Lemon rice to the rescue on a 'blah & meh' day

weird day + late night cravings + lemon peanut mild curry rice

The other day I had a really weird day. I was in an unpleasant blah mood the whole day where nothing was pleasing me. Everything was meh.

Have you ever had a day like this?

My morning started with getting up to date with my Tdap vaccine (booster recommended every 10 years). My vaccine arm began hurting within 20 mins of when it was given and kept hurting the entire day whenever I moved the arm in any direction. I had planned to go to the gym immediately after the doctor’s office. I had a lackluster gym session. I worked out on the elliptical with half hearted effort and just felt tired and blah and meh through it all. I tried to strength train, focusing on a leg day instead of arms. I was finding it difficult to life weights that I had previously been successful at. After 45 mins in the gym, I just gave up and called it quits. Motivation to go the gym is hard enough as it is but then getting a less than ideal workout is just more blah! Now the feeling of blah and meh was combined with disappointment.

Once I got home I decided to cheer myself up with a nice coffee. I went through the ritual of getting the beans out of the freezer, grinding a single serving in a small coffee grinder, heating up the water in a kettle, and making a pour-over coffee in my favorite filter cone. I served the coffee in my favorite cup that I brought back from Scotland. It features highland cows that delighted me to no end when we road tripped there and saw so many cows (and sheep).

Usually this ritual brings me joy. It’s a small piece of my day where the simple steps bring me calm and the steaming cup of fresh coffee wakes up my nose and mouth and body. But today it failed. I somewhat enjoyed the smell of the fresh steaming coffee but when I drank it I found it too bitter as if I had used too many beans. It also did not wake up my body like I expected, probably because my arm continued to hurt a lot. I barely finished half a cup and in my frustration poured the rest into the kitchen sink. I decided to lay down on the couch for the rest of the day and hoped the couch would swallow me and hide me from the world and make this day better.

The couch did not succeed as my arm kept hurting and my closed eyes could not turn into a much needed quick nap. After an hour or so I got up, making unpleasant sounds to commemorate the painful arm, and decided to go for a walk to clear my head. I just wanted the feelings of blah and meh to go away so I could feel something else. I managed to slow walk in my neighborhood for 30 mins or so, which helped for a short time. As soon as I came back, the slightly improved spirits went back under. I lay down on the couch again. This time I fell asleep for nearly 3 hours.

When I woke up my family was ready to eat dinner. I was not feeling hungry or in the mood and declined their invitations. I continued to lay listless on the couch, watching something or the other on the tv, while constantly aware of my arm pain. Around 9pm I got hungry. My grumbling stomach was advocating for me to get up, go to the kitchen, and put some food in the belly. I went through the ritual of opening and closing the fridge to see if appealing food would magically appear for me to consume. It did not. Sigh.

The day felt as if the universe was conspiring for me to feel blah and meh and listless and frustrated and tired and in pain and disappointed all day.

After I opened the fridge for the 14th time, I saw leftover cooked basmati rice with peas and lots of lemons. Suddenly the idea of lemon rice started to sounded a bit appealing, likely due to my grumbling tummy getting impatient with me. So I decided to make it.

Lemon Rice:

I sourced whatever other ingredients I could find in the kitchen and forged ahead for a quick North Indian style dish. For tempering I had cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and nigella seeds as well as some curry leaves from the freezer. I also had half a red onion and some peanuts.

On high heat, I sautéed peanuts in oil for ~3-4 mins until they roasted and become darker. I added the seeds and tempered them for ~45 seconds until they started dancing in the oil. In the case of mustard seeds they literally start darting out of the pan, as they usually do, they are quite rebellious that way. That’s when I quickly added chopped red onion and frozen curry leaves to sauté them. Curry leaves are just as violent as mustard seeds so I had to work quickly to mix everything together to calm them down.

Next came in some spice powders. I kept it simple and added turmeric powder, coriander powder, and mango powder. I mixed the spices with the tempered aromatics and let them cook for about a minute. I added in the cold rice, mixed it thoroughly, and let it fry for ~5 mins while stirring a couple times. Once the rice was heated through, I turned off the heat, and mixed in the juice of half a lemon. After a quick taste test I decided to add in the other half of the lemon too.

The lemon rice came out better than I thought it would. It had crunch from the peanuts, complex flavor from the aromatics and spices, and zingy freshness from the lemon. I ate it with an ample serving of chili oil. After my first bite I suddenly realized I had not eaten any food all day, likely contributing to my fatigue and listlessness. I devoured the lemon rice quickly and immediately went in for a second serving.

The lemon rice did not completely change my mood I suffered throughout the day or influence the pain in my arm (which went away after 2 days). However, the combination of crunch and tang and spice woke up my taste buds and rescued my blah and meh day to some extent. So, if you are ever having this kind of day, try some lemon peanut rice. I hope it will help you feel a bit better.

Dish Debrief

• Is this my winner or disaster? win

• How would I rate this dish out of 10? 7 out of 10

• What would I change next time? perhaps add a vegetable like cabbage or broccoli to improve nutrition content

• Would I make this again? yes