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Doing a Double Take

2009-04-18T02:31:00.008-05:00

I've been watching a lot of Good Eats. Episodes are readily available and it gives me an opportunity to branch out from my typical vegetarian (what an unnamed roommate has implied as bland) cooking. After seeing A Bird In The Pan I thought to myself, "Making an entire chicken doesn't seem so hard." Turns out, it was and it wasn't.

Preparation: Have you touched a raw, whole chicken recently? Directly out of your fridge, it's wings and thighs feel like your grandmother's achy, arthritis-ridden limbs. I understand, it's a cadaver. It's a dead body. I know where meat comes from and I've tackled tripe, stuffing sausages into intestines, and I've watched a very intact cow's tongue cook up into tasty fajitas. It's just different when you have a fragile bird in your hands, and you're mutilating it with nothing but kitchen shears and your own hands. It just seems so animalistic. It was a bit of a trip.

Broiling: Easy, except for the temp issue. I don't own a piercing thermometer for meats. I don't cook meat often enough to feel justified in buying one. Yet, I have a enough of the Terry Weaver poke-and-scrutinize method left in me to feel uneasy. Is it done? This part looks sorta pink, but it's dark meat .. what does that mean? Et cetera.

Eating: It was great chicken. The herbed rub (I added a shit ton of parsley) packed a punch and it was certainly juicy, all that shit, but it just wasn't that appetizing. Too much meat, dude. I sadly burned the kale that was going to go in with the other veggies so I just thought the dish was overwhelmed with protein. A really awesome salad would have been a good starter with maybe some fresh fruit for dessert, but I didn't have that stuff on hand. I just need more greens!

The average American probably wouldn't have thought twice about the spread I laid out tonight, but I've gotten used to more subtle flavors and textures. I vastly preferred the awesome lentils on toast I made last week; the ginger-jalapeño flavored stew over rice from a few days ago. That's the sort of thing I want to munch on. Something easy (no meat means less prep time), something filling (beans, lentils, and grains are easier on my stomach, and stick around keeping me satisfied), and something guilt-free when it comes to health and efficiency.

I may not be done with meat, but I'm certainly realizing that I don't like that same sort of balance that my mom created with food. My mother is old-school. Julia Child and Good Housekeeping, those were major influences. I just don't find fancy chicken very flashy anymore! Meaty flavors have become a condiment to me rather than the main attraction. Well. Isn't that good?

What I've Been Eating/Buying ..

2009-03-23T21:39:00.009-06:00

Early spring is like the puberty of the supermarket to me. It's gangly for a while and then there's a new found confidence in it's awkwardness. Maybe it's because I've spent so much of the winter looking at recipes, but the unusual veg showing up at Buy For Less is pretty distracting. I finally invested in a Deborah Madison cookbook, thus I'm pumped about greens and beans and all of those other vegetables/legumes/grains that I've ignored. I just bought a couple beautiful bunches of kale and broccoli rabe but other greens like chard and the weird asian varieties are looking attractive. I'm obviously getting really cheap when it comes to my food budget. Even still, my appreciation of veggies is the result of breaking out of my food routines in general. I probably make a meal involving meat once every two weeks because of the boredom of meat. New recipes and flavors are opening me back up to good-old animal protein.

Since a chicken breast is a sort of unusual inclusion for me, I put more effort into it and used this recipe (omitting the lime and knocking down the salt by half .. see below) with just one breast pounded and split into halves. I started the red peppers an hour early for the sauce and browned the ready-packaged polenta in oil (though not long enough) before cooking the chicken. The whole affair only took fifteen minutes more than the roasting of the peppers and I was surprised at how satisfying it was. Plus, my kitchen still smells awesome! Garlic and mint is really a great combo that I hadn't thought of before outside of Mediterranean recipes.

- red pepper sauce -
2 whole red peppers (broiled until blackened, then peeled and chopped)
2 glugs of balsamic vinegar
1 heavy pinch of salt

Throw all of the above, including the pepper juices, in a food processor and you get the easiest fancy-seeming coulis ever.

...

- garlic mint chicken -
1 Tbs. fresh black pepper
1 Tbs. salt
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 heavy pinch of dried oregano
2 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. chopped fresh mint (about a small handful?)
1 Tbs. chopped fresh parsely (mine was too oily and needed filler)
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Combine everything and grind/mash/process into a pesto-like paste. I just used a heavy spoon to work things together. Smear the mixture on your chicken and pan fry in olive oil.

