Apple Cider Vinegar

I bought a bottle of Bragg's apple cider vinegar from Wheatsville, thinking that it would be a healthful addition to some of our dishes. Turns out I couldn't really think of what dish I wanted to taste more sour (none, really), so it just sat there for a few weeks. Additionally, there is no evidence that this folk remedy liquid is beneficial for your health. Fast forward to 2 weeks ago: I purchased some canned black and red beans for a protein source, as we have currently cut out red meat in our diet. Problem was, excluding for the exquisitely homecooked beans and rice I had at Willie Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans, I have never liked a bean dish. Living in Texas, I can't understand how people regularly consume the gritty mush that is refried beans or sugar-loaded baked beans. True, I have in my possession a 3rd generation family red beans 'n rice recipe from kronicred that I will try once I devote a day to the slow cooker. Anyways, I had to figure out a way to make these mostly flavorless legumes palatable to us. After 2 rounds, I have come up with a winning umami-ful recipe that uses apple cider vinegar I'd like to share here. And if you have a problem with beans and gas, you can try soaking them in a water and apple cider vinegar mixture the night before.

1 large can of organic black beans (Eden Foods cans are BPA-free), drained and rinsed

1 medium onion, diced

1 medium bell pepper, diced

2 stalks of green onions, chopped (optional)

a few springs of parsley, leaves removed from stem (optional)

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 c chicken stock

1 tsp apple cider vinegar, to taste

2 tsp soy sauce, to taste

dash of salt and pepper

oil

Pour a bit of oil into a non-stick pan, turn heat to high. Drop the garlic in and sautee until fragrant. Add onions and turn down heat to medium. Sautee until translucent. Add bell pepper, sautee for a few minutes, then toss in all other ingredients. Stir gently. Remove from stove once the beans have absorbed all liquid and are beginning to turn soft. Serve hot.

No Collective Wisdom

I have been reading, no- savoring The Omnivore's Dilemma for a few weeks now, and I brought it along to Portland. It is all about food, an integral part of human life, especially modern American food, something I have a love/apathy relationship with. Having been prepped by watching Food, Inc., I knew that as a nation most of us were walking corn#2people ("you are what you eat!"), that obesity levels are at an unprecedented high, and that conditions in most feedlots are unspeakably unsanitary, cruel, and artfully hidden. The way I have dealt with this thus far is to avoid all processed foods with HFCS, join a boot camp, get produce on occasion at farmers markets, and purchase meat from a local co-op that only stocks what is "natural," "antibiotic-free," "free-range," and whatever other catchphrases they use these days. But we still eat out at restaurants who don't serve food at this standard, because we like eating out. B, especially, delights in trying new foods and enjoying old favorites as if it were a hobby of his. If we limited ourselves to restaurants that sourced only local and organic plants and humanely treated animals, our choices would be limited to a handful of places, mostly on the $$$$ side. We throw our hands up in the air about that.

But should we be cooking and eating in more? Or looking to move to a place with more of those options (like Portland)? I've had more than enough time this year to cook dinner for us each weeknight. I go to the grocery store every other day to get the freshest greens. I don't recall the last time I threw out expired veggies or fruits. (That was a weekly occurrence during my college days, where 4 girls shared a cave of a refrigerator and went to the HEB once a week). It feels good to be able to provide a healthy, hot meal for us. I have even started using the oven again to bake no-knead bread and desserts. The bread-making was spurred by the realization that the $3 rustic loaves we get from Central Market probably aren't that hard to make. And they cost like 12 cents in ingredients. It took exactly 3 tries of dense loaves for me to figure out that I need to let the dough rise twice as long as the recipe stated, so that it would acquire that chewy, airy texture. I also started making these for my local bike mechanic, who has been a valuable resource in fixing up my recently acquired vintage Bridgestone RB-3 road bike. It takes me 8-12 hours of rise time to make a loaf (actual labor time: 15 minutes?), and while I go to my job and do other things during the rise time, it is still an amount of work. It is not very convenient, and part of me would rather continue to buy these from local bakeries, but as my last yoga class taught me to do, I withhold judgment and reflect on the inconvenience. I certainly do not want to succumb to the unhealthy and expensive fast food lifestyle, where everything I consume is processed or pre-made. I see one of my employers going down this path, even though he has started exercising, he doesn't have time to eat, much less make food, because he is an endlessly working small business owner. I look at the Amish/old-timey/survivalist Lehman's catalog and see human-powered food-making machines that aren't really for timesaving. Not that I scorn technology and wish to live life the way they did 100 years ago: short lives with days full of meticulous, backbreaking labor. And yet, it could be more meaningful than the life some people live now. I'm not sure what exactly I'm trying to say; perhaps that I am being made aware of how I need to be here now and seek meaning in seemingly menial and labor-intensive tasks like cooking, baking, cleaning, gardening, and mending.

The subject of this post is inspired by a recent section in the book. That as Americans, we do not have a national cuisine to draw from, and that is why we have a "national eating disorder," says Michael Pollan. We are yanked this way and that way each few years by the newest diet or superfood. I am prey to the hype each time and indignation at this has been building up in me. We do not have the collective wisdom of other cultures, many of whom have been eating the same way for generations. What tastes good is usually also healthy. Think tofu in China, kimchee in Korea, sauerkraut in Germany, cured fish in Scandinavia. This is why I feel a more pressing need to learn more traditional dishes from my mom, and explore foods that I have grown up eating and no longer excite my taste buds. This is why I cannot love food magazines like Everyday Food, because the recipes, pretty as they are, have vague influences from other cultures and have been modified to be healthy by the editors. I'm fine with healthy. I just feel unsettled that we have no strong food traditions from which to draw. It may sound like I am against reinvented and modern foods. I am not, but there needs to be a foundation. I don't want my kids growing up eating fish sticks, frozen pizzas, McDonald's, soft drinks, and Cheetos like I did. Besides zero nutrition, there isn't really a story behind those foods. Not one to be proud of and cherish anyway.

On Energy and Food

It's 5 PM and I'm resisting the urge to throw myself on my cool, inviting bed. A deep fatigue has permeated my limbs and muscles and is also affecting my thoughts. Today we biked to our regular Saturday morning workout since we didn't need to bring our weight bars and the location was at UT. I won't go through the details of the workout, but it was quite brutal in the unrelenting sun. I knew it was a mistake to pop just two 20 calorie shot bloks before heading out, mainly because the night before I experienced a massive hangover-type migraine after only 1 liquor drink and a full day of being dehydrated. I shut myself in a dark room at 9 PM, emerging only to stumble to the kitchen to get more water and eventually expelling the contents of my stomach. I dunno why throwing up relieves head-related nausea, but it tends to do the trick for me. It was also the first time I had experienced vision impairment, white flashes of light in the center of my vision that preventing me from being able to read any text. I thought I was going blind for a good 30 minutes, which was more than enough time to imagine how much my life would change if it did happen. (Should've gotten that damn eye exam!) B was sweet to me the whole time I was feeling and acting so unpleasant, and when I woke up after an indulgent 10 hours of sleep, all was back to normal. Still, the close memory of being so incapacitated and unable to perform basic tasks shakes me each time. I am so thankful that I am generally healthy and have the luxury of fretting about petty things every day. At one point earlier in the evening, we listened to an NPR podcast interviewing a quadriplegic who lived each moment with "death on his shoulders." I did not envy his situation, yet he spoke with such gentleness and joy about how after he broke his neck, he became the person he had always dreamed of becoming, full of love, compassion and reflection.

On eating: B has no difficulty relishing flavorful, expertly-cooked dishes. For him, eating is one of the joys of living. I have given up my task meeting him at that level, and I accept that I will never taste food the way he does. For too long I have regarding eating as a means to break up the day, a response to boredom, an act for fostering social situations, and a way to arouse my tired taste buds. I can't help but feel a bit cheated. Each week I scan Yelp for hot new eateries to chase down elusive ultimate eats.

