Tag: food stuffs

Personal Update and a word from our sponsor…

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My week has started off with a small success: my craft caddy of tremendous hugeness has been picked up by either the Salvation Army, or someone else who liked the size of the monstrosity. I’ve been wanting this thing gone for something like 5 months. It continues to be really hard for me to put any energy into cleaning/transforming this space, since that was the project I was in the middle of right before my plans derailed.

I’ve been busy trying to craft up rewarding (and profitable!) ways to spend my time. I haven’t gotten very far with these plans, though – mostly due to my urge to have my home-space figured out before I try to do anything extra. I have some drafts for a painting series (or, as it might turn out, a single diptych) in the works. I’ve become lax on my paper journaling, and on my hope to hand write and send a bunch of letters. The day to day seems to intervene, and in other times, the emotional energy just doesn’t seem to be there.

I continue to spend about 12-15 hours a week volunteering at 826 Seattle. Not only are they wonderful people, who open their doors to me and put me to work when I needed it, they provide an amazing resource for the community. Please check out their site, visit the Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company, make a donation, get involved, get your kids involved… they do great stuff. If you’re not local, there are 826 chapters across the nation.

Finally, this weekend Jon and I have tickets to see Pema Chodron at the University of Washington. It’s a weekend-long teaching session. I’ve never been to anything of its kind. I first ran across Pema Chodron thanks to picking up her audio Getting Unstuck while I was still working at Whole Foods Market. I’ve listened to it a few times, and find her voice and her message thoughtful and calming. I recommend her work to anyone who has a tendency towards criticism of others or themselves. I’m excited to have the opportunity to see her in person.

I’ve hopefully got more blog posts on the way. In the mean time, why don’t you pick up a copy of How to Cook Everything and/or Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. How to Cook Everything is the bible of our kitchen, and Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home is a great, no fuss, easy to manage book of tasty vegetarian recipes, perfect for farmer’s market weekends. (BTW, all y’alls who dig the Trader Joe’s balls of pizza dough – Bittman’s pizza dough recipe takes <10 min to make w/ a food processor, makes two pies, and is freezable.)

Missing Metropolis, Needing Iced Coffee

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While I was in Chicago, I had the pleasure of being just less than a mile from Metropolis Coffee Company on Granville in Edgewater. During my 12 days in Chicago, I went there probably about 12 times, and only once did I have a slightly disappointing cup of coffee. My usual iced Americano was fantastic every single time, and I actually felt like I could taste the notes within the espresso. Since returning to Seattle, I’ve been longing to get such a high quality iced coffee drink that was worth my unemployed dollars.

Then I remembered that another place I had coffee in Chicago offered their iced coffee as made with the Toddy cold brewing system. I had made coffee w/ the Toddy system when I worked for Seattle’s Best Coffee around 2001, so yesterday I set out on a money saving experiment. I picked up a Toddy brewer at Seattle’s Best Coffee in Pike Place Market, and just previous to that, bought 12 oz of beans from Stumptown (their House Blend). The barista at Stumptown steared me towards their House Blend with the knowledge I’d be making it with the Toddy. While I was at SBC, they offered me a free pound to go with my Toddy maker, so I picked up some of their new-age sealed (good for a year!) Panorama Blend.

I don’t know that much about coffee – especially compared to some – but I did spend the better part of 3 years of my life between Starbucks (back when you learned to pull real shots) and SBC (back when they were owned by a chicken company). I have the hope that the Panorama Blend might be palatable. We shall see.

For today, I’m on my second glass of the Stumptown House Blend. It’s a little more bitter than I’d like, but I’m liking it so far, and am glad I’ll have a carafe of it in the fridge whenever I need a bit of a boost. For the newly unemployed such as myself, inspiration is needed to get my butt into gear, so I hope this will provide it.

Washington, DC to Washington State

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Yesterday, Jon and I returned from Washington, DC back to Seattle, WA. He had been there most of the week without me for business. I joined late last week, just in time to experience high humidity and temperatures exceeding 100 F. To say I was uncomfortable would be an understatement. I will also swear up and down that it was never that horrible in Chicago, though that might be a lie. At least in Chicago, I said, there are tall buildings and a lake offering a cool breeze.