Vegan Sesame Bugers and Ginger Carrot Salad

2009-01-14T17:09:00.006-06:00

I've never really liked frozen veggie burgers. I think they're bland and "off" tasting and I'm never really satisfied with them a few hours after eating. The veg patties we serve at work are extra bad, bordering on inedible, so I got to thinking about trying my hand at veggie burgers from scratch.

These burger patties are mainly TVP (which is a first for me) flavored with sesame oil and sesame seeds for a nice nuttiness. The burgers themselves are vegan but I can totally imagine eating them with bacon and swiss cheese. They came out a bit gooey as well .. perhaps more flour would help? The recipe, found in Lucas's copy of The Teen's Vegetarian Cookbook (snort) is as follows:

2 cups TVP
1 3/4 cups boiling water
1 small onion, chopped finely
3/4 t. fresh garlic, chopped finely
1/2 t. black pepper
3/4 t. salt
1 T. tamari
2 T. ketchup
1/4 t. chili powder
1/2 t. cumin
3/4 t. oregano
1/2 cup flour

Rehydrate your TVP in boiling water for 10 minutes. Add all other ingredients in with the TVP and form your patties. Pan fry in oil until browned on both sides. Simple! I eyeballed all of the spices, adding extra cumin and salt, and also added 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and a palm-full of sesame seeds. I'm planning on serving them with arugula, alfalfa sprouts, avocado and a sriracha-peanut sauce. I'll omit the sesame flavor next time .. maybe I'll try some liquid smoke or BBQ sauce too.

The carrot salad was even easier! I grated five or six carrots in the food processor and mixed with a handful of raisins, then added lemon juice, brown sugar, mirin and ground ginger to taste. It is a little less tart than I expected .. more like a japanese-style sweet pickled condiment. Roasted potatoes will appear on the side to counter the sweetness of the carrots.

Yes: It's That Awesome

2009-01-14T10:04:00.003-06:00

I don't really understand why it's necessary for anyone to make a "video" for favorite songs with nothing but footage of nature, clouds, or jellyfish (a la Pale Saints). However, this Yes YouTube video has the best sound quality and I present it for enjoyment! Am I the only one jamming out the Yes? Out of all the classic bands that have a huge stoner following, Yes is the one that really grabs me.

The Beatles - car jams
Pink Floyd - okay, but not my thing
Grateful Dead - meh
Led Zeppelin - more car jams
Jimi Hendrix Experience - rips, but only once every six months

I know nothing about Prog so I can't examine the album in that context, but Close To The Edge is my favorite Yes album. It's probably my favorite album in general as of late. The musicianship and awesome production are enthralling. The hooks are thick and woven back and forth through the album in a masterful way. The video contains only half of side A, so I totally recommend downloading the full tracks.

In other news, Eric has been encouraging me to release a tape on his up and coming project DIY United, so I'm actively working on all of my bits and pieces of songs. I'm still down with the idea of using the audio directly from my videos for the tape .. keeping true to the fuzzy, makeshift quality and to his DIY ideal.

All-Purpose Tomato Sauce, Fast + Loose

2008-12-19T17:47:00.008-06:00

Because I have discriminating taste, I'm frequently disappointed with tomato/pasta sauces from jars. Don't get me wrong, I don't snub jarred sauce! I've just moved over gradually to making my own. I started with a recipe (which I can no longer find) and eventually developed my own base recipe for a tasty sauce from scratch, "fast and loose".

In my opinion, these are the must basics:
- tomato puree (28oz size, no salt added)
- small sweet onion
- four cloves of garlic
- dried oregano, basil, and rosemary or tarragon
- salt + pepper

Use a large sauce pan with a couple heavy glugs of olive oil. I chop my onion into a dice and sweat it until it's translucent. Mix in your salt and pepper. I only add a few pinches of salt until I taste it after cooking. The tomato puree you're using makes a big difference in flavor. Add the garlic and your chosen spices (around a tablespoon of oregano, everything else in lesser amounts) and saute another few minutes. Add the puree and cook at medium heat for at least half an hour. That's it! In the amounts listed, it's enough for about four big servings of pasta or one lasagna. It's awesome as a pizza sauce as well. Plus, the sauce will last a few days in the fridge. That's the cheap, easy version but you can pump it up in numerous ways:

- fresh herbs always taste better
- chopped tomatoes added for a chunkier sauce
- white balsamic vinegar if your sauce lacks tang
- red wine (I'm not a fan of wine-y sauces)
- fancy imported tomatoes
- add cream, cream cheese, or pesto

It's just nice to have something homemade on hand for quick dinners. Especially when it's so easy to make sauces of this kind. I need to experiment with tomato brands but using these guidlines I always end up with something yummy. I made a batch today just for freezing! Stupidly, I didn't freeze it into an ice cube tray! Now that I have a food processor, I need to make fresh pesto as well. That'll certainly go as cube form into a bag for quick use.

