is food the new sex?

i can't quite articulate how much the kind of answer that mary eberstadt (as echoed by george will) provides in the hoover institution's policy review makes me froth at the mouth.

eberstadt takes idle cocktail party speculations (has society's moral regulation of food choice replaced its moral regulation of sexual choice? are these shifts connected?), and turns it into a 7500-word steaming turd of ill-informed self-righteousness, thinly disguised as analysis by a throwaway reference to kant. i was going to spend a lot more time dissecting why this complete nonsense, but it's just too irritating, and, frankly, could take up several books. anyone who claims that the fact that people of a lower socio-economic class suffer higher levels of obesity is due to overabundance (and implied lack of self-control) shouldn't be allowed to get within 2 intellectual miles of food policy and trends. and any woman who waxes nostalgic for the days of pre-sexual revolution moral regulation, when "Susie in the town nearby got pregnant and wasn’t allowed back in school", should be forced to wear a chastity belt.

my brush with celebrity.

it's true. i not only met, but actually danced with this dude.
ah! like flying too close to the sun.


BOOMBOX from Ely Kim on Vimeo.

gloriously tasteful.

appropriate to send to a colleague who just gave birth?
absolutely.
i think it really says, "have fun breast feeding!"

gheeeeeeeeee

actually, to be technically accurate, clarified butter.
one of the places i went wrong in a recent recipe was trying to use unclarified butter to quick fry something, so i decided to make a bunch for myself. clarifying butter, just by melting a few sticks, separates the butter into three layers. you skim off and discard the foamy top layer and then gently pour or skim the pure middle layer into a jar. the milk solids, which settle out in the bottom of the pan during heatin, are what burn most quickly, so getting rid of them raises the smoking temp of the fat by 25-50F. apparently it'll last in the fridge for like three months. score!

thao with the get down stay down

well, my day was just made.
thao with the get down stay down, one of my favorite bands, will be playing at the bowery ballroom on may 14th. i've seen them twice already, but i'm absolutely going again, and i encourage everyone else to check them out. the openers seem not bad: samantha crain, a perfectly listenable neo-folk/americana outfit, and sister suvi, who i suspect will either be FANTASTIC live, or unspeakably pretentious. (y'know, either way...or both?)

and then there's TWGDSD. i'm pretty prone to girl-crushes, but the one i have for thao is of a particularly flustered, breathless type...so i'll try to get the basics out of the way before going all rapturous: you can snag a few free songs on the daytrotter website, but i seriously recommend getting their albums, at least we brave bee stings and all, if not also like the linen. both are pretty great, but, in my opinion, bee stings, their second, is a more varied, polished, interesting album. i would definitely be sure to score "moped," "tallymarks," and "chivalry" off linen, though.

TWGDSD is spring music for me. can't really pinpoint why, except that maybe it's that their literary, guitar (and sometimes banjo)-based brand of indie folk rolk is so light-footed and (mostly) sunny, good-natured even when in distress. regardless, it's gotten me through 2 senior theses and graduating college, so maybe that speaks for itself. or, specifically, bee stings did. like i said, i like the first album fine, but the second is far better (i've just destroyed my hipster street cred if i ever had any). one improvement on like the linen that's made on bee stings is the addition of more varied forms and eclectic components, like the horn bass line under the stripped down snare drum and acoustic string on "beat (health, life, and fire)". just...so...catchy.

the lyrics are the real gems here. what thao does most often, and quite well, are verses that meditate on situations that have just not gone quite as someone expected: regret leavened with resignation and self-deprecating humor ("you can't build cathedrals out of finger steeples" or "my, my mouth, a confessional canon/run away with me with the most reckless of abandon"). i'll say though, she's energizingly great on the occasions when she gets fierce, like on her feminist anthem (woot!) "swimming pools". the lyric "you've got to push all the doubt/to the side of your mouth/and we, we brave bee stings and all/and we don't dive, we cannonball" gives the album its name, and the rest of us an oft-needed general exhortation to ballsiness.

thao croons and sighs and growls and wails her way through these lyrics in a way that makes you feel like you're in the middle of your third glass of wine with a perfect stranger. you're both a little drunk, but certainly sober enough to be self-conscious about it (not to mention the fact that you're spilling self-revelation to a complete stranger). and then she says something wry and self-reflective and just exactly what you've been trying to articulate, even if the actual situation she's describing has nothing to do with yours.

at her live shows, thao is far more wail and growl than croon and sigh. even at an intimate gig/talk i saw, her twiggy limbs jerked and thrashed along with the beat, and most songs were played half again or even twice the speed of the album versions. like a manic-depressive in a manic phase, her energy, her hurts, her wryness, are all as distilled as the whiskey she's been known to sip while performing. live, thao is like that stranger a couple drinks (and maybe a few lines) later. she wants to find a way to break onto the roof of the nearest, tallest building, or steal a fast car, and while part of your brain thinks you may have gotten something completely different than what you bargained for, the rest of you is pretty much along for the ride.