Since this morning, our bodies were screaming at us to replenish in calories. I've never really experienced this type of hunger before. Usually if I forget to eat a meal or have not eaten enough, I feel slightly lightheaded, and I can choose to ignore the signals for hours (bad idea, I know). Not today. I truly tasted and savored our meals today in the knowledge that I was nourishing my weak body. Local tortillas, bacon, tofu dogs, bell pepper, vidalia onion, red potato hash, avocado- tacos are not an uncommon meal for us. And yet it was wonderful, even more so than when we concoct a similar meal when camping, after we have hiked a few miles and labored setting up the tent. In light of this, I can't imagine what it's like for professional athletes or even ultra-active people like EW who engage in strenuous exercise several hours a day. To treat food as a source of energy and vital nutrients, and not just something to consume 2 or 3 times a day because that is how we were raised. You soon learn the limits of your body this way. I'm not sure yet whether I want strive for this level of activity, but the physical urgency regarding eating definitely intrigues me. In Omnivore's Dilemma (which I need to finish), Michael Pollan discusses his experience of hunting and gathering a complete meal. It was probably a singular experience for him, being so far removed from the act of ordering a meal of fast food. Perhaps I could reclaim the primal satisfaction of eating in one of these ways. It's an opportunity to connect with the daily task of feeding myself that does not involve seeking mindblowing flavors or gorging myself.

Latest Makes

What's been going on these past two weeks? Besides getting really sick of SXSW and bad sound mixes, and not really wanting to participate another year, I've been waiting patiently on The Company to get back to me about the internship, which happens to start in May. Can't say I've been job searching very heavily, since I've got my mind set on that position. I'm also looking into volunteer opportunities around town. Something flexible that I can reduce or break off once I get a job. I'm gonna talk to the guys at Space12 next week (did you know that B came up with the name?). I've also been doing 99% of the cooking as of late. As I mentioned before, I like baking, not cooking. To me, there is too much margin of error in that, and I really hate to fail and waste ingredients. But it's been good for me to get more practice. Cooking is actually one of B's hobbies, but he'd much rather have a hot meal ready for him when he gets home from a long day at work. Some of the new recipes I've tried have let us down, but I also have the tendency to use a recipe as a guideline and botch it. I'm still familiarizing myself with different spices, as I bought bay leaves and paprika for the first time last week. Also, B is a really discerning taster and loves flavor and robustness in his food. I grew up eating a lot of stirfried and steamed dishes, all prepared with minimal amounts of oil and salt. Finding a good compromise is key. I think I should keep a little log of what I make, so that I will make better versions of recipes each time.

Tonight, after zoning out in front of the telly with a chocolate toffee bar and vinegar and salt chips, I saw that the clock read 7:20 and rushed to find a meaty recipe for dinner. Since yesterday, after a trip to Natural Grocer (meat and dry goods) and Wheatsville (veggies), I spent an hour preparing a chard pie (recipe from Everyday Food). It looked easy enough- saute diced onions, chard stem and garlic, remove from heat, add parmesan cheese, lemon juice, salt, and a bit of flour, make a crust out of flour, olive oil and water. When I informed B of my project, he balked and reminded me that he is not into vegetarian meals. So, I froze it for later. This is what it should look like.

source: The Everyday Food blog

I googled "ground beef recipe" and settled on this Shepherd's Pie recipe by Paula Deen. I usually don't follow anything created by the Queen of Butter, but it looked pretty easy and not disgustingly fatty. Instead of 2 cans of tomatoes (that's a lot!), I used a few teaspoons of concentrated tomato paste from Mandola's. I also substituted sweet potato for regular potato, since it is much more nutritious. It was the first time that I had boiled a potato unwhole (it loses a good deal of its nutrients that way), but I was on a time crunch. I also had no milk or sour cream. Usually we have some alternative milk lying around in the fridge, but all we had was oat milk, and it had 19 grams of sugar per serving. I've learned my lesson from using sweetened milks in savory dishes- don't do it! The mixed vegetables I put in with the beef to cook together. I tried to make it a good meat to everything else ratio, since B nearly threw a fit the last time I made a coconut curry that was too heavy on the potatoes, carrots, and onion. (To be fair, it was the first time I had made a dish in our crock pot, and the recipe was written by a white person and did not taste anything like Thai curry.) The biscuit on the top took some extra time to cook all the way through, so by the time it was done, B's stomach was grumbling. He loved it! He said it was the best thing I had ever cooked, and that I should stick to English/European foods. Ha! The way to his bellyheart is through lots of meat, butter, salt, and bread. I'm all for delighting your basest taste buds, but I also want us both to live a long life together. All in all, I'm happy that my second try cooking meat "pies" had a good ending, as opposed to the first. This is what it looked like.


source: boydknife flickr

I also picked up a package of phyllo dough at the store, since we had a bit more left in our budget for the week. A well-made baklava is delectable, and I wanted to see what I could do with those flaky sheets. Using the pear recipe at the bottom as a guide, I had an old Fuji apple lying around that I wanted to use to make apple triangles. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't after I had peeled it that I chopped it up and found a bad core. Luckily, I had half a bag of frozen peaches that I defrosted, diced, and tossed in a pan with a handful of sugar and cinnamon. The phyllo dough itself was more of a challenge to handle. The box said to defrost it by leaving in the fridge overnight, but I didn't want to defrost the whole roll, yet it was too hard and fragile to peel off any layers. Other recipes said to put a damp towel over the layers you weren't using, as the dough dries out very quickly. Thanks to Alton Brown (video), I learned that I could throw it in the microwave for 60 seconds and forget about the paper towel- just work speedily. Also, that you can't use regular melted butter with phyllo dough, you have to boil the water out until it is clarified. I let it sit too long on the stove as I was running around the kitchen, so it became browned butter, but that has a nice nutty taste anyway. Some of my layers ripped as I pulled them apart, and it was not the prettiest dessert. I layered 7-10 sheets with butter drizzled in between each one, then I spooned the peach mixture on one end and folded them up. The triangles looked sorta like this (pre-baked).

source: about.com greek food

B also thought these were very tasty. The filling was quite tart, as I did not add that much sugar, but I just sprinkled some powdered sugar on the finished product. He was impressed with all those flaky layers of crust, but it wasn't any of my doing. It was rather labor intensive, but I aim to try for a savory meat filling next time.

I purchased the book Green Smoothie Revolution and a Oster blender in my last Amazon order. Green smoothies are a growing raw/health food trend. Basically, you make a fruit smoothie and add some leafy greens to it, since the latter is chock full of good things for your body. Americans don't eat enough greens, and even when having a salad, you don't chew it enough to release all the nutrients. In a green smoothie, start off with a heavy fruit to greens ratio, and then work your way up to making it 60/40. In principle, I love it. I have grown to despise the taste of most raw leafy vegetables, but I know I should eat them. Somehow. And this may be it. My first few tries to make a green smoothie were, shall we say, less than desirable. B served as one of my guinea pigs, and he eagerly explained to me what was wrong with each of them. The oranges were too pulpy so you had to chew each bite, blended lettuce tastes gross, raspberry seeds are annoying in a drink, I gotta peel the apple, add ice to make it cold, etc. We finished them both but I could not bring myself to make a third. I even ordered one from a raw food restaurant in town (so expensive!), and also did not love it. But it was much better because they are supposed to be made in 1000+ watt blenders, like the Vita-Mix, which are $300-500. Not only does it make a truly smooth drink, these powerful blenders supposedly break down cell walls to make the nutrients more easily digested. Additionally, you are not supposed to eat any food with this smoothie, and you are not to eat for 40 minutes after you consume it for efficient digestion. I don't have hundreds of dollars just lying around, but I am thinking about saving up for a Vita-Mix as an investment in our health. Here's what my first green smoothie looked like.