I returned to Seattle by way of Phoenix, AZ. Although I did not actually step out in the Phoenix heat, I can tell you it had to be damn hot, as that we sat on the plane with no air conditioning for at least 30 min waiting to taxi onto the runway. The tin-can became like an oven, and thankfully they turned on the fans. Seattle greeted Jon and I with a midday breeze, cloudless sky, and a comfortable temp in the mid-70’s. This is a standard, summer day in Seattle. The night was so cool that I when I got up this morning I had to shut the windows for awhile because the breeze was too cool for my tastes.

My day-off had me hiking to the local co-op, Madison Market to get our weekly groceries. The total cost came in at just under $55. Our meal plan is as follows:

(Note: Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home = M@H, Moosewood Cookbook = MC)
Tonight – carrot and celery pasta (local, farmer’s market) with meat (local beef) sauce (homemade, canned tomatos) and garlic bread (homemade bread, farmer’s market garlic, co-op butter)
Tuesday – M@H, Ginger Tofu (local) and Greens (local kale) over Coconut Basmati Rice
Wednesday – MC, Potato Leek Soup (local)
Thurday – M@H, Avocado Corn (local, frozen) Salad over lettuce with tomato (local heirloom), olive and egg (local)

I would estimate that over 90% of the purchased materials were organic. Very little cans or packaging for ingredients, and my own bags and legs toted these items home.

It’s taken me about 5 years to transition to the food/shopping style I have acquired. Just a year ago it was hard for us to conceive of shopping at Madison Market – mostly because the selection is so limited compared to giants like Whole Foods Market. However, they do specialize in local stuff, and by being a co-op member, I feel like we have more of a direct line to their practices. Today’s shopping was mostly what was available and in-season. I almost feel like I’ve won something – even if I can’t put my finger on it.

I’m further fueled to decrease food-miles and over-consumption of resources by reading Barbara Kingsolver’s newest book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It details her family’s journey from living in the resource-draining state of Arizona to the lush agricultural land of Virginia, raising their food and learning to live in harmony with the seasons. I’m enjoying her narrative style, and the composition of the book, which includes seasonal recipes and annotations for further information on sustainability issues.

And with all that, my tummy’s rumbling for lunch.

Satisfying Dinner on a Hot Day

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Tonight I had to “fend for myself” for dinner, as that Jon is doing a presentation tonight. I decided to swing by Trader Joe’s, a store I very, very rarely go into due to its prep-food centricism and lack of truly organic, and local foods. It was near my van pool, however, and it turned out to be a quick stop.

I picked up chevre, three organic oranges, two chicken breasts (from a Washington State farm), mixed greens (California, possibly contaminated w/ E. coli, who knows!) and unrelated to my meal tonight, but tastey, Nori Maki snacks.) Here’s a close approximation of what I made:

Makes two servings.

Chicken Marinade:
2 chicken breasts, 1/4 in thick slices
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/8 cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Dressing:
3 oranges, zested and juiced
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

4 oz chevre
1 bag washed mixed greens

1. Combine the balsamic vinegar, water, garlic, salt and pepper in a sealable container. After slicing the chicken in to 1/4 inch thin slices, add to container, seal and shake, and place aside for 20 min.

2. Zest the oranges, then slice and juice the oranges, put both in a blender. Add balsamic vinegar, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper to the mixture, and blend for abotu 10 seconds. Taste, and make adjustments. Pour into a cruet, and refrigerate.

3. Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet at medium high heat. Add chicken, and cook until mostly cooked through (this shouldn’t take too long, keep an eye on it). If a lot of liquid is in the pan, poor it off towards the end and let the chicken cook undisturbed for 2-3 min, or until it starts to brown. Stir the chicken in the pan to get the other sides brown, then set aside.

4. Put mixed greens in bowls. Slice and crumble chevre in equal amounts on top of the greens. Top with equal parts chicken. Finally, pour the dressing on the salad and enjoy!