HAHA FARCE

if only...
for anyone who's ever despaired of the culture of litigation in the states, abandon all hope ye who click here...

that's right, one of the top stories on bbc.com documents the travails of welsh 14-year old kristy mcrae, who ran afoul of GROSS NEGLIGENCE, when, using a coin-operated tanning bed (aka DEATH MACHINE) without the immediate presence of a non-brain dead mammal, acquired FIRST DEGREE BURNS over 70% of her body.

for those of you who have never suffered the AGONY and psychological trauma of a first degree burn, perhaps this SHOCKING DESCRIPTION will help you to understand poor, pink kristy's plight:

"First-degree burns are red and very sensitive to touch. First-degree burns involve minimal tissue damage. These burns affect the outer-layer of skin causing pain, redness and swelling. Sunburn is a good example of a first-degree burn."

that's right. and imagine the insult added to kristy's injury by the callous implication of the salon owner: that kristy should actually have read the warning signs posted all over the store, when no one was there to hold her hand and remind her to sound out the longer words. "operating within the law" indeed...when obvious illiterates can just wander in the door and expose themselves to concentrated UV rays at £1 a pop using technology that your average monkey trained through a basic rewards system could operate without incident? disgusting. WHERE IS THE ACCOUNTABILITY I ASK YOU??

kristy was admitted to the hospital, for, um, a coupla hours...and now must suffer the indignity of regular lotion application. indeed, whose heart wouldn't be wrenched by her story of TERROR:

"It is something I don't think I'll ever forget about how scared I was and how I didn't realise just going on a tanning bed could result in going to hospital and being quite ill" ...She added: "It was extremely frightening. I was just glad I got out of hospital."

our thoughts are with you, kristy...mostly the ones along the lines of "maybe idiots shouldn't be allowed to wander the streets with loose change."

food for a rainy day

well, it absolutely could not be grosser outside. cold, windy, freezing rain, you name it...but i'm psyched because a meeting got canceled, so i slipped out a little bit early... and, after a miserable walk home and a ferociously hot shower, plan to spend the rest of my night finishing up work here and cooking.


my quaff and my makeshift rolling pin: our lady of rojo.

i love working from home. i've got an excel sheet open, but by 5:20, i've already pulled my ingredients and opened a bottle of questionable red. SO, first off...

focaccia
i'm not a baker. there's something about the recipe-dependent science of it that flies in the face of everything i love about cooking. however, i've been doing a little experimenting with pita lately (after you've had fresh baked pita, especially from the middle east, serving store-bought becomes something approaching a capital offense)...but i haven't managed to get it puffed properly yet. nonetheless, it's a pretty delicious flatbread, so i decided to come back to that problem later and adapt the better of the two recipes i've tried to something that doesn't require as much precision.

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon honey
1 packet yeast
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
a mess 'o rosemary
--> caveat, i didn't really pay much attention to these...so we'll see. (see notes for next time below before making this)

activate the yeast in the water (just a touch above your wrist's temp), and once it's a little frothy, dissolve in the honey and salt, and add the olive oil.

add the rosemary to the flour(s). sadly, i didn't have fresh rosemary, so i had to use dried. yum factor minus four. pour in the liquids and hand mix until it's no longer sloppy and sticky, but just kinda tacky.

knead for 10 minutes (or approximately 2.5 tom petty songs, as i'm currently measuring), until it's smooth and elastic. oil the dough and and and a bowl, put the dough in the bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise until it's doubled in size (90 minutes? sure, why not.)

punch down the dough, take it out, and divide it up into 6 or so balls (or however many mini-focaccias you'd like). knead the balls (HATHAT'SWHATSHESAID), and let them rest under the damp cloth for 10 minutes or so. preheat your oven to 375F. take them out, roll them flat to about a 1/4 inch (maybe a little thicker for the focaccia). then put the rounds back under the towel for another 10 minutes.

pop them on a lightly oiled baking sheet, brush with more olive oil (maybe some kosher salt? some garlic? little more rosemary? a little thyme?) and bake until lightly browned.