Engine 2 and Expense Ratios

I recently stocked up on sweaters when I realized that I only had one sweater that I actually liked. The newly reoffered Bean's Norwegian Sweater (knit in Norway!) caught my eye, but is only available for men, so I shot them an email about making a women's version. So I ordered two boys sweaters, size L, from Lands' End and L.L. Bean. When they came in, they were a bit baggy, short in the arms, and boxy in the torso. That's the trade-off for saving money by getting kids' clothing. That is OK with me, but I was disappointed to see that both pieces were Made in China. I have been feeling convicted lately of buying cheap items manufactured in poor labor conditions. B sympathizes. Can we implement a rule of only buying made in the US clothing? That would make me buy clothes way less often, for sure. Still considering this.

I have never been one to jump on faddish diets. The only one I embarked on was the Lemonade Diet in college, and I was so snack-crazy then that I could only stick with it for three days before cheating at Fresh Plus (post). Another time, spurred by a suspicion that maybe gluten intolerance was making me tired, I went gluten-free for a week, and basically starved for the first couple days, since gluten foods (including many packaged foods) made up most of my diet. I tried out a gluten-free bakery in Westlake and found it very unappetizing (post); all in all, it was an extremely unsatisfying week of eating.

Austin is replete with people who adhere to alternative diets. Vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, sugar-free, red meat-free, macrobiotic, raw food, the list goes on. I've known people who eat differently than I do for years now. But never once did I seriously consider joining them. Food was just food, and I had more important things to worry about. Besides, the fun level of restriction is pretty close to zero. 2009 was a big year of food thinking for me. Beyond taste, I was confronted with the political, social, environmental and personal effects of what I eat. We began to try to eat only locally grown produce (if not that, then USA/organic), local meat and eggs, and less processed foods. In all truthfulness, the health factor was less of an issue for me than ever, since I had somehow managed to lose ~15 pounds this past 18 months by allowing myself to be picky and let my moods get in the way of eating. I knew I wasn't fit or healthy, but it's so much easier to ignore the question when you look just fine.

About a month before the wedding, B resolved to start working out during his lunch break every weekday. With holiday and sickness-related exceptions, he has dutifully kept up this regimen. Concerned that he wasn't losing any weight (albeit gaining much more muscle), we discussed the impact of our diet, and how it had changed from when we dating. Turns out that he noticed that we ate way less greens because I dislike eating raw vegetables, and he did not want to fight with me. Same with fish. And I eat way less pasta, even though I love it, because he doesn't particularly prefer it. And I eat way more (red) meat, because he considers it to be a hearty and flavorful part of a meal. It was an unbalanced array of foods. You are what you eat, right? In the end, with our resolves armed, we decided to make another positive, all-encompassing change. I had heard of the Engine 2 diet, developed by an ex-triathlete and firefighter in Austin. I did some research by reading articles and reviews about the diet (conveniently located on his site), purchased the book at Book People, and here we are basically turning vegan for 6 weeks!!

The added restrictions of the Engine 2 diet to being vegan are no added oils, added sugars, refined flour, or alcohol. B's challenges: no cheese, no alcohol, no yogurt, no eggs, and of course, no meat. My challenges: eating "plant strong," no regular desserts, no regular baking, no Blue Sky sodas, no fruit juice. The rules are still hazy to me, and it will definitely be a work in progress, but I think it will be a worthwhile endeavor. With most Americans dying of disease, I don't want to meet my end that way and I have many years to get off this increasingly common, downward path. (Although I have to admit that I won't officially start until the weekend, as I don't want to just throw away the bread and lunchmeat that is my lunch for the rest of the workweek.)

A personal project at work is taking the bulk of this week. I'm investigating our 401k plan, specifically the fees associated with each of the funds offered. This comes on the heels of my own conversion of my Traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. My parents urged me to open an IRA (Individual Retirement Account) the year I started working (2007), and I did so begrudgingly. At this age, any amount of extra cash = fun, and it was hard setting aside the money, but I am so glad that I did it. Primer: a traditional IRA lets you put in pre-tax dollars, and the amount is taxed as you withdraw it after you retire. A Roth IRA is funded with pre-tax dollars, and your retirement withdrawals are tax-free. I chose to convert to Roth because I am quite certain that I am in the lowest tax bracket I will ever be in, as the common path is for income to rise along with years of experience.

Anyways, when I converted, I put all of it into index funds. Index funds are like the lazy man's surefire way of gaining interest on a long-term investment. It sounded too good to be true, but as I read more about it, I was convinced. This article in particular stood out to me. The results are based on very long looks at historical market returns. Instead of trying to figure out a way to pick the magic combination of funds, you get a slice of the whole market. There are ups and downs, but overall, it steadily goes up in the long-term. And a big part of that has to do with low fees, since they are not managed.

Anyways, the expense ratio, which is the fee you pay the investment company for a fund, of the particular index fund I chose was 0.18%. High fees and expense ratios specifically will eat away at your retirement fund, to the tune of tens of thousands of dollars (or even hundreds of thousands of dollars, if you earn and put in a lot). Please take a look at this chart. Now I'm no money hog, but I'd like to not lose money if I can help it. In poring through the fund information of my company 401k, I calculated that the average fee was around 1.5%. That is a far cry from the 0.18% in my Vanguard index fund. If you look at that chart, it shows that even a 1% increase in expense ratio for a one-time $10,000 investment over 40 years results in no small relative loss, 33.8% (1.5% ER) vs.12.8% (0.5% ER). All this could be avoided if you shop around for lower fees. The terrible thing is that fees are hidden away from the general investor who does not do his/her research, and they are losing so much interest to such fees. I am in the process of trying to find more funds with lower fees, or even new plans with lower fees to present to my boss. I don't want to go as far as to accuse our company's broker (who is by the way a personal friend of the owner) of reaping in huge benefits from our selection of funds, because that would harm me. Let's just say it happens.

If you don't have a 401k, I strongly advise you to open one if your company provides the option, or just open an IRA at Vanguard or somewhere else. Not doing so is pretty much the most financially damaging thing you could let happen for your future self in retirement, and not to mention your family. Any percentage, no matter how small, matters, because of compound interest over decades. (Side note, this is why I am averse to mortgages.) Lately, personal finance has been a consuming interest for me. Not only because I want to ensure that I am set, but because it pains me to see our culture of financial ignorance and the suffering it causes. I want to educate people my age, especially, about this, so they can take care of themselves and their families, and not be enslaved to the vicious side of money. If you have any questions, I would be more than happy to discuss. This is on my list of possible career paths, although I am told that hobbies don't necessarily translate well into jobs.

Vampire Weekend - "White Sky"

Mp3 source: All Things Go

Arts n Crafts

I am eating peanut butter again. For a while I was getting tired of the ground-peanuts bulk kind, since the paste and oil tend to separate easily and you need to refrigerate it. After scanning the prices, I got Earth Balance peanut butter from Wheatsville. It's no stir and contains flaxseed oil (yay!) and agave syrup. It isn't as delicious as Jif, but it's also much healthier, so it's a win. The only ingredient that made me hesitate was palm fruit oil- is that the same as palm oil, what's responsible for the destruction of rainforests and murder of orangutans? I think it is. Boo. Here's an in-depth review.

