Fried Zucchini Blossoms and Sympathy

I've had a rough couple of days. I'm trying to balance recalcitrant budgets. Yesterday I woke up with a headache that turned into a raging migraine. I should not have left the house, but ended up getting off a bus, stumbling to White Spot and trying to hold back nausea as I tried to eat something to fight the nausea. I had to get some papers copied so I went up to the Mail Boxes Etc. where I have gone for fourteen years and found it's been sold to new owners. I almost cried. Phil and Bob and I have been through so much. They were always good for a laugh. I will miss them.

Then I went shopping as I was carrying my bags around the corner at Starbucks an old man in a tank top and shorts woofed at me. I guess because he thought I was a dog? I don't know what the hell he was thinking. I gave him a dirty look and he smiled at me like a naughty school boy. What a wanker. I don't know if he meant to insult me, but he did leave me puzzled and angry.

Then I managed to make it home to crash and the door to my bedroom was blocked by a mattress. My son came home and bawled his eyes out because P had destroyed the box spring on his bed and put it out for trash. Meanwhile my migraine raged on, even after taking my pills. I somehow managed to fall asleep, only to wake up, peck away at budgets and then fall asleep again.

This morning I fought one more wave of the migraine cluster and by late afternoon I had just about wrapped up my budgets so I went over to Catherine's place where she gave me a hug and taught me how to make deep fried zucchini blossoms. We picked the blossoms from her garden and with permission, from her neighbor's raised bed.

The recipe is a kind of tempura:

2/3 cup flour (we used whole wheat)
1 tsp. baking powder
3 leaves basil, chopped
2 T grated Parmesan
2 T cold water
3 eggs, beaten
about 3 cups of oil for frying

The batter ends up quite thick and Catherine gently tosses the blossoms in to coat them. Then she heats up the oil in a cast iron pan and fries one side of the blossom and then the other. Drain and eat. And we did, dipped in tamari. They are so delicious. The blossoms are tender and mildly flavored, and the batter is light and crisp. My host graciously lends me a mystery to read and them I am off to balance those gdamned budgets!