When it's winter, or even just a Friday night after a long week, sometimes you just want to drive. Sometimes you forget that your destination is a hip 'up and coming' neighborhood that went, in 6 months, from relatively easy to park to a pain-in-the-butt.
So, we found ourselves returning home last night 17 minutes too late to our car, to find a $100 parking ticket. $100. It'll be beans-and-rice for the next couple of weeks until our egos and wallets recover from that mistake. I managed to escape parking tickets in every other city I've lived in, but somehow they've found reasons to ticket us at least five times here. Out of those, I'd say only one or two were legit, but fighting tickets is even harder here than in San Francisco. You actually have to pay an extra $10 to fight your ticket, which they supposedly refund IF you win. Sneaky, DC. Very sneaky.
Today's post is an exercise in whining. I know it's a new year, and we are definitely working on our resolutions and staying positive. 50 pushups (give or take 15) a day each. Paying more attention to detail (perhaps I should start with parking rules). And cooking more (success with homemade paneer! Next up: rotis). I think another resolution should somehow involve being smarter with our money - more blue plate specials, less Restaurant-Week splurges. And from that: perhaps more exciting vacations will result...
Oh, and keeping with my recipes theme, here's how I made the paneer - it was so much easier than I expected!
1/2 gallon Vitamin D milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
Heat the milk for a while (til it hits 185 degrees, or gets to very near boiling). If you have it directly over heat, stir it continuously. At 185 F, add the lemon juice and let it curdle. Simmer for about 5 minutes, and stir a bit to make sure you have curds. Then, scoop out the curds using a ladle, into a cheesecloth-lined colander. I kept the colander over a bowl so I could save the whey - which added a nice flavor to my mattar paneer.
Once the water drains out, tie up the cheesecloth, let it hang for 30 minutes, and then compress it (I used a mortar & pestle made from marble = heavy) to flatten the cheese to about 1/2". After another hour or so, chop up the cheese, and get a frying pan ready.
Heat up some canola oil, cumin seed, and salt and add the paneer. I think I also added mustard seed to the oil, and red chili powder. Heat it to almost-browned and then remove from the pan. Ta-da! Homemade paneer, so much better than the store-bought stuff.
So, we found ourselves returning home last night 17 minutes too late to our car, to find a $100 parking ticket. $100. It'll be beans-and-rice for the next couple of weeks until our egos and wallets recover from that mistake. I managed to escape parking tickets in every other city I've lived in, but somehow they've found reasons to ticket us at least five times here. Out of those, I'd say only one or two were legit, but fighting tickets is even harder here than in San Francisco. You actually have to pay an extra $10 to fight your ticket, which they supposedly refund IF you win. Sneaky, DC. Very sneaky.
Today's post is an exercise in whining. I know it's a new year, and we are definitely working on our resolutions and staying positive. 50 pushups (give or take 15) a day each. Paying more attention to detail (perhaps I should start with parking rules). And cooking more (success with homemade paneer! Next up: rotis). I think another resolution should somehow involve being smarter with our money - more blue plate specials, less Restaurant-Week splurges. And from that: perhaps more exciting vacations will result...
Oh, and keeping with my recipes theme, here's how I made the paneer - it was so much easier than I expected!
1/2 gallon Vitamin D milk
1/4 cup lemon juice
Heat the milk for a while (til it hits 185 degrees, or gets to very near boiling). If you have it directly over heat, stir it continuously. At 185 F, add the lemon juice and let it curdle. Simmer for about 5 minutes, and stir a bit to make sure you have curds. Then, scoop out the curds using a ladle, into a cheesecloth-lined colander. I kept the colander over a bowl so I could save the whey - which added a nice flavor to my mattar paneer.
Once the water drains out, tie up the cheesecloth, let it hang for 30 minutes, and then compress it (I used a mortar & pestle made from marble = heavy) to flatten the cheese to about 1/2". After another hour or so, chop up the cheese, and get a frying pan ready.
Heat up some canola oil, cumin seed, and salt and add the paneer. I think I also added mustard seed to the oil, and red chili powder. Heat it to almost-browned and then remove from the pan. Ta-da! Homemade paneer, so much better than the store-bought stuff.
ahhh i got about five parking tickets last month all in places I really thought I was okay to park. Unfortunately here in Montreal, we have so much snow that they don't tell you when they're going to need to clear the streets, and if you don't happen to be home when the little bugger of a truck drives by wailing his siren, then we get towed to the other side of the street and charged 92$ for it!
ReplyDeleteWhat a rip right?
Whine all you want that's no fun!
But your cooking resolution sounds wonderful! keep posting those recipes!
Oh no, I feel your frustration. The ticket fees here are insane and they are even worse in D.C. then in Arlington VA. Sorry to hear about that. I just got one in Georgetown so I'm feeling the wallet crunch too, lol.
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