Earlier this week, I was so tuckered out from running around town figuring out car details that I would be exhausted upon returning home. It finally put me on the same page as B, as all I wanted to do was zone-out and watch TV. And I happily did so without balking. But now that I'm back to the daily light grind, I'm antsy all over again. Wanting to accomplish much in the evenings to make up for my relative inactivity in the daytime. It's not ideal, but is B's intensive work any better? Sure we all need time to relax after work, but I worry that he may not have enough energy for anything else. Like future kids, for example. And hobbies! : /

Speaking of hobbies, I am surrounded by a legion of talented crafters. They're all stay-at-home moms with young kids from the Vox community. I started hanging out with them because they were the wives of B's friends, and they are pretty cool. Because of them, I picked up crocheting this summer. It wasn't weather appropriate at all! Some of them are in the business of making stylish headbands- I bought a couple for Christmas presents. I'm currently about to start making my first quilt. B's mema (grandmother) is a lifetime quilter, and I never thought I would be up to the task after seeing her gorgeous creations. I still don't really think I can do it since it requires a good deal of precision and repetition, but T invited me to try out her old Singer machine. We will see how that goes. B drove me to a good quilt shop up north for a pattern, but it turned out to be extremely complicated, so I plan on a stitching square blocks together, checkers-style. She also makes purses and cycling caps, and they look good. For a while I let myself feel anxious that I wasn't creating this much this well, but I've realized that I'm not super crafty, and that I shouldn't put irrational expectations on myself to be like other people. Maybe when I'm a bored stay-at-home mom will I be more motivated to get crafty, but right now, I'm content to dabble. No guilt in that.

On Sunday night, post-Antichrist, we went over to the newish 24-hour coffeehouse, Bennu, to meetup with E. It was roomy and had a nice deck area, but I had forgotten that coffeehouses in Austin are prime locations for people watching. The moment I stepped in the door I felt so many pairs of eyes on me. It's really stupid! I didn't really care, but I was guilty of doing this when I was a student. Ultimate representation of urban isolation, a deep desire for connection, and inaction. The tantalizing fantasy of a person or group that never materializes, or is a let down when it does. I hate it when places are scenes to be seen at. It has always made me uncomfortable, and while I previously tried to assimilate, I feel like I can freely reject it now. This environment is partly responsible for the proliferation of 30 and 40 year old adolescents in this town, as you are forced to feel self-conscious because of the ever-present Gaze. Felt similarly at Mohawk last Friday at the crowded Balmorhea show. We went because they are our friends and we really like their music, but it irked us that people had paid admission to stand around and talk over the music. It was a cold night, and I was just wearing my raincoat over a fleece for warmth. Being stylish in the cold is way too much effort for me, but that wasn't an issue for everyone else there. Bleh. The last vestige of my connection to that world is my Moscot glasses, and I've been thinking about getting new ones anyway. Tired of having strands of hair getting painfully caught in the hinges.

Song: Loney, Dear - Harsh Words

Toffee Mouf

Right now, I've got a drawerful of candy at work. I've been exiting the long stage of having candy on the outs. Chocolove makes the best toffee chocolate bars I've ever tasted. First off, I'm not an organic/natural/gourmet/fancypants chocolate bar kind of girl. $3-8 is a pretty penny to pay for chocolate that tastes better than the trash that is Hersheys. I recalling buying Chocolove one time before, for Erin for her birthday one year, because it tickled me that each wrapped had a poem or letter written inside of it. I've eaten my fair share of Skor and Heath bars, and I've also tried Green and Black's, but they all pale in comparison to this one. Toffee- it tastes so good and the base ingredients are butter and sugar. How can something so simple be so divine? I ate half the bar today without even noticing it, so much so that I dropped by Central Market on my lunch break to grab some of their bulk toffee. I was tempted to get it last time, since B was stocking up on gourmet cheeses and cured meats, but I resisted. Turns out that it is not nearly as good at the stuff found in Chocolove. It is moist, and then cavity-inducing sticky at the end. I have the same opinion for bulk items that I have about Whole Foods eatery: so much variety, but lacking in quality. They are not beneath using artificial flavors, partially hydrogenated oils and other crap found in processed foods. I don't recall the first time I ever set foot in a bulk foods section, but it must have been awe-inducing, because I still feel that tingly excitement every time I go back. Endless variety is so impressive, but I really have to question the healthiness and freshness of the items.

Yesterday I did a rare thing: watch two movies in one day. I used to have a lot more patience for sitting in front of a screen, but B's voracious appetite for media quickly outpaced mine in the beginning, so much so that I just watch whatever he wants to watch nowadays. You know how hard it is to compete with him in that way. We watched Secretary and the dreaded Antichrist, back to back. Secretary was pretty weird. I had planned on cleaning the house early on, but the David Lynchian set hooked me in. I definitely did not expect to watch a touching movie about an S&M relationship. Maggie Gyllenhaal stars as Lee, a young woman recently discharged from a mental hospital who finds work as a secretary for an "eccentric" lawyer. Eccentric as in prone to mood swings where he is soft and kindly one minute, and then unexplainably frosty the next. So they begin to have a dominant/submissive professional relationship at work, and it is interesting to see how that plays out later in their personal lives. It is a daring movie that tries to give credence to a sexual preferences previously defined outside the boundaries of normalcy. One note, Lee is shown as a cutter (I couldn't watch those scenes!). After she begins her relationship with her boss, she no longer cuts herself. But was she merely replacing self-abuse with sexual abuse? I hope that the underlying issues behind her cutting habit were dealt with, as I'm not sure hurting yourself in any context is healthy.


Then there was Antichrist. Disturbing promo image, huh? It's a story about a grieving couple who, after the accidental death of their young son, go off to their private cabin in the woods to find healing. Then the wife (the lovely Charlotte Gainsbourg) loses her marbles and becomes perversely dangerous. First off, I had no intentions of watching this after hearing it labeled shock-cinema, but somehow B convinced me to. It didn't really shock me because I made sure to hide under the covers during the two massively gory scenes. The movie was saturated with color and also darkness, especially when showing the main characters. And not to mention generous with scenes of graphic, depressing sex. There was a heavy emphasis on the grotesqueness of nature and animal life. I came away visually impressed, but unmoved. I think I would have probably been very bored if I wasn't on the edge of my seat the whole time preparing to be treated to a horrific scene. It is quite easy to brush off this sort of movies as gore for gore's sake, but it wouldn't be fair to do that to this one. I know this story means something, as the director Lars von Trier made it in the midst of depression, but I'm just not sure what.

Image sources: slash film, daily poetics

Hello, Mazda3

After 2 long hours at the dealership last night, we drove out of there with a 2005 Mazda 3 hatchback in excellent condition. I had been dreading the final stage of the car buying process, as we had a downright awful experience last time at Champion Toyota. Sneakiness, dishonesty, and oodles of pressure were applied previously, and it did not help that both of us were so obviously inexperienced and thus easily manipulated. This time around, we prepped ourselves, and made sure it didn't happen again. As soon as we portrayed that we were firm on our choices and knew what we were doing, the salespeople didn't give us too much trouble.

B loves the car! I like it too, and it would be inaccurate to say that I can love a car that I can't even drive. It's a manual, so I should probably learn sometime from a non-family member. The color and paint job is really beautiful, and it's definitely a much nicer car than we ever expected to own at this stage in life. As much as we loved the Scion, we both feel much safer in this. And the trunk space is enormous! Helpful for IKEA trips in the far future. B was itching to drive it around more last night, but if you noticed, the clouds had descended on Austin. There was only 30-40 feet visibility, which is crazy foggy. It felt like you were inside a humidifier when you stepped outside.

After that we accomplished that massive task, it was pretty late, neither of us felt like cooking, so we went over to New Oriental Market for some grub. Initially, I considered being offended by the name, but the market is run by Koreans who just named it themselves. At $5 a plate for Korean food in the attached restaurant, it may very well be the best deal in town. And it's a lot of food, too. Can't forget to mention the free broth/soup, and the handful of fermented, steamed and/or marinated banchan dishes that come with each meal. It's a stellar avenue for familiarizing yourself with the cuisine, as none of the dishes are too exotic. Usually we stop by the fridge for imported canned sodas, coffees or juices. I've been on a McCol kick- it's barley Cola. Pretty rad retro design too.


