My "Labor Day"

I woke up at 9:30; went back to bed for another hour. I lazily kicked back my covers rubbing my eyes, my marigold painted walls slowly coming into focus. 

I climb out of my loft bed (I love my loft bed. I'm not ashamed to say I pretend to be Peter Pan as I climb up the wooden ladder to nuzzle into my "treehouse". You know you're jealous). As my feet hit the floor, I contemplate on climbing back up to my cocoon. 

I stumble down the hallway into the dim living room and lay on the couch for a minute. Then i make tea. Roomie goes to get coffee, and I guzzle that down too.

I painted my toes and finger nails.

I bum around on the internet for a while, then draft some articles while listening to my Pandora stations.

I call an old friend.

Some friends drop by for a few.

I take a shower...I don't step outside of my apartment until just after 5PM.

My roomies and I stroll out into the breezy afternoon headed towards...

this...

This, folks, is a scene from my roommate's phone of the Caribbean Day Parade.

Eastern Parkway is trembling off the rictor scale with the base from the blaring Reggae with girls who have absolutely no business wearing thong-kinis along with feathers coming of their faces and boot tops gyrating their hips to the insane, brain aneurysm-inducing beat. 

Just in case you didn't believe me (just look at those rolls). And I'm not quite sure what's wrong with the guy just laying in the road. Just taking a break from all the pot and dry humping, I guess.

O and these cool kids:

Goldie seems to be wearing a bead-curtain/neck tie little ornament there. Pretty cool.

Then Wonder Woman Bad Ass there just wants us dead.

So we moved on...

...to get ice cream at Blue Marble on Underhill Avenue.

Then we wandered.

Bought some vegetable seeds for our nongarden and empty planters.

And wandered some more.

Then wandered home where I made this:

Wild caught cod poached in vegetable broth and coconut milk with aromatics of shallots, the cutest, tiniest red onions, ginger, and saffron; also, I added orange zest and dried chilies and topped with toasted almonds and pepitas.

The roasted veggies are potatoes, bell pepper, mushrooms, the most intensely jewel-toned yams, onion, aaand..o right, carrots and garlic cloves - crushed, not minced or sliced. Tossed with EVOO, salt, red pepper flakes, sage, rosemary, thyme (no parsley...I know, I should have, just so could type out the lyrics).

I know, I know, the flavor profiles totally clash, but it's what we had and it was a blast to make...
...which went like this:

So while the veggies were roasting in the oven at 400 degrees for pr'aps* an hour-ish, I started the fish.

This picture doesn't show the coconut milk(actually a left-over), saffron, or the dried chili.

O ok, this one does, though. That's me mixing the saffron into the coconut milk. The chilies are in the bowl just in-front of my cutesy little hand-painted mug, mixed in with the orange zest and ginger chunks.

Theeen...

...tossin' the veggehs.Turned off the oven.

I saute the iiiitty-bitty red onions and shallot with a cuppla' tabes o' EVOO**

Then I added the shriveled chilies and ginger chunks.

In went the codfish.

I poured in some vegetable broth and then in went the...

coconut milk and saffron. 

I let it bubble and be delicious for a bit and sprinkled on the orange zest. Also, I added a pinch (small pinch) of thyme, because I felt like it.

 (sorry, I don't remember how long, but just let it go until it changes from opaque to just about solid white on the bottom, flip, then let it go just until it's all white)

I plated and placed a row of the toasted nuts down the fillet and spooned on some sauce all before adding the painfully cliche parsley garnish you saw in the first pickchaaah***

We took it to the couch to watch the last of the No Reservations marathon (my favorite show). 

So my point behind listing all the action today is: why would you call it Labor Day, when there is absolutely no labor done?? I get it, it's to honor all the workers, blah, blah - but call it something else not pertaining to the work they've done, but to the break they deserve. Call it, I don't know...Day of Rest...no God has dibs on that. Well, then how about Take a Break Day? Well, just not Labor Day. It just makes no sense to me. 

* "pr'aps = perhaps 

**Julietese for "a couple of tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil."

***that means picture