Maebius Musing

Yay! Summer is in full swingand the day was long and summery.   Blue skies interspersed with puffy little clouds, then the traditional afternoon grey rumblings and windy “Get indoors NOW” rain threats.

Not much to report, as we were rather busy with daily life,  but it was spent mowing the lawn, weeding the garden, and otherwise fiddling with the land outside. Our little one spent a decent portion of the day in the old corn-crib (his “Smash House” lately) pretending to be The Increduble Hulk, and stomping through various parts of the rotten floorboards.  It’s truly amazing how stomping a weak bit of plywood until it becomes a hole, then spending a good 2 hours enlarging that hole to the limits of rotten-ness and stomp-strength could occupy a child of almost-5 in such a focused manner.  Kids R Kool!

In the afternoon, we went to visit our friend Meg, and got to see her sweetie’s house for the first time.  It’s a nice little place, a bit far down a windy road, tucked off to some forgotten sectino of the suburbs.   You wouldn’t expect to find a secluded little patch of woody fields essentially just off to the middle of “town”, which made the trip there kinda magical.   The yard was about as big as our front lawn and nestled in a little dip of the hillside to make the neighbors all-but-vanish.  With trees behind it stretching to “infinity’ (or 1.4 mile) and a cozy garden, combost bin, and fire circle + hammock, it was perfect!

There were a few kids there for ours to play with, and us adult types mostly jsut stood around and chatted.  We didn’t know many folks, but there were some gransparents, nad a lovely older woman in a wheelchair who devoured the snack we provided.

There was planned a spiral-dance with the kids, and a bag full of rattles, sticks, and such, but as soon as they were getting distributed, the wind suddenly gusted, black couds materialized out of the blue sky, and it the temperature dropped 5 degrees.  You know those times, where you can feel/smell the rain, and the ait itself gets charged with electricity?   I joked that if we danced right then, the final moments where everyone crunches together would be accented by the largest *CRAACK* of lightning, and a torrent of raindrops.   Many agreed, but as much as us younger adults wanted to do that, older wisdom prevailed and we moved the party indoors quickly before the gransfolks got soaked.

(Note, there were only approximately 42 large drops of rain which fell, by the time the frontline moved through, so no real torrents, which made us all laugh at the ‘paranoia’ a few minutes beforehand.)
Concerning snacks,  Doug and I made salsa and guacamole from “scratch” to bring to the party.   I’ve never actually make salsa from a recipe before, and always add a dash of vinegar to tarten it up, but I followed the recipe for the most part this time.  Turned out AWESOME! (Recipe below, and thanks Nettle for helping with tomato-processing questions).

The guacamole was our little guy’s favorite.   Three avacados, a heaping spoonful of light sour cream, a glop of lemon juice, smallish scoop of minced garlic, and a quarter of a chopped onion.   Stir to smoothish consistancy and serve.   The guacamole didn’t last long, and some of the older folks were mock-fighting the lady in the wheelchair since she kept surruptitiously moving the bowl onto her lap and lookis around innocently if someone held a chip out.  

All in all, a fun festive time!

Maebius’s new favorite homemade Salsa:

• 2 large tomatos
• 1/2 large onion
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 whole garlic clove (we used about 2.5)
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• Chop all ingredients and mix together in bowl.  Let sit for 2 hours to allow flavour-mingling.  Eat!

We substituted some sliced peppers in oil that were leftover from last season for the fresh jalapeno, and added just over double the garlic recommended.   The whole mess looked suspiciously like Tabbouleh, but tasted much more like the topping Wren used for Bruschetta once.  Tart, not too tomato-y, yet very yummy!

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Recent emails discussing blogging, and such have supplied us with today’s tag-meme, and thus, my answers below.

What books do you read when you’re happy?

Hmm, hard to pin down a specific book, sine if I am happy it is most likely because I’m reading something new and fresh and exciting. Usually fantasy (such as Susan Cooper, Ursula LeGuin, Diane Duane, or Neil Gaiman… not “Dragonlance” or other high-fantasy stuff) or Sci-Fi type books. Fiction with a healthy dose of either philosophical underpinnings, or a pseudo-spirituality/mythology behind them. Currently reading the Chronicles of Narnia (Prince Caspian) to my son at night.

What books do you read when you’re sad?

Similar to the happy books, though when I am sad I generally do not read much.  If I do it is lighter fare, such as the ever-popular “So you want to be a wizard” books, or “Wizard of EarthSea”.  Also, huge fan of William Sleator for quick pick-me-ups.

What were your favorite childhood books?

Hmm, already mentioned, before I read this question.  William Sleator (”Interstellar Pig“, “House of Stairs” and “Singularity“) definitely, as well as Diane Duane’s “Young wizards” series.  These, plus “The Dark is Rising” series(no, NOT the stupid modern ‘Seeker‘ movie) formed a big part of my worldview.