I’m sure there’s a million ways to do this recipe better, and the above writing is an improvement on what I did tonight. All I can say is that what I ended up with was HEAVENLY on a warm summer evening. Adding some olive oil to the dressing while it’s blending will add a lightness and body to the dressing. I will try that next time (this idea isn’t unique, I stole it from Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis.) Also, like in the aforementioned TV chef’s work, tossing the greens with the dressing before topping with everything else might also lead to a splended presentation. I do, however, like giving people the opportunity to dress their salad as they wish.

Happy eating! Stay chill out there!

This Week in Consumption

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My friend Kalki, who lives in the NYC area, was giving away some beauty products and offering them to whoever wanted them. Having some of my own half-used beauty products laying around the house, I offered a swap instead of a one way send. What I ended up getting was Bed Head Brunette Goddess shampoo and conditioner (smelling strongly of fake brown sugar) and Kiehl’s Herbal Toner with Mixed Berries and Extracts and Ultra Facial Moisturizer (she also sent me a grab bag of other things). In return, I plan on sending her some left over Aveda Tourmaline Charged cleanser and face cream – both seem to be too heavy for my skin.

Trading left-over products seems a lot more eco-friendly than sending them to the trash pile. However, I should likely underline the word seems.

From a recent New York Times article Buying into the Green Movement:

It’s as though the millions of people whom environmentalists have successfully prodded to be concerned about climate change are experiencing a SnackWell’s moment: confronted with a box of fat-free devil’s food chocolate cookies, which seem deliciously guilt-free, they consume the entire box, avoiding any fats but loading up on calories.

My “Thinking Green” makes me feel good — as does many other forms of consumption. I can feel guilty about one thing, and then consume another, and feel like I’ve done something good. I think that the analogy to SnackWell’s is a particularly great one, and it reminds me of Michael Pollan’s essay,
Unhappy Meals:

Consider what happened immediately after the 1977 “Dietary Goals” — McGovern’s masterpiece of politico-nutritionist compromise. In the wake of the panel’s recommendation that we cut down on saturated fat, a recommendation seconded by the 1982 National Academy report on cancer, Americans did indeed change their diets, endeavoring for a quarter-century to do what they had been told. Well, kind of. The industrial food supply was promptly reformulated to reflect the official advice, giving us low-fat pork, low-fat Snackwell’s and all the low-fat pasta and high-fructose (yet low-fat!) corn syrup we could consume. Which turned out to be quite a lot. Oddly, America got really fat on its new low-fat diet — indeed, many date the current obesity and diabetes epidemic to the late 1970s, when Americans began binging on carbohydrates, ostensibly as a way to avoid the evils of fat.

I love that SnackWells is name-checked in these two articles published 6 months apart. Even better, it’s used to illustrate our misguided consumption of stuff. The 20th Century brought us a larger food supply, and cheaper crap for us to fill our houses and spend our hard earned dollars on. All of it is fueled by this ridiculous belief that we have a limitless supply of energy – in whatever form it takes, from energy as fuel for our cars and machines, to keep this stuff easily within our grasp and energy as food, making us and our children wonderfully fat. We can’t STOP consuming and no group making money today really wants us to STOP consuming as much as we do. Of course, I’m happy to be proven wrong on that declaration.

I can’t help but think about a family trip to Disney World a few years ago, when we sat in an air conditioned theatre and engaged in some thought-provoking edu-tainment Ellen’s Energy Adventure in Epcot. Ellen Degeneres and Bill Nye (the Science Guy) bring up important points about our waning energy supply. Never fear, though, because in the end, we still have an inexhaustable amount of brain power to think of a solution to the energy crisis.

That is, except when you and everyone else with the brain power to figure a solution haven’t eaten in days, and are away from any clean source of drinking water. (The brain seems to work better when well rested, fed and watered.)

I could go on with regards to this weeks thoughts on consumption, but currently, I have an aching belly from nibbling while baking Lavender Shortbread Cookies and making German Potato Salad for the Fourth. I have, indeed, over-consumed, and the day isn’t even done yet.

Have a happy and safe Independence Day. Make a point to exercise a civil liberty today.