Thursday night used to be a wild time. Last class on Thursday was over by 2pm and Friday was wide-open. It was weekend come early and I treated it as such. Thursdays nights used to go real late and almost always end in me eating something disgustingly indulgent before plopping into my dorm-room bed and passing out for the next 10 hours. Oh Insomnia Cookies and vending machine pickle chips….
Something happened. I got older. I started working. Thursdays became Thursdays and nothing else.
But there is no reason my new adult Thursdays can’t be fun. Just because I no longer live that first year college life doesn’t mean I can’t schedule in a little break from my routine. I can meet my girlfriends and share the cooking responsibilities while reminiscing about the old days. I can make pistachio mint beet salad and roasted brussel sprouts and enjoy healthful and tasty dinner with two pieces too many of freshly baked bread and tablespoon more olive oil than I really require. I can pretend that it’s weekend and I am 18 and when the night is done (at 9:30 not 2 a.m.) maybe I realize I feel just as content with the place I am in today than I did three years back when my night was just beginning. Beets and brussel sprouts fill the body with happy thoughts, as do those same friends I had when I was 18. Maybe, I don’t even miss the processed junk food, that extra helping of beets was quite all right with me.
On the menu:
roasted brussel sprouts with garlic and lemon
toss 1 pound brussel sprouts in lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper (all to your taste, I recommend a heavy hand). Roast at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
for pesto: with a processor blend 1/3 cup shelled pistachios, 2/3 fresh mint, 1/2 squeezed lemon, salt and pepper to taste, and 2 tbsp quality olive oil. Set aside while chopping 12 baby beets. Cover beet mixture in the pistachio blend and serve.
I think I would rather have junk food than beets. Oh yea, I still haven’t grown up.