What’s your i-die-tomorrow meal?

Hmm, really tough call.  Honestly, as I think about this, it really depends on the season.  In summery months, I would eat Herb Chicken Pasta or honey-mushroom chicken every other night.  (herby chicken breast, over alfredo sauce, peas, and penne)…(chicken breast coated with a gloppy mess of honey, mushrooms, mustard, worchestershire, whatever else is handy, and topped with melted swiss cheese)

In winter, I die for rooty stews with Burdock, carrot, and anything Thai-curry.

What’s your guilty food pleasure?

Hmm, either a fair trade organic dark chocolate with cran/blueberry bits, or of course…Pomegranate Powah.
What’s your guilty tv/movie pleasure?

For TV, probaby a toss up between “So You Think You Can Dance“,  or  “House“.   For movies, I’m still a sucker for “5th Element” and “Tank Girl”, though also could watch “Titanic” again (which I saw over 4 times in theatre) if I have to mention a guilty secret movie. 

Ok, tagging everyone who reads this.     Go!

-Me

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Two friends and I are engaged in a fun Iron Chef challenge, using Artichokes as our secret ingredient.

See my blogroll (Kwitchery, andalso Nettle’s Blog) for details and updates.

My own entries, are all cold dishes, making a subtle nod the Northern regions we live in (relatively speaking). Simple picnic fare mostly, representing the humble joy of country life, and it’s casual connection to nature, yet still holding within it’s myriad ingredients a mirroring of the complex web of life. Each dish is topped with a fresh violet, symbolizing the spring season, and offering a token of friendship towards this chef’s lovely challengers. (Sound sufficiently Asian/esoteric?!?!)

-=- Appetizer -=-

First, we have a Artichoke Pâté, served on a bed of fresh Romaine leaves, surrounded by various multi-grain crackers and pita slivers. Garnished with a fresh violet leaf and flower. Recipe was mostly followed, with some minor adjustments in terms of slightly less olives, slightly more garlic, and a touch of cilantro-sprout to bulk out a slightly insufficient quantity of Parsley.

* 15oz artichoke-hearts, drained
* 4oz low-fat cream cheese
* 1/3 cup grated parm cheese
* around 3 Tbls fat-free mayo
* 1.5 tsp minced garlic
* 1-2 tsp lemon juice
* 2 Tbls finely chopped parsley
* 2 Tbls finely chopped black olives
* 2 Tbls chopped, roasted red peppers
* Salt and Cayenne pepper, to taste
Process the heck out of all ingredients, then leave in fridge for a while to let flavors blend. (will it blend? Yes!) Serve with starchy/firm accoutrements like crackers, breads, or melba toasts.
The taste was pleasingly subtle, with the initial tartness of the peppers, lemon, garlic, and artichokes offset by the cooling firmness of the cream cheese.

-=- Main course -=-

Artichoke pasta salad with grilled chicken. Grilled chicken tenders, marinated in artichoke juice & minced garlic, rubbed prior to grilling with a mix of paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Served on a nest of linguine pasta tossed with more artichokes, black olives, peppers, olive oil, and cider vinegar, plus the seasoning mix used on the chicken, atop a plate of fresh romaine lettuce leaves. Served cold, except for the chicken, which was added at the last moment steaming hot off the grill.

While using similar ingredients to the appetizer, this meal was quite tasty. More tangy and very full of marinated artichoke flavor. The kid loved this a lot, especially due to “slurpy noodle” potential.

-=- Dessert -=-

I had planned to make an artichoke-based ice-cream (since EVERY japanese recipe seems to involve some sort of frozen treat using almost any ingredient you can imagine), but ran out of time to prepare it again, as the initial attempt did not work right. More of a sorbet, I rinsed marinated artichoke hearts to remove most traces of the vinegar and oil, and pureed them until smooth. Then I added about a quarter cup of table-sugar and some more water (less sweetness than traditional European Sorbets, more like Asian “green tea ice-cream” in palate).

Unfortunately, the making of good sorbet requires a constant freeze/mix cycle that I was unable to work into our schedule properly, and am not submitting without a proper consistency and last-minute tweaks of recipe to ensure a quality entry. My initial result either froze solid and needed quite a lot of blending/refreezing, or started to separate a bit and freeze mostly sugar-water on the top of a denser artichoke-dust.

While this entry may sound rather off-putting, it was not too bad by my initial test. The artichokes, once rinsed, became more of a binding agent than a flavor, and added merely a slight subtle ‘greenish-bitter’ taste to the otherwise sweet frozen sensation. I think removal of a bit more vinegar, or using fresh artichokes blanched/boiled, then powdered, might work better. Still nothing earth-shatteringly well received, but a unique dessert which does compliment the other two dishes in flavor.

