Love - One

Astrid and I had a gorgeous, healthful evening. We made the yummiest fucking turkey burgers ever with a big salad and oven-fries (though, Astrid reminded me, they weren't fries at all, since they were baked, so I think we agreed on calling them "baked 'French-cut' potatoes" and then ruminated about whether there's anything "French" about "french fries" anyway.)

The turkey burgers were fantastic. I started with a pound of Diestel ground turkey in a big stainless steel bowl. I threw in a very large dash of salt (probably somewhere around two teaspoons), milled a bunch of black pepper into it, a couple dashes of hot sauce (I like Tapatio), tossed in one egg white, finely diced red onion (I would have used shallots, but we were out. It's never a good thing to be out of shallots!), minced one clove of garlic, and chopped finely a good couple tablespoons each of fresh sage and thyme.

Don't use dried herbs, or I'll have to pound on you!

So after throwing all that in the bowl, I mixed it all with my bare hands, which is a complete and utter necessity, except that it's totally disgusting, but wash your hands good before, and even better afterward. Then I heated up a large iron skillet, oiled it lightly with olive oil (try it on medium/medium high depending on how hot your stove runs.) The meat divided up into three good sized patties, and I placed those in the hot skillet. I can't be too sure of the time, but basically, I gave them several minutes on each side (say six or seven) and then, as the French-cut potatoes were baking in the oven, I placed the burgers, still in the skillet, in there to finish off, maybe another seven to ten minutes. Toasted some buns, melted some sharp cheddar cheese on top in the last minute of cooking (Astrid thought Swiss would be better next time), grilled up some red onions, and voila (or "viola," as one of Exene's professors actually has been caught saying, not ironically) - juicy, low fat amazingly flavorful turkey burgers!

After just the right amount of dinner (I did not nibble at the extra burger, nor did I bake too many French-cut potatoes) we took a walk up to Dolores Park and played some tennis (read: hit some balls wildly around the court) which was just love-ly (ahem) as A. and I'd never played together before. I think it might become a thing.

While we walked back home (pronounce the "l" in "walk" - this is a holdover in the vernacular from when B. and Mag were still together, I think), hand in hand, we noticed many other people out walking. The day was unusually warm, and at nine-thirty, when we were done with tennis, it was perfectly gorgeous still. We walked and laughed about all the people walking on their legs, I dunno why, but it was silly and pleasing to us--that everyone was walking on their legs--and we had big smiles on our faces. Another couple passed us, and the woman said to us, "You're so cute!" I wanted to tell them that they were cute, too, but I couldn't stop grinning and laughing.

Yay, healthy food! Yay, physical activity! Yay love!