Bring on the soup dish, bring on the cup--

Last night marked one of the first nights in a while when I was woken up due to pain. That's a story -- originally typoed as "problem"; my fingers have a direct line to my subconscious, apparently -- that I should tell at some point. It's not for tonight, though, as my mental resources are a bit drained from said problem-story. It's honestly nothing too terrible, and nothing that I couldn't push through, but the fact is that I don't have to, so I'm not going to.

What did help my back considerably, actually, was starting off my day with the Week 1 circuit of Jillian Michaels's Ripped In 30 DVD. Now, I'm in decent shape, but I could only do that 24-minute work-out to about 80% and was about ready to drop at the end of it. In other words: I love it! And as a bonus, it heated me up enough to release the lingering seized-up muscles in my back.

Afterwards, I realized that I would have to do something about lunch.

Left to my own devices, I'm mostly an Iron Chef-style cook -- that is, I get ingredients first and then figure out what I'm going to make. Sometimes I get a certain idea or dish into my mind, and I'll go shopping specifically for that, but usually I build out of what I have, or pick up just one or two things to finish something that I already have most of.

As an example, my journey to reaching today's lunch was something like: 1. A couple months ago, salmon is on sale at grocery store. Buy some. Freeze. 2. A couple weeks ago, pick up interest in quinoa, so buy some at next trip to the co-op. 3. A couple days ago, go to farmers' market and buy a cucumber because it looks like a really damn good cucumber. 4. This morning, need to have something for lunch today. Digestive system a bit off due to weather, so don't want to have soup I bought from farmers' market, as it is cream-based. Remember salmon, so take out to thaw. Decide to cook up rest of quinoa for carb. Vegetable/fruit? Cucumber! Also, have a few small carrots that have been in fridge for a long time and are on their way out, which is really bad because carrots last fucking forever. 5. This afternoon, cook quinoa, grill salmon and put together the cucumber and shaved carrots with lively but relatively light flavors. Plate and eat.

And the result: grilled salmon with It-would-probably-be-culturally-appropriative-to-actually-call-this-Thai cucumber and shaved carrots over quinoa.

What went into it: -quinoa -salmon -half a cucumber -3 small carrots -canola oil (considered using sesame but wanted something neutral) -cilantro -lime juice -sweet chili sauce

Start heating your grill pan. (If you don't have a grill pan, you can bake your salmon.) Prepare your quinoa (measure, rinse); two parts water to one part quinoa; cover it, bring it to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

While the quinoa is going, slice up your cucumber. I used half of a medium-sized cucumber, but hey, cut up as much cucumber as you can eat. Peel the carrots with a vegetable peeler. Then, use the vegetable peeler to shave the carrots down into strips.

When the quinoa has been simmering for about 10 minutes, brush some oil onto both sides of the fish. Sprinkle on some cilantro. The grill pan should be really hot -- hold your hand a couple inches above the surface of the pan, it should be uncomfortable after a few seconds. Toss the fish onto the grill pan, skin side down. Let it cook for about 3 minutes. Flip the flippin' fish. Let it cook on the other side for about 3 minutes. I actually prefer to err on the side of slightly undercooked, but that's because I hate dry fish with a passion. Don't be an idiot and give yourself food poisoning. When the fish is done, immediately take it off the heat and put it on a separate plate, so that it doesn't accidentally overcook.

When the quinoa has finished its 15-minute simmer ("The 15-Minute Simmer. Coming soon to a movie theatre near you."), turn off the heat and let it sit, still covered. Meanwhile, put a little bit of oil into a large pan and turn the heat on high. When it's really hot, toss in your veggies. By which I mean your carrots and your cucumber, which is actually a melon. Toss in some cilantro, a big spoonful of lime juice and a small spoonful of sweet chili sauce, and stir it all around because that's what it's all about. Then, immediately dump those onto the plate with your salmon, again wanting to avoid overcooking. We want these babies still crunchy! Hear the vegetables scream!

Fluff the quinoa with a fork. Put a bunch of it on your serving plate. Put the carrots and cukes on top of that. And stick your salmon dead center.

That was actually the last meal that I ate today. I'm in less pain that I was yesterday, but I'm just feeling rather tepid, overall, with not much by way of appetite or drive or good humor.

Barry White and Pavarotti still love me anyways.