Tuesday, 19 August 2003

I had some story ideas while I was running this morning.

Back in the spring, I couldn't think while I was running--if I thought about anything beyond keeping running, I slowed down to a walk. Now, though, a run is a great time to do some thinking, especially a long run.

However, I couldn't just sit down and write as soon as I got home. First we went to lift weights, then we went to the bakery and got bread. We came home after that, but before there was time to write, we went out to lunch. Now it's mid-afternoon and instead of writing I've been catching up on all the sundry writer's journals and weblogs I read.

Lunch was at the new Indian restaurant, the Bombay Grill. I got sheekh kabab without noticing that it came with dal makhani, which I turned out to like a lot more than I'd expected.

I'm actually highly motivated to like lentils--they're good for you and they're cheap, two things that I prize. I figure that frugal people should eat a lot of dal; I marvel at the United States as the place where even the truly poor eat meat twice a day. Even so, I generally don't like lentils. So, I was surprised to like this dish. I liked it enough that I went and got a spoon so I could eat it properly.

I wasn't sure just why I like it so much. I mean, I like a lot of Indian food, so it wasn't surprising that I'd like it, but there wasn't really anything unique about it--just sauteed lentils in a tomato sauce with spices, not too hot. It was only on the way home that I figured it out. "I bet there was a lot of fat in that Dal dish."

I checked on the web and found quite a few recipes for Dal Makhani. They typically seem to have about 4 tbs of butter for 1.5 cups of (raw) lentils. That's not so terribly high, but is enough to explain why it was so surprisingly good. It's sad that it's the fat and sugar that make things taste good.

I figured out the bug that was keeping things from displaying properly in Safari, so go check out my Dad's website. It's not all there yet, but there's some content.

Long run was 5 miles today. Felt good.