Been laying off on the natural craze lately. But, I have to make one comment about green dish soap. They are wretched! We bought two expensive kinds of "natural" dish soap and washing the dishes was agonizing. The oil never really left the dishes. Watch out for the offerings of J.R. Watkins and Earth Friendly. I recently read about a new line of non-toxic cleaners called Better Life that I'd like to check out. Walgreens has them in stock, which shocked me, since Walgreens specializes in conventional supplies and a lot of cheap, off-brand, made-in-China paraphernelia. It really is an odd store- I should know, as I have spent way too many 15 minute segments wandering around waiting for my film to print or prescription to be filled. Anyways, the line was started by these two dads concerned about their new childrens' well-being in the house. (No, they're not a couple or gay.) Here's a radiant review. I'm particularly interested in the floor cleaner, as my allergist advised that I stop using my vacuum on the hardwoods and wet mop. (But if you have to vacuum and you have allergies, keep out of the room for at least one hour so the dust can settle.) Well, on second thought, I might as well stick with white vinegar as the most economic and safe option. After I finish my bottle of Clorox Green Works.

On Monday, after a 2.5 hour test involving 40 or so pricks and 30 needles, I was informed that I was highly allergic to dust mites, cat dander, and a slew of pollens. Western Cedar, Mountain Cedar, Juniper, Mountain Oak, Bermuda Grass, Ragweed.. The unfortunate truth is that there are pollens I am allergic to every month.. so I might as well never go outside and keep the windows closed. I also learned that dust mites live in bedstuffs and that I have to get special encasings for my mattress, duvet, and pillows. Oh, and also wash the duvet cover, sheets, and pillowcases once a week in 140 degree water. Still trying to figure out what thermometer to use to test the hot water setting on the washer.. And "no pets in the bedroom." We've tried that the past few days, but Snorri is really hurt by this and mews pathetically all morning outside the door. I'll probably also get some anti-dander shampoo for the cats. Basically, my life just got a good deal more inconvenient, if I choose to follow this advice. An effective but stupidly expensive option is to get allergy shots. It's something like twice a week for 6 months, and then a more spread out schedule for 5 years. And it's like thousands of dollars. That's not an option for me, but it would be nice to be able to breathe clearly one day. My mom suggested that I look into natural/herbal remedies. Maybe. B is pretty skeptical about alternative medicine, and I must say that his skepticism has rubbed off on me.

Not Supertasty

Today was a day for a great realization. We had dinner last night at Shilla, a Korean restaurant, and it was a common meal experience. B ordered a good deal of expensive food and praised each bite, while I, wanting to offset his lavish habits, ordered a small dish and ate to quell my hunger. Specifically, he ordered sushi (smoked salmon, caterpillar roll, spicy tuna) and sundubu jigae, while I got a clear broth soup with pork short ribs and veggies. Afterwards, in our analysis, I looked around the table at our various dishes and the 10 small dishes of banchan and concluded that I was pretty much over Korean food. I had tasted each of the dishes, familiarized myself with their flavors, and found no particular desire to have them again. B, on the other hand, savored and loved his food. He talks about food, its flavors and mouthfeels, when he's eating it. And then he called me a supertaster.

I looked it up this morning, took a few informal short quizzes, and found out that I may be and probably am a supertaster. A supertaster is someone who has more tastebuds than the average person, is put off by strong tastes (like bitter, sugar, fat), prefers "bland" food, and is a picky eater. Part of me was hugely relieved that there is a term to describe people like this. I always thought I was weird and felt ashamed that I could not appreciate a wide variety of foods, since that is somewhat of a prized ability. For example, when people ask me about my preferences, I always offer that I don't really like cheese, except for white cheeses that do not have a strong flavor. Like mozzarella. Or gruyere. I can do pizza or Italian food. As a kid, I remember giving my mother a hard time whenever she tried to get me to eat a grilled cheese sandwich. She probably just wanted me prevent me from developing osteoporosis later on in life, but whenever I was asked to take a cheesy bite, I would gag and be unable to swallow. Pretty soon I made such a ruckus and even cried sometimes that my parents gave up. Same with milk, cream cheese, cheesecake, cream frosting. My brother and I were notorious for scraping the cream clean off our birthday cake slices (and wiping the fork) before even taking a bite. I now wonder why we never considered getting another celebratory dessert after all those years.

This self-label can liberate me from the fear of being abnormal in this category. Now I no longer have to feel guilty when I don't share B's zeal for a dish. Instead of beating myself up for not being receptive to new experiences (I will generally try something even if it looks distasteful), I can just accept that is how I am. I will admit that I used to enjoy eating a lot more, and that dishes I used to love are oddly uninspiring to me now. Like, I never suggest Thai places anymore, because I feel like so many of their dishes are all way too sweet. And I am completely over Mexican/Tex-Mex. Too many years of eating refried beans (hate the texture), forcing down shredded yellow cheese, and stinky flour tortillas. And I have yet to find a good dessert place in town. Usually, to satisfy an inconveniently strong craving, I will go to Quack's in the neighborhood for a quick fix. But their pie fillings are somewhat dry and the crust is eh. I've also tasted too many bad desserts in this town: Whole Foods has a gross, overly sweet dessert section. All their offerings are uninspiring and mediocre, at best. Bountiful Bakery and Sugar Mama's both make sugary bars that I found inedible. The main things going for Tiff's Treats is butter and sugar, neither of which impress me in a cookie. I strongly believe that people should have higher standards for dessert. The only place I have found worthwhile dessert is at Pie Slice (chocolate coffee pie only), and at nicer restaurants in general.

B gave me a look when I recently announced my favorite dish at Mandola's: thin pasta tossed with olive oil, garlic, basil, and fresh tomato. He prefers to go for more flavorful food, such as cured meats, organ meat/offal, strong beers, fish, etc. Tonight we ate at Peche for his belated 25th birthday dinner. It was a three-hour affair. I have to admit that I felt very much out of place there, since everyone was very much moaning from delight over their fine food and mixed drinks, and I thought everything was either OK or not for me. Can't remember the last time I thought a meal was awesome. I really yearn for that sort of culinary enjoyment, but unless some taste buds get killed off or my brain changes, it's not gonna happen. It stinks.

Repurposeful

Drinking some yummy Boylan's Root Beer at work. Not the best bottled root beer ever, but still pretty good. On sale at HEB at $3.99 per pack/$1 per bottle. Found some repurposed glass tumblers online while I was looking up reviews. And here. At first, I thought, wow these are really neat, I want some. They're annoyingly expensive for a recycled product. And then it made me think of all the glass that gets thrown away after drinking that soda or beer or wine.. coupled with the fact that many of us own glass cups that we reuse. Bummer!! My logic may be wrong, but the former is the equivalent to throwing out your kitchen cups after each use. (Isn't there some rapper who has that policy with his wife-beaters?) Glass is glass. So much waste!

What if all glass bottles were repurposed into cups? My guess is that there wouldn't be a huge market for them, since fancier non-recycled ones exist. What would it look like to live in a society where wastefulness was looked down upon or outlawed? I understand that many early/primitive societies exhibited this sort of attitude, and that probably the Industrial Revolution and capitalism gone wild is responsible for the volume of trash that exists.

To be fair, there are conveniences that come with the freedom to be wasteful. You get to own nicer and newer things, you can be picky, you get to enjoy something whenever you want to, more inventions/technological advances, and much more. What do you think, is it worth it?

Nawlins

Back from New Orleans! I honestly had low expectations for this trip, because half of it consisted of affirmative action training for work (dry!!), and also because I have not been too impressed with the city during past visits. Drunkenness allover the streets, gaudy tourist shops, Southerness, and shellfish aren't high on my likes list. Previous trips I took the easy tourist route by following people around to Bourbon St., museums, and Cafe du Monde, but the town doesn't just cater to dudebros and regular tourists.

