brunch blues

I slept late today, spent some time on the computer, sent Barry off to a job interview (fingers crossed!), and then turned my attention to brunch. I knew exactly what I wanted: poached eggs on an English muffin, topped with spicy mayo. I haven't had this in years, but used to eat it a lot, initially with curry mayo, but later with other types of seasoned mayo. So I took out the English muffin, and went into the fridge. No eggs. I dug around, since the fridge is crowded these days, but no eggs. There were four left the other day. Even though I do most of the grocery shopping here, certain people are not good about telling me when something essential has run out. The same person is also known for leaving the containers from food, toiletry, bags-and-wraps, etc. empty, so when I go for a baggie or some mustard or whatever, the box or bag or bottle is there, with nothing in it.

So I decide it will have to be tuna salad (I knew we had a lot of tuna since I'd bought ten cans -- five for six bucks -- at the supermarket last week). I usually like to mash a hard-boiled egg into my tuna salad, but I could live without it today. So I empty the tuna out of the can (and give the can to the cats, who love to lick out the last bits), go to the fridge for the mayo...and guess what? No mayo. I move everything in the fridge, because I bought like a quart of mayo on that same supermarket trip. Could he have really emptied it with the 3 or 4 cans of tuna he's had since then?

There was a little bit of sour cream left (I had bought it to go with cold jarred borscht, yum), so I figured I'd give that a try. I like to put a lot of stuff in my tuna salad, so I mixed in a thinly sliced shallot, some sliced black olives, a squirt of Grey Poupon, a little ground chipotle pepper, and the tablespoon or so of sour cream that remained. Ate it on an English muffin, and it was wonderful. (I'd never made tuna salad with sour cream, but sour cream is good with anything.)

So brunch was saved, but someone's going to get an earful about the eggs and mayo... maybe not if he comes home with eggs and mayo, but I doubt he'll even remember his name after running around in 97 degree heat.

Dinner is going to be a huge green salad with poached chicken in it. Last night it was a cold pasta salad -- no canned beans this time, but a lot of fresh veg (bell pepper, raw string beans, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, fresh basil, with black pepper, key lime juice and olive oil). I don't mind using the stovetop a bit on a hot day. but the vegetable casserole I've been planning had to be pushed back again. No oven, no way.