Hello all, here i am for my quarterly blog entry. It just seems to take me that long, with no readership to speak of, to get psyched-up for another verbally creative moment.
One Hour Soup
This one happened in the space between a nap and a pot-luck dinner for which i had promised a soup.
Rinse and soak 1 lb brown lentils in warm water while preparing other ingredients
Saute in olive oil:
-3 med. onions
-One lg. carrot (or more)
-Two celery stalks
-3 Tbs cumin seed, ground or whole
-a few oz. last year's mild hot peppers cut and frozen
Dump in lentils with water and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has evaporated
Meanwhile grate and add to pot a palm-sized (or larger - this will seem like overkill but it isn't. and even if it is it will be good for you and encourage you not to gulp the stuff down like i tend to) piece of frozen fresh ginger
Add 2 tsp or more of oregano or some mix of herbs
Drown with a deluge of veggie or meat stock or water and bring to a rapid boil, then lower and simmer forty minutes until texture is 'al dente'.
Finally add
-tomato (canned in winter) sauce, paste, or stewed
-salt and pepper
-2 tsp FRESH ground coriander seed (double if it's stale)
Celery-Root Pot-Pie
Here's another one, closely modeled after something found on Williams-Sonoma's website. Follow their recipe except as noted.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/celery-root-and-potato-potpie.html
In a small glass baking dish we made a streamlined version of this exquisite pot-pie. We skipped the potato entirely and increased the celeriac (so spelled to reduce superfluous hyphens), parsley, and truffle oil to intensify the flavours (apparently superfluous 'u's are appreciated). We included a bunch of leeks. Also we reserved the water from boiling the celeriac and used it as part of the veggie stock.
Fantastic! It was a hit. Next time i will double the dough, since to me a pot-pie is a two-crust affair. Also i will try it with parsnips, a vegetable i usually avoid in favour of rutabaga. Mushrooms too?
Poacher's Pie
Speaking of mushrooms, the following is a 'pie' that happened the very next evening. Oh wait, my chronology is confused. It came before the pot-pie.
Boil 1 lb potatoes in salted water
Saute using oil/butter mix in a huge frying pan or wok (in batches if needed)
-3 or 4 leeks
-1 lb or more cremini or other mushrooms
-2 med. onions
-1 lb venison ground, chopped or slivered. (I cut it partially frozen with a fillet knife and dice it very finely)
-3 inches ginger root frozen and grated/chopped
-1/2 tsp cayenne powder
-1 tsp cumin
-1 tsp sage
Add 1/2 to 1 c. red wine and stir until evaporated
Add a few tsp/Tbs flour or cornmeal to thicken, then spread into a large glass baking dish or casserole
TOPPING:
Mash the potatoes leaving more of the water than usual, and blend in 2 Tbs flour until a thin mash is formed that can be spread easily over the meat/mushroom mix
Liberally sprinkle snowy top with a warm paprika, or better yet, sumac.
There was also a White Bean and Cauliflower Soup and a Parsley Frittata, but i'll leave you with these for now.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Google Wave Developer Preview at Google I/O 2009
Do you email?
Do you use wikipedia or other wikis?
Are you enlightened enough to relinquish intellectual property attachment?
Can you give up being right?
Do you ache with love for humanity?
Are you seeking nirvana? the kingdom of God? God?
Look at this new product from our friends at Google. As one in love with communication i was dazzled by its potential for real-izing heaven. Less than twenty-four hours old and my facebook account already looks obsolete. Not that i'll close it, since Wave does not actually render other sites obsolete, it is simply a different system for communicating.
My own use of email and networking sites is something i rarely choose over face-to-face interaction, and when i do it is clear that there is something unmanifest longing to be manifest. Wave offers an open-source protocol for collaborative communication, a powerful tool for manifestation. It exists in both real and recorded time.
Watch the whole video.
Do you use wikipedia or other wikis?
Are you enlightened enough to relinquish intellectual property attachment?
Can you give up being right?
Do you ache with love for humanity?
Are you seeking nirvana? the kingdom of God? God?
Look at this new product from our friends at Google. As one in love with communication i was dazzled by its potential for real-izing heaven. Less than twenty-four hours old and my facebook account already looks obsolete. Not that i'll close it, since Wave does not actually render other sites obsolete, it is simply a different system for communicating.
My own use of email and networking sites is something i rarely choose over face-to-face interaction, and when i do it is clear that there is something unmanifest longing to be manifest. Wave offers an open-source protocol for collaborative communication, a powerful tool for manifestation. It exists in both real and recorded time.
Watch the whole video.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Jubilee!
