the simplest salmon cake

 

Lunch was a disaster today.  My original plan was to make stir-fried eggplant and tofu. I only had silken tofu, but thought I could make it work. Turns out silken tofu is very silky, and I could not indeed make it work. I ended up taking one bite and throwing the mushy mess away. Then I decided to proceed with the recipe sans tofu – stir-fried eggplant. I cooked up the eggplant, took a taste, and it was unbelievably bitter. The accompanying sauce was both salty and sweet, so I though that might help and poured it on top. I tasted it again, and it actually tasted worse because now it was somehow simultaneously bitter, salty, and sweet. To get the wretched taste out of my mouth, I opened a can of mandarin oranges and had several bites directly out of the can. So at this point, my lunch consisted of a bite of mushy tofu; a bite of bitter eggplant; a bite of bitter, salty, and sweet eggplant; and several bites of mandarin oranges. I considered stopping there, because by this time I had already been in the kitchen about half an hour, but I still needed some form of a mid-day meal. So I made the most fail-proof thing I could think of  – a simple salmon cake (we're out of peanut butter, so my first choice of PB&J was not an option). Pouch of salmon + bread crumbs + an egg + a teaspoon of mayo + lemon juice. I didn’t even get creative with seasonings or a dip. It turned out picture perfect, and tasted plain and predictable. Just what I needed. Thank goodness I’m going out to eat tonight.