With the guidance of Yelp, Mark, B and I turned this trip into somewhat of a food odyssey. There were too many places to go, but we jammed in seven restaurants in a day and a morning. I have no desire to ever do this in Austin, but New Orleans is a bursting with a variety of good cuisine. I would have to say my favorite meal was dinner at Cochon. I wasn't planning on bringing it up to the guys, but I chatted with the mother of the owner (she was attending my training), and Mark also read good reviews on it, so we went. It was two hours of savoring and tasting each other's pork entrees while sitting at the chef's table. The food could be categorized as New Cajun/Creole, and they make their own bacon, cured meats, head cheese and whatever else. After we stumbled out of there, Mark was so full he was on the verge of throwing up. B and I left him at the hotel and we went on a very long walk past the French Quarter into Marigny. By the end of the night I was sore beyond belief from walking, but it was definitely worth it. Past all the crudeness and silliness of the French Quarter are some very quaint and lovely Victorian neighborhoods. I think I fell in love. Everything is a skip away, and you are so close to your neighbors it probably makes for better community. No manicured front lawns, porches right next to the sidewalk, balconies on almost every building, and narrow but deep floorplans. Especially in the Quarter, all the buildings are attached to each other. Austin could compare if only Hyde Park was 10 times larger, 100 years older, more compact, and had small stores and shops incorporated into the neighborhood. I am enamored with old buildings, especially since I grew up in the suburbs, and New Orleans was replete with architectural history. To me that's better than visiting a museum, because instead, you can sit in or walk right next to a relic of the past. B and I would love to live in one of those old houses with a wrought-iron balcony. Austin has hints of old-world charm, but New Orleans truly tops the cake. I don't think I would ever live there (everything I loved about it exists in a wider scale in Europe), but I now have a much better impression and opinion of the city.



Work dinner at Deanie's. Notice how everything is fried. Wasn't into it at all! They had Abita root beer on draft, which was super yum. I took home 2 platefuls of leftovers, but had to throw them away since the hotel didn't have a fridge.


View of Lake Ponchartrain from my hotel window.


Waiting in the rain to eat at Willie Mae's.


This is what the best fried chicken in the US looks like. It was tasty, and I found myself wishing I could have more the next day. We ordered some at another restaurant in the Quarter, but it was only decent.


Exploding with flavor ham hock plate at Cochon. I haven't been that full and had so much fun eating dinner in a long time. And this was the second dinner of Saturday (we went to Mother's for a debris sandwich right before).


Getting snoballs/snocones at Plum St. Snowballs. They come in Chinese takeout boxes. Realized that snocones gross me out because the syrup is super sweet, artificially flavored, and intensely fake colored. I found it pretty similar to Casey's New Orleans Snowballs off 51st and Airport. It is located in a cute neighborhood in Uptown, close to Tulane.

I know I am wordy. Here's B's succinct impression.

Latest Bakes

Food blogs are the cream of the blog crop. It's all about the photos! See? And here? I am getting back into baking and cooking and thought about chronicling my attempts on my blog. But that may not happen, as I don't have a good digital camera (just film and it's inconvenient to wait a week to get em, scan up, upload em), and most food photos will not look good with indoor lighting unless you Photoshop the life out of them. Anyways, thought I'd make a list of stuff I've made recently, with a few comments in tow. I will refrain from posting other sites' photos, as I have gotten in a bit of hot water doing that in the past without supplying sufficient credit.

Made:

Biscuit-topped Chicken Pot Pie - B and I both like a good chicken pot pie, but I don't have it in me to make a real one with a real crust. This is why I like recipes that use biscuit mix. And I also don't feel like we need to be eating a dish that is loaded with cream and salt, no matter how tasty it may be. This recipe has too many ingredients for my liking. I didn't use all of them (normally I skimp on the specific and uncommon herbs), but was introduced to shallots, which I now love. No idea why they are so pricey. Preparing and then cooking all the ingredients was really a lot of work, and I think I faltered on that part, as I am not very sensitive to the ideal cooking times for each ingredient. I think it took me 45 minutes to prep, but baking time was only 20 min. After all that work, B took a bite and exclaimed that it was sorta bland. And it was. It was salty enough, but needed some other savory flavor to pick it up. We couldn't figure out what it was, but B smothered his in mustard and ate the rest. Pretty disappointing. Oh, and apparently I did not rinse the green onions (substituted for leeks) enough, as there was dirt in them. Ew! At least I impressed my roommate's bf, who came over just as I was taking it out of the oven. He thought it looked very fancy, but I am glad he didn't taste it!

Fork-crushed Purple Potatoes - The captivating photos of this demanded that I make this recipe immediately. So I did. It would've turned out great if I had let the potatoes cook fully.. I do not possess a lot of patience for cooking whole potatoes. I probably should have cut them into pieces, but I try to avoid doing that as much as possible to prevent nutrient escape into the boiling water, which is not usually consumed. I was skeptical about using so much lemon juice, but combined with the olive oil made the dish deliciously tart. I will have to try this recipe again.

Lemon-Mint Granita - There is a family-owned coffee shop in Plano called Jaca & Cha that I used to frequent in high school. It is owned by the dad of an old church friend, so we always found ourselves hanging out there on uneventful weekend evenings. They have a coffee frozen granita drink that I always loved to get, mostly because it resembled no other frozen drink I have tasted. The pieces of ice were finer than any Frappucino, and it just had a good flavor. I've never had a desire to reproduce this dessert, but after watching an episode of Good Eats with said recipe, I decided to give it a go. And it was half a disaster. My roommate let me use all the mint in our garden, which was kind and awesome. But in the process of transferring the initial lemonade mixture in a baking sheet to the freezer, I discovered that our freezer floor is pretty slanted. The angle was probably 1 degree away from spilling the entire mixture out of the pan. Thankfully it did not, but it also made the mixture really difficult to freeze. It never completely froze because I gave up after spending an afternoon trying to make it, so I scraped it a few times while it was partially frozen and then called it a day. B had one spoonful and winced.. it was really tart! The authors of the recipe admitted that they love a tart granita, but I didn't realize just how tart they liked it. In the end, I transferred the lemony minty ice chips into a bowl to melt down and added to my batch of barley tea. The tea was delicious!

Royalty Chocolate Chip English Scones - The 3rd time I made these was last week for KK's anniversary party. I used a liberal amount of butter and cut the dough into mini pieces. The orange juice gives it a little kick. I like to go overboard on the chocolate chips, as most scones IMO do not have enough "flavor bits." I'm not a huge fan of scones, but the recipe is wonderfully simple, and I have gotten positive feedback each time.

Easy Quiche - I'm not a huge fan of eggy dishes. I just don't love eggs (especially not when they are runny!!). Last week B and I ordered from the Soup Peddler for the first time. While I was waiting for the pickup day, I was sent next week's menu to drool over. Very good marketing! I saw a Migas Quiche that looked rather tasty, but stopped myself before ordering it. Quiches are easy, why not make one myself? So I found this recipe and made a few mods, since I had not actually planned on making this so I didn't shop for the ingredients. I substituted chicken stock for milk and didn't use parmesan but used roommate's cheddar cheese. For the vegetables, I sauteed some yellow onion with chopped garlic, and then added some frozen corn I found in the freezer. I had no ham or lunchmeat, so this was vegetarian. What makes this recipe truly easy is that you don't have to go through the trouble of making a crust. Adding biscuit mix incorporates a crust into the mixture. I made a mini batch so it only took 20 minutes to bake. The flavor was immense! Especially for a dish with no meat. Both B and JJ, my taste testers, heartily approved. JJ, who isn't into cooking, even asked for the recipe.

To make (I've got a handy bookmarks folder in Firefox for these):

Cherry Clafoutis - I'm thinking this is similar to a dutch baby. I really effed up that recipe the only time I made it, using B's cast iron pan, because the pan stubbornly refuses to be seasoned. So the baby stuck like mad. When we finally scraped out the pieces, we found that they were quite tasty. The powdered sugar and lots of lemon juice combination is spectacular. But the cleanup was not. Other sites mention that the traditional way is to leave the cherries with pits intact, as the pits give the pastry an almondy taste. I don't want anyone to chip a tooth though. And I'm not quite ready to invest in a cherry pitter. This will sit on the backburner for now. I found this recipe through this first recipe, Cherry Brown Butter Bars.