Summary, the initial sweeter appetizer, with crunchy crackers, followed by a more hearty and savory-salad made for a fairly well-rounded meal. While the desert course was initially unsuccessful, it was mostly due to time and technique rather than a failure of ingredients, and got a head-shaking (semi-sarcastic) bonus point for creativity and risk-taking.

Bon Appétit!

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((Random update: I think the previous post-quiz has some problems, since when I re-took the test fudging my answers to get different results, and even leaving all answers Blank, or “all=agree” I got exactly the same results. Might be a factor with my work’s firewall preventing the script from running properly?! So all statistics below are in all likelyhood completely inaccurate!!…I will update it with results from my home computer once I get an evening free to go online instead of working until sunset outdoors!))

Cross-posted from an email I pondered on the AODA mailing list:
I’ve been wondering about all the talk of porch gardens, permaculture, and such, especially in light of the current trends with food shortages. The thought struck me a few days ago, that with everyone focusing on GM crops, corn/wheat prices, and the like, one option I have not seen is wildcrafting edible ‘weeds’.

The first caveat to this of course is that learning what wild-craftable edible plants and encouraging others to go pick them is NOT entirely sustainable, and just shifting our focus. Edible/medicinal weeds are niche plants that may be growing all around us, but encouraging their cultivation and mass consumption causes the same long-term worries that mass monoculture does with our fields today.

However, on a small-scale personal level, I wonder what some of us druidic-types think about the benefits or problems with expanding our pantries with less ‘mainstream’ food sources. Lambs-quarters (Chenopodium album) are just starting to sprout in the flower gardens, and our family has started using the tender leaves in salads with [soon] larger greens as side-dishes. (lightly steam/boil with a dash of garlic and vinegar = YUM! nutritious as spinach!)

Since these plants, to use them as an example, grow on their own in about every patch of disturbed dirt around the garden or even purchased hanging baskets from commercial greenhouses, they are abundant, hassle-free, and a VERY cheap alternative until the other ‘traditional’ leafy-greens are available locally.

Yet, why don’t I see more mention of local weeds among the ‘green gardener’ sites? It takes only a small effort to toss certain plants into one basket as opposed to the compost pile, and increases the productivity of the garden immensely. It’s a rhetorical question, on my part, but one I wanted to offer up for discussion with this group, and hope generates some thoughtful replies.

Under the edible albums,
-Nate

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As a follow-up to this posting, regarding being mindful of food, here are my thoughts after doing that practice for two months.

Initially, the process of stopping for a brief moment was irritating after the first week. Intellectually, I understood that my process for this experiment was going take a bit of determination, but it still seemed that my “monkey mind” rallied against the effort for a few days there. Interesting….

Eventually, that rebellious nature gave up and I actually started to enjoy the vague challenge of tracing foodstuffs to its’ sources. It became almost second nature, and did not require much effort at all. Towards the end of the month, I didn’t even mentally make the connection in compartmentalized terms of Sandwich >> Bread >>Wheat + Sandwich >> Meatloaf >> Hamburger >> Cow + Garnish >> Gardens. ( alternately, Egg salad or marinated chicken strips for the protein part of the sandwich innards)
It became more of a matter of “Sandwich > process” and even that was not so much words and images as it was a vague sense of feeling “I understand the origins of the meal”.

In retrospect, I am very glad I did this little experiment, and while I no longer mentally rationalize the matter, I think it has helped subtly steer me towards a better eating regime. I still do not got out of my way to be totally organic, free range, and all natural, but when faced with a fried chicken sandwich at work or a salad for lunch (on the Rare times I do not pack leftovers) I am leaning towards the salad instead.

A side benefit of this change has made me not nearly so snacky during work. I used to nibble of sunflower seeds, or a bag of popcorn (bulk from this store, not the microwave kind), or more usually, a bag of candy. More recently, I skip the salty nuts and either grab some gorp I made, or just chew a stick of gum all afternoon to cancel the oral fixation of chewing something.

As part of my next experiment, since this one I consider a success, I will begin setting aside 15 minutes a day at work to sit quietly and meditate on some subject or other. At first, I am thinking I will just concentrate on de-stressing and relaxing while at work. I’ve done it for two days this week mostly to see if I could remember to take time out of my lunch and sit quietly in my car, instead of not leaving my desk and surfing the web. Seems like it will work out.

I’ll check back next new moon, to report on the newest incarnation of mindful moon-musings! See you then!

PS: Since twinkies were referenced in my original musing, and I am still an avid world of Warcraft player…here’s an image I found quite humorous.

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