Video Multi-tracking?

2008-12-19T07:39:00.004-06:00

Instead of baking some bread and getting some cleaning done, I spent a good chunk of time multi-tracking this song with my ancient Canon Powershot. It's funny that I know so many people with recording knowledge, but that I still prefer to half-ass my own songs with video or terrible computer mics. I just have this belief that my vocals and simple songs can't stand up to high quality sound .. Plus, adding fresh guitar lines and background vocals by playing them over a previous video makes the original sound all fuzzy and hollow. I always get feedback (nice squealing noise, right?) but I sort of like it like that. I've got Audacity on my EeePc but I haven't gotten my inbound sound working with Ubuntu, so video multi-tracking it is!

The new song I recorded somewhat reflects what I've been listening to, which is unusual for me. I typically write the same bullshit over and over again. Maybe I'm just imagining it, but my diet of Superchunk, Yo La Tengo, Bonnie Prince Billy and Yes (yes!) is quietly working into the stuff I write.

Last night I attempted falafel for the first time (it came out tasting bang on, but I'm an asshole who can't fry anything properly) complete with:
- fresh discount pita from Sweis
- homemade tzatziki (extra garlic and lemon)
- vegetarian grapeleaf rolls from scratch
and, of course, the garnishing tray of baby greens, cucumber, tomato, and feta. I originally planned on baking the falafel but that went totally astray! They really started to fall apart during frying so I didn't even try taking a picture of them. I might try just pan-frying them next time because I honestly hate deep-frying anything. It's gross and there's too much cleanup for the pay off. Bleh!

Robbers Cave State Park

2008-12-16T08:21:00.009-06:00

Austin and I just got back from a nice two night trip to Robbers Cave near Wilburton, OK. We stayed in a very adorable little cabin (fireplace, full kitchen, and piping hot water included) on the edge of a rock outcropping overlooking the park. It was a free vacation, thanks to Austin's job with the tourist department of Oklahoma. Kansas City was also a free trip, thanks to Austin, but this is the first trip we've taken where a conference or article wasn't involved at all.

It's been a weird last year .. I seem to enjoy the outdoors more than I used to, and I always value the trips we go on as quality couple time too! I suppose I'm learning that there's more to do than rotate bars and parties. Drinking with buddies, seeing movies, going to dinners; all fun but it was a much needed vacation.

We were talking about how being in the "great wide open" always makes us curious about ancient man/Native Americans/European settlers. It's the same sky after all, and the landscape hasn't changed much except for our powerlines and highways. I've got to admit that I was missing electronic media by the time we left, though we played lots of cards games and went on a few hiking excursions. All that quiet time also reminded me that I need to be more active in my creative outlets! Thus, ideas are brewing.

Kansas City, MO

2008-09-22T04:44:00.007-05:00

Have you ever had a moment when you stopped and broadly surveyed your life as it was at that point? On a recent trip with my boyfriend, I did exactly that. I lounged in a semi-posh hotel, on the 34th floor, staring out of this window at the skyline of a city I was unfamiliar with. I was away from home and my schedule, and with plenty of time alone. Strange thoughts followed.

I realized that I'm currently happier than I ever have been. Scary, right .. I'm dating a person who I respect and our relationship seems to be more based on maturity than any others that I've had. I'm back in school. There has been some occupational turmoil but I'm happily serving burgers at a busy independent restaurant. It seems like everything has fallen into my lap like this within the last few months but that's not really giving myself any credit.

In other words, I'm content for the first time in a while and I'm back in the market for creative outlets! I've been cooking more, listening to more music, and I've been spending more time around people I find interesting. It's rather lovely. Now it's my job to keep myself invigorated so that I can stay in this mood. I'm thinking recipe posts and craft projects. Hooray!