Grandma's Chocolate Pie - I knew I stumbled upon a keeper once I read the blog title. Generally I stick to eating only fruit pies, but after a great Chocolate Coffee Pie experience at the Pie Slice Bakery down the street (highly recommended, even at $4.25 a slice!), I googled for a similar recipe. I'll probably skip out on the meringue, since I don't love it and it is a lot of work. My guests at my birthday dinner party will be able to enjoy the original, as I ordered it for today (special order without walnuts in the crust so B can enjoy it too).

Bagels - This was suggested by B first. Ever since my short-lived intial breadbaking attempts, I have moved back to sweets and had no desire to revisit them. Not even the thought of freshly baked baguettes (spurred by too much Jimmy John's) could draw me back to that messy and long process. Now that I say this, I'm not even sure I want to make bagels anymore, haha. But B and I both love getting bagels at the store, so how much more delicious would they be homemade? According to several recipes, it's not that hard. The biggest concern for me while making bread was the actual temperature in the kitchen while the dough rose. It was winter, so the dough didn't rise as much as needed, but now that it's over 100 degrees outside, the rising time may have to be adjusted. Small complaint, but I have only enough gumption for super simple recipes.

Food Rant

Regarding one of the financial/ frugal living blogs that I follow, The Simply Dollar, lately I've noticed more posts that are not useful to me. Like today, there is a post on cooking with a crock pot (Because I grew up eating traditional Asian cuisine, I've never used a crock pot. It seems pretty convenient- can anyone share their experience?). He references an older blog post:

Don’t have any idea what to cook? I’d recommend starting off with one of the spice packets sold in the grocery store, usually near the soup mixes. McCormick’s slow cooker packets are quite good for what you pay for, and the recipes usually involve dumping in the packet and four or five ingredients, turning it on low, and walking away for eight or nine hours. If you need to be away longer than that, add a quarter cup of additional water to the mix.

Cheap spice packets? Ew! Assemble your own collection spices- it's not that hard. (OK, I can't verify the exact ingredients online, but will check when I'm at the grocery store.) Later on, the first recipe includes canned cream of chicken soup. Yuck. Talk about unhealthy, not only because it's fattening, but because it's processed. What are we, living in the 1950's?

In another recent post about his well-stocked pantry, he states that a big key is to have a large store of non-perishable items (flour, rice, sugar, baking ingredients, etc.). Though he makes no mention of it because of the limited subject, I sure hope his family eats lots of perishables as well, since those are what contain the various nutrients our bodies need. A diet based on "staples with a long shelf life" is very paltry indeed.

I have to disagree with him on these food posts, because he is clearly eager to trade in healthfulness for frugality, and in my opinion, he has gone too far. It is downright foolish to ignore all the facts warning against eating processed foods, and especially foods containing certain harmful man-made ingredients (HFCS, preseratives, etc.). Sure he may be saving money for his family, but at the expense of health and decreased quality of life. I strongly believe that better and fresher food is worth the extra money, even if you are tight on cash. This is the only body you'll have- take care of it! (And I'm quite sure he's not poor and drowning in debt anymore, so these practices are probably of due to his old habits.)

As I scrolled through his other posts with the label 'food,' I found one on gardening (yes, it's cheaper than buying produce at the grocery). OK, that I can fully support. I know that his blog has a specific purpose (frugality), and that demanding awareness of another topic (healthy eating) is too much to ask, or maybe I'm reading too much into it. Hm, my healthiness radar is super sensitive!

back to culinary roots

This photo reminds me of how cute bunnies are. Especially when they are munching on greens. It's from a food blog I stumbled upon today, writings of a smart, 27-year-old, Asian-American woman fast on her way to a culinary career. I dig her personal musings and also her about page- having recently subscribed to The World's Healthiest Foods newsletter, I have been reading about cruciferous vegetables and their amazing health benefits (see Cabbage). For more than a year now I have secretly lamented that even though I am 100% Chinese and grew up eating Chinese cuisine 95% of the time, I can't make any of the Chinese dishes that I love. A 5 year hiatus of college introduced me to a mostly American, Tex-Mex, Thai and basic Italian diet. And on top of that, I have never really experienced a strong desire to cook and experiment.

It helps that I have B around; he loves cooking and eats more Asian food than I do, using dashi in our noodle bowl broths, praising the tastiness of thousand-year-old eggs, and often suggesting dim sum for after-church luncheons. My appreciation for his openness towards food grows each time I encounter white Americans who are either ignorant of, wary of or disgusted by certain ethnic cuisine. Heck, even I'm picky about certain Chinese foods (like anise, the aforementioned thousand-year-old eggs, pigs blood, some kinds of tripe, to name a few). And I have always been acutely aware of void between the instructions of Chinese immigrants who cook (like my parents) and authentic recipes in English of the dishes they make. Of course I should've assumed that by now the latter exist, thanks to the Internet, and today discovered a couple of well-written food blogs that bridge the culinary gap for 2nd generation Chinese-Americans (or rather, Americans who are Chinese by blood), it is a good time to return to Chinese cooking.

Oh, and happy Chinese New Year! I should mention that eating nian gao, low boh gao, jiu liang tang yuan, and various other dishes in our exceptionally tasty family dinner this weekend (and lunch the next day at Jengchi Bakery, best green onion pancakes) also contributed to this rethinking of what I cook and eat.

Last note, I know it has been 2009 for a while, but recapping all the helpful and kind comments I receive from Flickr members who graciously comment on my halfway-there photos, I resolve to focus more on the quality and not quantity of my consumption. Meaning, I will think about what I have to say, and why, and be specific about my comments on others' art especially. And practice using proper capitalization again; sentences for sure, phrases maybe. A hundred "nice shots" and "prettys" do not amount to one thoughtful and personalized reflection. Somehow this slowing down will also reflect in other areas of my life.

Currently listening to Small Sur. It is introspective, stripped-down, nature-inspired folk music with soft male/female vocals. I wouldn't be opposed to making such music with B and company. Try: Second Chances, Small Stones.

choco of choice

ritter sport.
hersheys nevermore!!

westlake is not a complete shithole

It only mostly is. Found a gluten-free bakery less than a mile from where I work off Bee Cave. Wildwood Cafe - what a wonder! Especially in this part of town swarming with gas-guzzlin' SUV's (or brand new Priuses), overpriced blah restaurants, and hillside mansions. And not to mention worst traffic from hell.

I went last week after work and bought a chocolate chip cookie, brownie and a bag of rice bread. They were all made with rice flour, and they tasted... not so satisfying. Grainy, healthy, alternative. I don't think I'm going to get used to this anytime soon.

Met up with the girls at the Gingerman yesterday (better enjoy it before it gets moved to a more yuppie location). Had cider but couldn't even get the St. Arnold's Oktoberfest pint glass. : [

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In the camera-choosing sector, I am slowly narrowing down my choices. They come down to this: Canon Rebel Xsi + 50mm 1.8f lens (~$400) or a high end point and shoot - Panasonic Lumix Lx3 (~$450). I can't decide! I know the slr will take much better photos (and not to mention shallow depth of field), but do I want to carry around that much bulk all the time? Will I use it less because it's less portable? The Panasonic takes some wonderful photos too. But am I limiting myself once again with another point and shoot?

