This morning I woke up ridiculously early (it's vacation week here in MA) and I started making meal plans for the day. Let's see I bought those tasty looking red snappers yesterday on my Costco run and those are dying to be eaten (literally!) for lunch. What do we have lying around that could get thrown in there? Slices of tomato and oranges strewn atop them as they roast in the oven with just the mildest of seasoning. Yes that will do nicely. Now, that won't be enough for the four of us, there are some potatoes that need to be eaten. Nah, too heavy for lunch and it doesn't look right as I picture it in my head. Oh! The one-off because-its-on-sale premade tagliarini dish I bought on the same run - also not enough for the four of us. But put them together and, voila!
As I lay there in the predawn debating whether I should go ahead and get up, I had a nice meta moment of reflecting how much fun I was having in my head from the comfort of my bed. The rich inner life one can have. Now, it's always a shame to simply throw away those tasty fish bones and heads, what to do with those? Since the fish is for lunch, I can make a simple fish stock from those bones and then use that for dinner. CousCous? I played out a few possibilities in my head and discarded them. I know there are several green peppers getting old in the fridge. Chop them up fine with a few stray mushrooms and an onion of course. Where to go from here? Mental finger snap (I'm still in bed half asleep). Risotto. Just a few shrimp chopped finely as well to complete the dish. I pictured it served and some freshly grated parmesan sprinkled on top. I stretch and decide it is time to start my day. Exercise time!
My junior year, we read The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I think it was the first time I read something for class that really struck me (well, there was Jack London's "To Build a Fire" in middle school; okay - second time). This rich inner mental life is a thing?? I think I relate to that book in a way not intended by the author or the critics.
While running on the treadmill my thoughts, inevitably, turn to Gattaca. I realize that one of the reasons the movie has staying power in my head is that the protagonist is Mitty-esque in that his exterior is a false projection of his own devising and in contrast to his real inner self (symbolized in that moment, on the treadmill, where his own erratic heartbeat is masked by the recording of the "metronome" beat of his friend's heart).
Then I realized one of the reasons I fantasized at length about cooking food this morning was because we just recently watching the movie Délicieux which is an origin myth of sorts for restaurants (a fantasy complete with actors pretending to cook). Then I realized the connections between Walter Mitty and Gattaca and myself. There are always two worlds playing out: The exterior one (the 'real' one) and the internal one. One informs the other - they are intertwined, but they are separate too.
And then I thought, hmmm... maybe I should blog this before I start implementing today's culinary plans?
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