Shutdown in the Kitchen Day 1: Falafel

For those of you who follow the news of the United States, you might be aware that our government is going through a budget crisis and that the latest event has caused many federal workers, including myself, to stay home. We have been shut down. Furloughed. Sent home without pay. For an indefinite period–we have no real way of knowing how long this will last. Yesterday was the first day and I started making good on a funny little project a colleague thought up for me in the week leading up to the shutdown. I can’t grow a shutdown beard, but I can have a “secret ingredient du jour” with which I make a dish or meal. Not just any dish–a dish with a message. I plan to get through this crisis with my sense of humor intact. So each of the ingredients I use in dishes I make in the coming days will in some way make fun of Congress. This will be a good old-fashioned non-partisan ribbing.

Yesterday was the first day of the shutdown. My secret ingredient turned out to be dough. Like, hey guys, I made some dough yesterday! NOT! hahaha! I mean, I made bread dough.

And what did I make with the dough? I made pitas. And then I heated up leftover falafel that I had made over the weekend using a recipe from the Gentle Chef. Here are the falafel I made over the weekend:

We just ate them with lettuce leaves and tomatoes and lemon-tahini sauce. And I burned some green beans as a I stewed them in tomato sauce Turkish-style. They were tasty, but next time I plan not to burn them.

Anyway, so I made some dough, and then I made pita, and then I stuffed them with falafel patties, tomatoes (which came from my mom’s garden–thanks, mom!), white radishes, parsley, lettuce, and lemon tahini sauce.

And I bet you can’t guess what my message to all the bloviating members of Congress is. That’s right: STUFF IT.