"Kids in Africa are starving - can't afford to cry
I'll pay interest for a car I can't afford to buy" - 'I've Seen' from the album 'Closer Than Veins' by Outlandish, feat. Sami Yusuf.
Since i was barely more than a toddler, and before i attended kindergarten, i saw photos of people in Africa and wanted to go there. I saw suffering, but i also saw smiles and dancing. I saw and was inspired by a resilience that had no apparent counterpart in the 'sophisticated' society of my birth.
How often do you use the word 'jubilee' or any of its cognates? When was the last time you responded to a "how are you?" with, "Jubilant!" ...?
I hardly ever use it unless i'm talking to an aging Hispanic man or woman. 'Jubilar' is a Spanish verb that translates 'to retire' in English. Far from the sense of sitting back, relaxing, retreating and atrophying i get when i hear most Americans talking about retirement, i get the potential for liberation of the heart and spirit.
In the Old Testament of the Bible there is a detailed plan for just such a time of liberation. It is called the "year or jubilee". Every 50 years (following a cycle of seven times seven years... sacred symbolism) there was to be a special year for the land and people of Israel. I think we could use one of those soon. Consider the possibilities if even one banking magnate were to declare a personal 'year of jubilee':
Let's pretend we're looking at a man who sits in meetings where the economies of the world get their direction. He hears a lot of anxiety and complaining, and it affects him, although he goes home to a veritable palace, and he owns free and clear a handful of businesses, jets, a helicopter, a car museum, and an island nobody has heard of unless they've been invited to visit.
One day he meets the Buddha in a bagelry and the Buddha tells him a story. It is about Scrooge, but from a perspective Dickens didn't offer. Instead of dwelling on the monstrosity of this familiar character, Buddha illustrates with profound compassion and wisdom how an idealistic and sensitive young man gradually slipped into a life that estranged him from society, family, and even the warmth and vitality available within his own heart.
In tears over his latte, he comprehends it all at once and knows he must do something to unburden himself and seek that joy Scrooge found.
Furthermore, he knows just where to start: He calls his mother in the hospital and says he's on his way over to see her. On the way he hashes out plans of what he could give away/give up. The cars? Yes, but not nearly enough. The yacht and island? Definitely. How about the businesses... no, most of his relationships happen through these interactions in the economic world, and now he really has something to offer these people...
At his mother's bedside he gets an urge to open the Bible sitting there, though he never was a particularly pious man. As if in someone else's voice he reads beginning at Leviticus 15.
"At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you." Phew! he was starting to worry that he'd have to give up a lot. He kept reading:
"However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you..."
Yes. He had been richly blessed. In fact
-to be continued after i forgive a debt or two.
I'll pay interest for a car I can't afford to buy" - 'I've Seen' from the album 'Closer Than Veins' by Outlandish, feat. Sami Yusuf.
Since i was barely more than a toddler, and before i attended kindergarten, i saw photos of people in Africa and wanted to go there. I saw suffering, but i also saw smiles and dancing. I saw and was inspired by a resilience that had no apparent counterpart in the 'sophisticated' society of my birth.
How often do you use the word 'jubilee' or any of its cognates? When was the last time you responded to a "how are you?" with, "Jubilant!" ...?
I hardly ever use it unless i'm talking to an aging Hispanic man or woman. 'Jubilar' is a Spanish verb that translates 'to retire' in English. Far from the sense of sitting back, relaxing, retreating and atrophying i get when i hear most Americans talking about retirement, i get the potential for liberation of the heart and spirit.
In the Old Testament of the Bible there is a detailed plan for just such a time of liberation. It is called the "year or jubilee". Every 50 years (following a cycle of seven times seven years... sacred symbolism) there was to be a special year for the land and people of Israel. I think we could use one of those soon. Consider the possibilities if even one banking magnate were to declare a personal 'year of jubilee':
Let's pretend we're looking at a man who sits in meetings where the economies of the world get their direction. He hears a lot of anxiety and complaining, and it affects him, although he goes home to a veritable palace, and he owns free and clear a handful of businesses, jets, a helicopter, a car museum, and an island nobody has heard of unless they've been invited to visit.
One day he meets the Buddha in a bagelry and the Buddha tells him a story. It is about Scrooge, but from a perspective Dickens didn't offer. Instead of dwelling on the monstrosity of this familiar character, Buddha illustrates with profound compassion and wisdom how an idealistic and sensitive young man gradually slipped into a life that estranged him from society, family, and even the warmth and vitality available within his own heart.
In tears over his latte, he comprehends it all at once and knows he must do something to unburden himself and seek that joy Scrooge found.
