that there was no pork left. So I agreed to chicken instead. The congee was delicious. I did find a small black bug in my spoon, which looked like it had been stewed, but I didn't complain. I just won't go there again. It's a shame, that was my favorite chinese noodle cafe. Hmph. I know I'll be back.

Today I learned how to burn CDs using itunes.