Photos taken with a Lumix LX3 point and shoot: Photos by Maeker

a new diet

Photo credits - Elana's Pantry

This is day 3 of my gluten-free diet. I've been exhibiting extreme tiredness, mood swings and loss of appetite for the past few weeks and after an uncontrolled attack of rage (spurred on by awful awful traffic), Brook strongly convinced me to go to the doctor and check it out. After taking a comprehensive blood test, the results came back just fine. Brook had recently talked to someone who had a gluten allergy (his masseur, actually) and realized that I was exhibiting very similar symptoms. So I'm giving this a go for a month and see if I feel discernibly better. I went to Sun Harvest a few days ago, since they have a much better selection of alternative-diet foods. They had a cheap apple sale, but I was disappointed at how much their gluten-free products cost. $6 for a loaf of bread? No thanks.

I've found a few blogs/photostream with tasty looking gluten-free recipes, but it looks like cutting out wheat is still going to be tough. Why? I love bread! And crackers! And noodles! Such staples in my old diet. Not to mention I can't have any regular baked goods, unless I use almond flour (Elena's rec) or something.

Right now I'm going to meet Brook for lunch at The Kitchen Door. I imagine that their chicken salad is only going to be half as enjoyable without their fresh baked bread (as a sandwich). But restriction is like a game- I haven't been too upset about not being able to eat certain foods yet. Hopefully that will last. It was only last week I was eating Jimmy John's italian sandwiches and baking cookies at home...

Update: Ugh! The chicken salad is rather tasteless and stringy by itself! Heavy disappointment. Probably doesn't help that my taste buds are shot from this dumb cold either. Gr. And Brook was let down by his $9 soggy roast beef sandwich too. And we went to Red Bud Isle nearby, which I didn't realize was a dog park, and got bothered by all these sniffy dogs. Not his favorite things. As this highly opinionated man complained so much, I know he was yearning instead for Foodheads and his cat Boyd. What could I do but let it roll off me like beads of water on a Gore-Tex jacket? I do that most of the time. Good idea, poor execution. Try again next time!

This homemade chicken salad looks much tastier. Love it when there are grapes.

Sprinkles

I really hope these little things live up to the hype. Gonna try some in Dallas this weekend!

Edit 9/28:

Not really worth $3.25 apiece. Just the current food trend..

Energy Balls Revisited

In an effort to rediscover the joy of making one's own food, I've revisited old recipes and after a trip to Hobby Lobby, printed and compiled them in a portfolio notebook. Success has been made in regards to natural popcorn after a fiasco with spilled kernels, a giant pan and burnt results. I've been making a lot of and experimenting with the recipe for an "energy mix," as it is a quick and convenient way for Brook to get some food in his belly on the way to work or during his breaks. I've added dried goji berries to the latest batch (Mom brought them to me last time, they are very cheap at Chinese supermarkets). See original recipe I made up from memory below. There aren't any measurements, because I prefer to eyeball it. There isn't really any easy way to mess up this recipe, so it's best to vary it according to what you would eat. The first time I made these was sophomore year, in the Duval house, and while they were a hit, I lost the paper recipe during a move. I think I will try to add some molasses in the next batch so that maybe I can roll them into bite-sized balls. (And tone down the PB, as Brook mentioned that he is getting tired of the taste.) In addition to being an outlet, I am very pleased that I can create something so healthy and tasty for not too much $ and time. I am convinced that the best recipes fall in this category!

No-Bake Energy Balls

Dry:
Steel Cut Oats - this will make up most of the dry ingredients
Seeds: Pumpkin, Sunflower, Flax
Wheat Germ
Nuts
Dried fruit: Cranberries, Cherries, Goji Berries, Raisins, Cherries

Wet:
Peanut Butter
Honey
Molasses

Taste:
Salt
Cinnamon
Vanilla

For easier chewability (think of all the whole grains and seeds in it!), put the oats in a food processor for a bit until they are chopped. Once you reach a desired consistency, roll them into balls and refrigerate to set. Or, press them into a 9x9 baking pan and cut into bars.

I stumbled upon this Larabar recipe, and it looks good and much more economical. Just need a food processor now. Larabars impressed me from the start, as they only have 4-5 ingredients, all natural and either fruit or nut. Plus, they taste great. (They also seem to be quite popular in the Raw Food Movement Community.)

Eating out and buying fancy health food is exciting at times, but not really sustainable at my current economic level. I say this just as Brook and I have made reservations to 3 fancy restaurants during Austin Restaurant Week, each meal costing $25/$35 per person...

Tasty, Tasty Murder

Oh my goodness I am about to burst my gut, no kidding. Just came back from the most expensive dinner of my life, which also included the best steak of my life.. teppanyaki! I rarely eat steak (or meat really), but this was some good stuff. The cook prepared a multi course meal in front of us on a huge, thick iron griddle, which included a bit of shrimp, scallops, onions, sliced garlic, pumpkin, and then the main dish was different cuts of Kobe beef. After that is full portions of fried rice and cold soba noodles, top it off with tiramisu for dessert and you're set to go for the next few days. Of course, I sat silently while they did business with their guest, but the price was 0 Yen and an evening of patience from me. Not bad at all.

Went to Kobe today and walked around the small Chinatown and covered shopping walkways. It's strange seeing Chinese products priced so highly. (They're cheap.) Been buying too many earthenware/ porcelain bowls, mugs and such for souveneirs, my hand baggage will be quite a doozy. Trains are cheap to take, but they're kind of inconvenvient with all the fare- buying, waiting time, sometimes being smashed against strangers' bodies, sitting on chairs whose patterns resemble stretch marks, etc. But public transportation is so much better for the environment than cars, you gotta admit. Let's carpool more!

Watched most of The Notebook a few days ago. They've got a few American movie channels on their cable station, which I discovered rather late, but got caught up on some older, renowned flicks such as The Terminator and A Few Good Men. Anyhow back to The infamous Notebook, there were a few parts I didn't remember at all, and overall, it was more enjoyable than not. There are some very unromantic parts, like when Ally has to choose between Noah and the other guy, the turmoil plus her utter unfaithfulness to her vow makes it a little hard to believe. And, I understand that it is a love story and all, but the two main characters are so enraptured by each other it's like there's no world outside of theirs. That's romantic for sure, but it seems a bit selfish for them to bestow all their love on each other alone, without much thought on others. Perhaps that's what the mind becomes in old age. Oh man, if there's a stage in this life I recoil at entering, it's old age, for many a reason. But I am rather impressed at the success of this film, because it has a great deal of OLD people showing up near the last half. I know it's central to the story, but nonetheless, haven't we been trained to look towards the media with our eyes and not with our minds?
The first time I saw The Notebook was during my camp counseloring at Mystic two summers ago, on my prized weekend break, and by then I had heard so much about it that I went in the theater with a frown and a rigid determination not to cry, feel sad, smile, soften up, feel anything, etc. Hype is a dangerous thing. As you can see for yourself on Facebook, this recent movie is a favorite of many college girls; gee, it must really be that good. No, maybe, maybe not. The point is, I wanted to stamp out their collective joy and excitement once it reached a certain level, and this could only be trumped by the movie being absolutely genius, which it is not. See what kind of person I am? But also, the more movies one watches, the more discerning one would be after a while, right? Do you know who writes all the scathing reviews of the latest record that you thought was pretty decent or even great? People who have listened to a whole lot of music. I thought the same would go for viewers of chick flicks, but apparently, that genre is an entirely different beast.

I managed to get out of working at Bagel K this whole week up til now. Not so sure about tomorrow, but thus far I have been leeching off the folks. This lack of labor is kind of unnerving and makes me uncomfortable, because I feel like I owe them something for allowing me to live so easily, like a lot of courtesies, submission, smiles or creative business ideas. That's the thing about not being on your own. For example, I enter a sour mood and get annoyed at my aunt's apologetic mannerisms. Moments later, it's noon and she gladly buys me lunch. "Gee, I am tired of being in Japan without people my own age," I silently whine. A floor up, and my aunt pays for my clothing purchase at X shop. Again, it's me being terrible. I'm surprised they can even stand my adolescent attitude, because I sure can't.