notes for next time
i always use some wheat flour. gives the thing some flavor. (as soon as i can get to our local produce/natural, vegetarian foods joint, i'm going to pick up some barley and spelt flours and give those a whirl too.) however, you definitely need to add some extra water and olive oil (or whatever you're using for fat). also: dried rosemary- FUGGEDABOUDIT. mine was really lacking for the fresh stuff. it could also use a little more salt. i found that the 1 1/2 teaspoons wasn't really enough for focaccia, although it works fine, taste-wise, for pita.

vegetarian chili
i often cook massive amounts of food, with whatever is to hand. so what i call "vegetarian chili" is an only-semi constant constellation of bean and tomato-based ingredients, thrown together. it is, however, pretty delicious. i'm noting the amounts that i happened to use this time, but they're totally flexible. although i didn't this time, you can add pretty much any kind of veggie you want, to make it super nutritious (spinach might be good).



1 cup quinoa; 1/2 cup amaranth (or any whole grains)
this is for texture (since there's no ground meat), taste, and (depending on what grain you use) added protein. i like the quinoa and amaranth mixture: both are high-protein, gluten-free new world grains, with nice flavors (quinoa is kinda grassy, and amaranth kinda toasty/nutty). be sure to soak them for a couple hours and/or rinse them thoroughly in a fine strainer, as the quinoa, especially, has a high saponin level (bitter, bowel-irritating coatings on the seeds). cook like rice with 2 parts water to 1 part grain, until the water is absorbed and the quinoa's curly germ has separated from the main seed.

2 large onions
chop and sautee with olive oil and salt until yellowy and soft, but not quite transluscent. i tend to go onion heavy, because i like onions. you may not...and i may judge you for that. if you do this in the bottom of the pot, you can minimize dished (which i like...)

add a 14.5 oz can of diced, unseasoned organic tomatos along with their liquid and a 14.5 oz can of red kidney beans, rinsed, and some frozen corn to the pot with the onions. if you, like me, like to have tomatos on hand, but hate watching them go bad if not used, buy canned, but spring for the organic. it makes all the difference. as for beans, you can use any, and i often use a mix. word is, the dried, bagged ones are cheaper and better, but i'm often too lazy to soak them before i use them...your call. also, i'm sure it would be extra delicious if, instead of using old, freezerburned kernels, you roasted the corn on the cob with olive oil and salt, and then cut the kernels in at the last minute.

now, season with chili powder, flaked red pepper, more salt, pepper, and copious amounts of garlic. i also throw in a mess o' cumin powder (like i do with nearly everything), because, in this case, i think it makes a nice mellow note under the spicier chili power and red pepper. cook as long as you want, adding the quinoa about halfway through, so it gets flavor too.

top with cheese, sour cream, cilantro...whatever you want. keep leftovers in the fridge...it only gets better as it sits.

super awesome, experimental desert
this was a collosal fail, mostly because winging it didn't really work...in any of the approximately 7 billion components involved. normally, i'd have no problem blogging said fail, but i think this had to do with execution, not concept, so i'm going to post it when i get the chance to try it again and do it right. don't worry, i'll detail my own mistakes so you don't repeat them...if you would be silly enough to. until then, you'll just have to remain in suspense. [note: if you were present for this spectacularly terrible culinary experience, don't ruin it for others/embarrass me in the comments haha.]

tofu dumplings with brussel sprouts...and love.

so, i've never made dumplings before, i've never liked fried food, and i don't have a steamer...but hey! after a couple of very strong homebrewed beers (a yummy baltic porter, courtesy of a brewer friend), anything seems pretty do-able. plus, i've had a couple of blocks of tofu, wonton wrappers, and frozen brussel sprouts in my fridge for a while now, so i decided to hit up the korean grocery/fish market on the corner for ginger and scallions, and give it a shot. (note on small, ethnic grocery stores: they are the best. everything is always cheaper, and often in small, cooking-for-one friendly packaging. i go a lot to this fish market, although never to buy the fish, which always seems like a gamble. there's also a mexican grocery which i've yet to try, but plan on going to, to hunt down some masa for tamales. stay tuned.)

i've kind of taken the general thrust of technique for the dumplings from this blog, which also makes me want to try other japanese-inspired dishes. the brussel sprouts are inspired by this heidi swanson recipe. (if i could kill anyone for the purpose of stealing their life, mr.ripley style, it would be swanson: foodie, photographer, and general bad ass. wow i hope i don't get in trouble for putting that on the internet). since, like i said, i don't have a steamer, i decided to go with lightly frying the little suckers, but you could probably use the same ingredients, but sautée the filling first, and then steam them.

