Sushi

Sushi is one of the few foods I think I could eat every day. I know people who feel the same way, and others who hate the very idea of eating anything that might contain raw fish, seaweed, or *gasp* (one of my favorites) eel. It's an acquired taste, I'll give you that. But once you have it, the lust for it haunts you. I would say that sushi is equally about both the taste and the actual experience of eating. Texture. Communal eating. Accompaniments. Ritual.

I pretty much abide by the 50 mile rule when it comes to seafood, so I haven't had any aside from the handful of frozen salmon fillets bought in desperation at the Trader Joes in Pittsburgh. However, I have to say that while in Boston I totally got my fill (and thus probably propelled my mercury level to the danger-zone in a matter of days) and had the best salmon of my life at Henrietta's Table (my favorite restaurant of all time, and worth the price, trust me).

But, back to the sushi. "Sushi" actually means "vinegared rice," not raw fish, so those of you in the know understand that there are all kinds of vegetarian and/or other variations. I bought Aaron all of the equipment to make sushi at home for one of the birthdays past, so we decided to dig it out and spend a Saturday evening of rolling cucumber rolls. If I had my wish, I would have inside-out salmon avocado rolls and tuna anything. Mmm. But these were great, and so much fun. And not easy. A sushi party would be a fun idea.

Picnic No. 3

I don't know why I am posting this picture

Last weekend we went to Cheat Lake, outside of Morgantown, for a picnic and some lake air. I never realized how land-locked I would feel here in the middle of the country. I've always lived near large bodies of water, so now it's strange to be so dry.

We didn't do any swimming this round, but we did pack a lunch.

On the menu:

Turkey Sandwiches on my first-ever successful sourdough bread
Curried Couscous salad
Nectarines

“Saliva chicken”

Because I couldn't get the camera's memory card to work, I'll provide another article from the Times in the meanwhile.
One of my main interests is the idea of cultural mingling through foodways (and how they clash or work together). As I mentioned before, one of my favorite projects in college was a paper on the history and cultural significance of Chinese food in America. I worked so hard on that paper. I loved it.

One thing I find problematic about what this article is talking about is that they are kind of removing the culture behind the food by trying to adapt the names of the dishes to something more palatable for outsiders. I understand the need to do so, and I also understand the difficulties of accurate translation, but something significant is taken away when you un-name it. It seems that the names of the dishes tell stories, they are almost poetic. "Three fresh things from the ground" is a lot more intriguing and lovely than “sautéed potato, green pepper and eggplant.”
Once the Olympic games are over, I wonder if this attempt at cultural communication will have any lasting implications on the menu items in Beijing and the rest of China. It would be sad to lose some of the panache because we're not down with "saliva chicken."

"That’s because they don’t know how to read."

Check out this interview with Gore Vidal in the New York Times: link. Man, if you can create a character that can come off that clearly on the page, maybe you're not a bad writer after all. Though the kudos all go to the interviewer here.

Lawn Surprises

It seems like every time we turn around, there is something new to discover in the yard. The people who owned this house before us took landscaping very seriously, and it seems that almost everything is perennial. We have roses and irises and lilies and some kind of fruit trees (I'm hoping they aren't crab apple) and five dogwoods and peonies and two forsythia and two lilac and these things:

and all sorts of other things that we might not know about yet. It's almost like we need to wait a whole cycle of seasons before we dig anything up, because who knows what might be there. It seems like they timed it so that something is always in bloom. Right now, the roses and the petunias are fading, but the lilies are just blooming.

We came home to a beautiful surprise after the wedding. The flowers are faded and gone now, but up until a couple days ago, this is what our front porch looked like:

When food is too expensive - Gallo Pinto

Has anyone else been hurting from the spike in food prices? It seems like what was $1.50 a year ago is now like $3, especially in the produce section. It's such a big change that I have a hard time justifying a lot of "unnecessary" food purchases these days. I haven't bought fruit in at least a couple weeks. Aaron and I have cut our meat intake back quite a bit and have replaced it with other, more creative sources of protein, mainly beans and whole grains. I keep reading these articles in the Times about just how serious this extra cost has become and thinking "okay, so I'm not turning into a miser, everyone is hurting" (articles here, here, here, and here).

