Midnight Snack

I know, I know, it's terrible to eat before you go to bed...but I was hungry! And I'd missed dinner in order to attend a community garden meeting, and then I came home, starving and boggled by how much bureaucracy goes in to organizing a communal space to grow flowers in this city. I needed to unwind, and my belly was longing for a snack. In the ice box I found the last of the baby portabellas and asparagus I bought on Saturday at the Greenmarket, and then I had to use up the scallions, oh! and there was the fresh goat cheese rolled in cracked pepper. I might have been easily sated by a cup of tea and a piece of toast, but late night inspiration got the better of me, and in no time I was steaming the asparagus and sautéeing it with garlic and soy sauce. In went the carefully sliced mushrooms and the rounds of scallions. Then, because I couldn't help myself, I took out a bag of rarely-used corn meal and mixed a spoonful with some hot water to make a quick cornmeal mush. The porridge thickens almost immediately when you add the cornmeal to the boiling water and it has such a nice, light, barely-sweet flavor to it. I spooned this into a favorite bowl, then poured my vegetables on top and finished the dish with a medallion of goat cheese. Everything except for the cornmeal and the soy sauce was local, and all of it sang me right to sleep.