A Tale of Two Meals (24 Hours Apart)

From fine dining to Frankenstein feasting.

On Superb Owl 🦉Sunday, a Michelin star tasting menu (the first tasting menu I've had in a very long time - thanks to my out of town college pal, for upping my dining game!).

Then Monday, the 13th, more typical fair in these parts - butternut squash and chickpea curry with greens over rice/quinoa, comprising, in part: 

the squash purchased so long ago it'd started to shrivel;

chickpeas from COVID food panic buying days;

pantry curry powder and coconut milk;

"fresh" garlic powder grated from inadvertently dried out cloves;

fresh ginger frozen to keep it from further dehydrating;

spinach that started to go so was stashed in the freezer to keep it from advancing to outright slimey;

Thai lime leaves that fell off the potted tree overwintering on the guestroom heater that is inexplicably losing its leaves (despite my being only a mildly neglectful plant mother this winter) ... 

Do we sense a theme here? It's basically Frankenstein curry made of misfit foods that have the misfortune of landing in my home.🤷🏻‍♀️ 

'Twas still pretty tasty - all the years of watching cooking shows paying off in the ability to turn questionable ingredients into an edible dish. Yay, me? Yay, me!

[Edited February 14, 2023 for completion.]