Last summer, we went to Costa Rica and fell in love with Gallo Pinto, Rice and Beans. They are so good. So good. We ate them for every single meal -- breakfast through dinner -- and almost every meal while we were there. They're best for breakfast, but at home we eat them for dinner. All of the guide books said that the food in Costa Rica isn't much to speak of, however, we were totally impressed. The pineapple alone is enough to make another trip. I have never had pineapple that delicious. They also often served the gallo pinto with this incredible, fresh cheese. I don't even know how to describe it. It was like farmer's cheese but a little firm. It was almost like if tofu and farmer's cheese had a baby and salted it down for you to enjoy. Also, they served it with this amazing Salsa Lizano sauce that is just mouth-watering. Aaron and I brought a bottle home...I'm pretty sure it's all gone, but the bottle is still in the fridge for sentiment's sake. I am sure you city-slickers could find it pretty easily in an international market.

I'm not really one for traveling and then suddenly becoming an expert in that culture's cuisine. This is really the first time I've ever attempted to recreate something I've eaten on a trip. However, I think I finally realized the power of making something from your travels for-keeps, food-wise. I guess one reason to travel is to find things you might be missing out on.

I started making this soon after we moved to WV. With the wedding coming up and the cost of relocating, we tried to cut our grocery bills (as well as the rest) down, finding recipes that really utilized affordable food. I have pretty much perfected the recipe, I think. And now that food prices are out of control, we're still eating it. But we eat it for more reasons than simply cost, it's also delicious. And versatile! The good thing about a food like rice and beans, that millions of people make millions of different ways every day, is that it lends itself to your pantry and what's at hand. I like to make it with lots of beans for lots of protein. I usually make a huge pot and freeze about 1/3 for a few meals down the road.

Gallo Pinto (Rice and Black Beans)

1 lb. black beans, soaked over night

2 cups rice

3 cups water (reserve the water from the cooked beans for this)

2 medium onions, chopped

3 bell peppers (two green and one red is what I usually use, but the 'stop light' was calling us this time)

one bunch cilantro, chopped

1 green chili, cut length-wise and chopped fine

Cook the black beans until done, reserving remaining liquid. In pot, saute rice in 1 tbsp. oil for a couple minutes until just hinting brown. Add 1/2 the chopped peppers, chili, onion, and cilantro, and plenty of salt and pepper. Saute 1-2 more minutes, then add 3 c. water (using some of the bean water -- it will make everything taste good and it gives things a nice color). Bring to a boil and then simmer with lid on until rice is just cooked. I always try to remember to keep it a little firm because it will cook some more. Add the beans and the remaining veggies, stir, add some more liquid if needed, take off the heat (you want to rest of the peppers and onions to be warm, but still really crisp).

To serve: saute portion of rice and beans in frying pan until it begins to develop crusty layer. (Pictured here un-sauteed.) Serve with sour cream, extra cilantro, and if you can find it, Salsa Lizano.

Optional: we usually make a couple of over-easy eggs and stick them on top because it's a really, really good combo. Plus, that makes it more of a meal.

In total, this meal came to about $8.33 or so. With eggs and condiments, it's more. However, we usually get at least 10 servings out of this (usually a bit more), so that's around $0.83/serving. Even these days we can afford that.

I always wanted to be Beth

West Virginia Public Radio isn't the greatest (they do have some really good local Appalachian music programs, though) so I sometimes listen to random clips off of the NPR website when I'm at home. I'll queue them up and listen to them as if they were on the radio. This is totally not what I'm posting about though.

Anyway, this morning I found an article on Little Women. If you have any interest, give it a listen. It's about how much people loved the book as young girls and then less so when they went back to it as adults. Hmmm...perhaps it's time I revisited one of my all-time favorites. I haven't read it in it's entirety in twelve years. I think about it often. I hope it doesn't change for me. However, some things already have.

