Saved by nabe udon

I'm feeling cranky today. I've been unsuccessfully fighting off a cold, and now it's really settled in. Like many other people who are fortunate enough to spend 99% of their life healthy, when I do get sick, it makes me mad and fussy. I'm sure it's not attractive.

Plus, I've been called for jury duty this week. Every day I check to see if I have to report the next day. So like a little drone I go the the sfgov website at 4:30 pm to find out my fate for the next day.

The final straw was that we received a recall notice on our oven. Apparently, this model has been linked to house fires and explosions. Um, okay. So, we're not to use it until it gets fixed or replaced.

When someone tells me I can't do something, that's all I want to do. Thinking about dinner last night, I decided on chicken roasted with cherry tomatoes. Then I remembered about the oven. So we ate delicious wild salmon instead, with Israeli couscous and almonds on the side.

Today I was thinking ahead to the weekend, reflecting on how nice it will be in a few days when this icky cold is gone. AM is having a birthday party this weekend and I've been promising her red velvet cupcakes for ages. Probably since her last birthday! I'd looked at recipes, made a shopping list, and even picked up some little sprinkles to decorate the tops. But then it occured to me that sadly, AM will have another red velvet cupcake-free birthday this year, thanks to my potentially combustible oven.

I drowned my fussiness in some nabe udon soup at lunch. I really like udon, especially when I'm sick, and this one comes with the weird pink and white fish cake (what is that? I love it!), seaweed, napa cabbage, shitake mushrooms, one tempuraed shrimp (which I now know to order on the side so it doesn't get soggy), and a poached egg. When I have a cold, I'm ravenous. Normal people lose their appetites. I get an acute, demanding hunger. I finished almost the whole bowl, minus a few stray noodles, and the egg, of course.

After demolishing the soup, my spirits were lifted. Food does make you feel better, both physically and mentally sometimes. I still have to crush the cold and wiggle my way out of jury duty, but I'm a little better equipped for both challenges.