tofu dumplings with brussel sprouts...and love


wanton skins
a mess o' brussel sprouts (try to use fresh, but frozen will do)
2 blocks extra firm tofu, drained
2 eggs
1/2 cup edamame
a medium bundle of scallions, chopped
a large bulb of ginger, grated
lots of minced garlic
salt, sugar, red pepper flakes
sesame oil
canola oil
a lime or two

brussel sprouts:
shred the brussel sprouts and sautée in sesame oil with ginger, garlic, salt, and red pepper to taste. don't overcook them: you want them to be brightly colored, and kind of flexible, but not yellow or droopy. squirt some lime juice on in the last minute or so, if you want.


dumplings:
process the tofu and eggs to a creamy mixture, then blend in the edamame, scallions, ginger, garlic, salt and sugar.i put some lime juice in, but i'm not sure it actually came through in the end...
i'm a big believer in the phrase "to taste"...how much of everything is in there will depend on what you like. this is only partly because i am too lazy to measure things (so go ahead, taste it...no, i don't care that there are raw eggs. sack up, scooter).


take wanton skins and moisten the edges with your finger, dipped in water. put about a teaspoon of the tofu mush in, and fold it over, so that there is still a border of damp wanton visible. fold the border back over to close, and moisten the whole edge to seal (see below).



heat some canola oil in a frying pan. fry each dumpling until golden brown, flipping each half way through to cook on both sides. do not walk away from the stove to pour yourself another beer in the middle of your second batch.

let the fried dumplings cool/drain a bit, then serve on top of the brussel sprouts.

LET'S DANCE

if you're in the middle of midterms, seasonally affective, or just trying to make it to friday at 5, you can't do better for a get-me-through-it, one-album-on-loop playlist than sloppy, scratchy, psych-up brit trio let's wrestle.

you can get their excellent EP "In Loving Memory Of..." over at emusic (my own downloading service of choice, which i will shamelessly plug later). if you're in the northeast in mid-march, be sure to join me at one of their NYC gigs. in the meantime, enjoy the video for their single "i won't lie to you", sit back, and think about the weekend.



write an entire report draft?
that i'm solely responsible for?
for 9am tomorrow morning?

let's dance.

...or wrestle, as the case may be.

NEW BLOG FAIL

i feel like i'm back in college.

for work, i'm supposed to have a report on sexual misconduct policy drafted by friday morning. much like my term papers in college, down to the wire, it remains in such a state of non-completion that i feel driven to hide out in a dark corner, anxiously chain-smoking and swigging kentucky bourbon straight from the bottle and hoping it all just goes away. sadly, i suspect this is not an effective strategy.

REGARDLESS. in case anyone's actually reading this thing yet, i probably won't be posting much until after i get this report in, and then return from the city on saturday. y'know. in case you were burning to know my breakdown of the stimulus bill cuts.

druze-ish

so i was recently in israel (yeah, during the gaza, er, kerfuffle), and we ended up in a town outside of haifa, with a relatively diverse, relatively non-jewish population, including baha'i and druze populations. here, we had arranged for us a "tour" of druze life. (this sort of things always brings up my internal conflict with "culture" tourism, but maybe more on that later...also maybe more about the druze faith which is really interesting in and of itself).

however, leaving aside debates about authenticity of experience, the tour ended in a really delicious meal, which i'm determined to try making some of. one of my favorites seemed to be just a cabbage leaf stuffed with nutmeg-seasoned white rice. i'm looking for insight on the following:

- does anyone know the name for these?
- also, when i experiment, i was going to try blanching the cabbage, like you would leaves for stuffed grape leaves...any other thoughts?

well, hey there. you come here often?

well.
maybe i've got too much unstructured internet time.
maybe i don't have enough face-to-face interactions with real humans
maybe overexposure to "25 things about me" lists on facebook* has tricked me into think that people are really deeply concerned with the minutiae of other random people's lives.
maybe a disproportionate number among my acquaintance have blogs...and granted, they all have cultivated nichey expertise , or 30-some-odd years of writing experience, or hilarious contributors...but hey! i've got...y'know...little, unrelated, mental gobbits i sometimes wish i had a forum for....

and maybe i should just be doing other things right now, and see this as a long term investment in procrastination.

regardless, you can see i've given into the inevitable (?) and gotten myself a blog. i didn't know it just took a gmail account and about three mouse clicks. so easy to go ahead and make the commitment... sort of like buying a puppy at the pet shop. except that a puppy won't be documented forever in google cache and probably render you unemployable sometime in the future.

anyway, i'll be talking about pretty much anything. my interests are wide-ranging, my qualifications minimal, and my entertainment value... well, i guess we'll see.


* (countdown until that reference is dated: t-3 days. thanks, internet age!)