Some of the girls in the article reminded me of myself when I was younger: they loved Jo, but they didn't get her decision to turn down Laurie's marriage proposal and then go on to marry Fritz Bhaer. Like, seriously, what gives? Who could ever turn down Laurie, right? And then stupid Amy ends up with him, which was a total tragedy when I was 13.
But now I get it. Bhaer is the better man. He is right for her. She would have compromised herself with Laurie and that's something you can't really understand as a child. But now I know that I certainly wouldn't want to marry anyone who would even consider marrying Amy. So, there you go.

Anyway, it isn't the right season to start rereading this (Little Women is an autumn or winter book if there ever was one). But I do think it's time to reassess it's influence on me. I have a feeling I'm still going to love it.

My favorite part...

Picnic No. 2

Aaron and I started picnicking together 8 years ago. We used to go to this little peninsula on Spot Pond in Stoneham, MA. The ground was covered in pine needles and it was hidden enough that we could sprawl out on our blanket and share a bottle of wine or limoncellos.

The first time we went there, he took food that his mother had made for him (he was living at home at the time...maybe it was just leftovers he found in the fridge?). We had stuffed grape leaves and savory blintzes (feta and spinach) and I think there was also tabbouleh.

I think that I'll always associate pocket foods (or "stuffed" anything) with picnics. At least once this summer, we'll have to have a grape leave/blintze revival.


Another thing that seems to be a picnic-must is some kind of non-leaf salad. Summer salads are totally my obsession right now...I am scouring all of my cookbooks looking for new ones to try.
This afternoon, we went to Dorsey's Knob in Morgantown and had a picnic overlooking the town. I made two salads in advance, and Aaron made one of my ultimate favorite comfort Midwestern dishes, zucchini "delight" (if it has a "delight" in the name you can assume that 1. it's delicious, or, rather, delightful, and 2. it came from the Midwest). It's kind of like a quiche, but totally classed up with Bisquick.

Here are some recipes:

Zucchini Delight

4 c. thinly sliced (unpeeled) zucchini

1 large onion chopped

1/4 - 1/2 cup oil

8 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded

Put this in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (can be up to 24 hours). When you are ready to prepare this, mix together: 5 eggs, 3/4 cup Bisquick. Add the zucchini mixture. Mix well. Lightly grease a 7x9 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 45 min.

The funniest part is that Aaron has probably made this more times than I have.

Marinated Chickpeas with Chili, Lemon, and Parsley

This recipe was adapted from The Naked Chef cookbook. I've made it several times over the past couple of years, and have really made it my own, so here is my version:

a lot of parsley (1/2 a bunch?) some chopped fine and some not too fine

2 c. uncooked chickpeas (this time I tried Desi chickpeas, a darker pea with a skin on it -- see the large brown mass on the left)

some garlic, pealed (4 cloves or so)

3 fresh chilli's, finely chopped

juice of one lemon, zest of one lemon

olive oil

lots of salt and pepper

Soak chickpeas overnight, cook with garlic cloves until soft. Drain. Add oil, lemon juice, zest, parsley and chilli. Don't skimp on the S&P.

Curried Couscous Salad

This recipe was adapted from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook and it was the first time I tried it. The biggest changes that I made were to the couscous itself (I used Israeli style) and a few things I didn't have that she called for. Also, I found that a squeeze of lime just before you eat it is a great touch.

1 1/2 c. Israeli couscous

1 1/2 c. boiling water

1/4 c/ plain lowfat yogurt

1/4 c. olive oil

1 teasp. vinegar

1 teasp. garam masala spice mix

1/2 teasp. turmeric

1 c. grated carrots

a handful or so of chopped parsley

1/2 c. dried cranberries

a handful or two of chopped cashews

1 small, diced red onion

Cook couscous as directed. In sep. bowl, whisk yogurt, oil, vinegar, garam masala, turmeric, and some salt and pepper. Pour over couscous and mix well, adding the rest of the veg. Don't forget the lime wedges.