Furthermore, he knows just where to start: He calls his mother in the hospital and says he's on his way over to see her. On the way he hashes out plans of what he could give away/give up. The cars? Yes, but not nearly enough. The yacht and island? Definitely. How about the businesses... no, most of his relationships happen through these interactions in the economic world, and now he really has something to offer these people...
At his mother's bedside he gets an urge to open the Bible sitting there, though he never was a particularly pious man. As if in someone else's voice he reads beginning at Leviticus 15.
"At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the LORD's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. You may require payment from a foreigner, but you must cancel any debt your brother owes you." Phew! he was starting to worry that he'd have to give up a lot. He kept reading:
"However, there should be no poor among you, for in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless you..."
Yes. He had been richly blessed. In fact
-to be continued after i forgive a debt or two.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Quotation
This heard today, with a small twist added by Yours Truly:
"When the Power of Love transcends the Love of Power
the world will Know Peace"
"When the Power of Love transcends the Love of Power
the world will Know Peace"
Saturday, June 20, 2009
"It Takes All Sorts"
This maxim comes to me at times, especially in an attempt to reconcile some unpleasant experience to my chosen (beneficent) view of humanity.
Last weekend we were hiking and camping among ferns and hemlock trees, boulders, streams with evidence of beavers, grand beeches and maples.
Upon returning to our well-utilized and sporty vehicle, we were approached by a ranger in a pickup truck. He stepped out in a ponderous way i took to be self-consciously officious and proceeded to saunter circuitously toward us, as though still refining his strategy.
The interrogation began. Had we had any problems? Had we seen any other hikers? Had we seen anyone else camping? Are we sure we didn't have any problems?
'Okay buddy, get to the point: which inane regulation do you imagine we are willfully and maliciously violating?'
So went my thoughts, and the false amiability on my face may have added little to anyone's comfort.
Just then he interrupted himself to say "Funding has been pretty scarce lately and we're just trying to justify our existence, so it's nice to know when people are using and enjoying the park."
You could have knocked me over by waving a fern. Such a frank admission! In my view that's all a human being in a government uniform is ever trying to do, unless some intense situation calls forth his or her heroic nature. ...Which is of course the only thing that would (almost) entice me to put up with poor pay and being generally disliked by the remainder of humanity.
It takes all sorts, and this time i felt a glow of kinship to the big fella.
Last weekend we were hiking and camping among ferns and hemlock trees, boulders, streams with evidence of beavers, grand beeches and maples.
Upon returning to our well-utilized and sporty vehicle, we were approached by a ranger in a pickup truck. He stepped out in a ponderous way i took to be self-consciously officious and proceeded to saunter circuitously toward us, as though still refining his strategy.
The interrogation began. Had we had any problems? Had we seen any other hikers? Had we seen anyone else camping? Are we sure we didn't have any problems?
'Okay buddy, get to the point: which inane regulation do you imagine we are willfully and maliciously violating?'
So went my thoughts, and the false amiability on my face may have added little to anyone's comfort.
Just then he interrupted himself to say "Funding has been pretty scarce lately and we're just trying to justify our existence, so it's nice to know when people are using and enjoying the park."
You could have knocked me over by waving a fern. Such a frank admission! In my view that's all a human being in a government uniform is ever trying to do, unless some intense situation calls forth his or her heroic nature. ...Which is of course the only thing that would (almost) entice me to put up with poor pay and being generally disliked by the remainder of humanity.
It takes all sorts, and this time i felt a glow of kinship to the big fella.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Define: Auctioneer
An auctioneer is one who transforms the English language into Arabic by a fluid continuity of phonemes.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Peace. ...and...
"Wow, poor trucker"
This was the single thought as i looked over my shoulder from the wet pavement.
My sliding slowed before i had fully crossed the highway, and muscles went into survival mode, twisting my body so it would catch and roll onto the inside shoulder out of the flow of traffic.
Stood up. Wheel stopped, engine died. Flooded? Shut off the fuel petcock. Looked 'upstream'.
"Oh Lord, please; no police."
Nobody hurt and no damaged property except my own handlebars and pride.
At a break in traffic Curious George rolled Attila the Fun to the Man with the Yellow Pickup.
He picked us up.
Now what am i here for?
This was the single thought as i looked over my shoulder from the wet pavement.
My sliding slowed before i had fully crossed the highway, and muscles went into survival mode, twisting my body so it would catch and roll onto the inside shoulder out of the flow of traffic.
Stood up. Wheel stopped, engine died. Flooded? Shut off the fuel petcock. Looked 'upstream'.
"Oh Lord, please; no police."
Nobody hurt and no damaged property except my own handlebars and pride.
At a break in traffic Curious George rolled Attila the Fun to the Man with the Yellow Pickup.
He picked us up.
Now what am i here for?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)