day four: i make peace with lentils

for all you baltimoreans out there, there's a new cafe on read street, zachi's, which is right next to the amazing pizza joint slash grease explosion known as michaelangelos. zachi's, however, is much, much healthier, with homemade hummus, kashi cereal, and tasty sandwiches (hold the cheese). 

i swung by there after figuring out that i did not, in fact, want to cook tonight, and came out with a lentil and rice casserole topped with caramelized onions, and a side salad of cucumbers, tomato, and lots of parsley. whole thing set me back only 8 bucks, and the portion was HUGE....definitely dinner-sized....if i hadn't been so hungry i would never have finished it all in one sitting. as it was, i was totally stuffed. 

BUT i haven't had lentils in a long, long time, and thought that i hated them. my mom is fond of telling me that when i was little i adored lentils, couldn't get enough of them. 

well, at 21 i have rediscovered that magic bean. 

i dislike rice unless it's coated in some sort of magical curry-like sauce, and yet here i was, eating rice and lentils smashed together with NO SAUCE, and it was one of the tastiest things i've had in a long time. they must sprinkle crack in the water or something. it was flavorful and the texture was awesome (texture's the thing i most commonly find off-putting about food). 

so onward and upward!