Radar 18 Feb

9:14 am

10:48 am, the cell isn't moving!
12:33 pm, ditto

12:38. and then all of a sudden in 5 minutes the yellow radar color has crossed Pt. Conception, and the big gnarly cell broke up!

Bridge School 2010

Damn do I wish I went to this one. I went in 98: Phish, REM, Sarah McLachlan, it was fun. But the 2010 lineup was just sick: Neko Case, the Dude, Buffalo Springfield!!, Lucinda WIlliams, Kris Kristofferson, Modest Mouse. Jeez.

Buffalo Springfield saturday songs 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,encore (kind woman was song 7)

S+S Valentine's Day #1

semi-heart-shaped pizza

cheese-y but cute

cheese-y but cute

leeks/garlic, red bell pepper, provolone

note the neti pot box in the background

I like this pic

a different kind of couple

Egypt

pic from the NPR website

Today the Egyptian president didn't resign afterall, but Jerry Sloan, the coach of the Jazz, did. Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.

Update: not that anyone is getting world news off of my silly blog, but Mubarak finally resigned.

Clean Burning Stoves / NPR

Very cool story.

Hendrik Coetzee / Outside Online

Really fascinating article. He was a kayaker who pioneered alot of routes on rivers in Africa.

More Food Politics from Mark Bittman

Ever since he retired from his minimalist column Bittman has been on the warpath about the crap food many Americans eat. The most recent one has a couple of real nuggets:

The goal is not universal veganism, which is pie-in-the-sky; it’s health and sustainability

The truly healthy alternative to that chip is not a fake chip; it’s a carrot. Likewise, the alternative to sausage is not vegan sausage; it’s less sausage. This is really all pretty simple.

The eating for one or 6 billion article is good, too:

“Revolutionary” diet books flood the market this time of year, promising a life changed permanently and for the better — yes, in just 10 to 30 days! — but, as everyone knows, the key to eating better begins with a diet of real food. The problem is, real food is cooked by real people — you! — and real people are cooking less than ever before.

Janam

Sara really wanted to see these guys, and for 5$ at the MCC I was in. Was a fun show, a mix of songs from Greece, Macedonia, Albania, Turkey and then a couple of bluegrass tunes (Cuckoo Bird, Wayfaring Stranger, Deeper Well from the 1995 Emmylou Harris album, and an original) so every once in a while you could understand the lyrics :) The singer had a great voice; drummer had a Balkan drum -- a double sided marching-band-style drum with a different drum stick for each side; string player used a fiddle, a mandolin-like instrument (may have been an actual mandolin), and a guitar-like instrument with the body being much more spherical; and the clarinet player was groovy -- it looked to me like he was break dancing while he played. There are 5 people in the band pic, but the 5th guy (accordion) didn't come down from SF for the gig.

Light vs. Dark Meat / NPR

Good story last night, interesting looking recipe, too. The money quotes:

Why do we like chicken breasts so much — and how can we cross over to the dark side?

That first question is pretty easy. "People don't like to be reminded that when they eat meat, it's actually part of an animal," food writer Nadia Arumugam tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer. "When you have a chicken leg in front of you, there's no denying that's an animal limb."

Shoppers may also perceive dark meat as fattier and less healthy. There is a little more fat in legs, Arumugam says, but only a few calories worth. On the plus side, dark meat is rich in nutrients like iron and vitamin B, Arumugam says, "so you're really getting a good nutritional boost with dark meat."

"There's a whole rest of the world that loves dark meat," she says. That includes Russia, where, until recently, America's unloved chicken legs were being sent.

Meat is such a weird thing, I think she's right on. People want meat, but don't want to think about the animal at all. If they did the whole feed lot industry wouldn't exist! I was present (didn't help much...) when my friend Ben killed a rooster. We had an amazing fried chicken dinner. But I really haven't eaten much meat since.

Taking the Politics out of Climate Science / NPR

interesting interview with the most rational sounding republican I've ever heard.

Sarsoon ka Saag

with yogurt, dal, and rice

a.k.a. Mustard greens cooked with a little cornmeal, punjabi-style. I picked a bunch of greens at the garden, purple osaka mustard and chard from Sara's plot, and went looking for a recipe. Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking hooked me up. I sorta followed the recipe [was supposed to use fenugreek greens instead of seeds, fresh chilies, and it was supposed to be more soup-y, so you are supposed to add cornstarch], and it sorta tasted pretty good :)

Sarsoon ka Saag:
2 lbs mustard
1 lb chard
fenugreek seeds
1/4 c corn meal
couple of dried chilies
asafoetida
2.5 c water
salt
ghee
1" piece of ginger
couple of cloves garlic

Chop up greens, I used the stems, too, but wasn't supposed to. Fenugreek, cornmeal, chilies, asa, water. Cook for a while, stickblend. Salt. In a skillet do the ghee, garlic, ginger, pour over the top.

Licorice Tea Crème Fraîche Sherbet

Not as epic as the lemongrass one, but still pretty damn tasty. Stash Tea, licorice flavor (2 bags) in 1.5 c water, 8 oz sugar, ~2 Q crème fraîche. Simple.

The full sorbet list.

Sleepytime-Cherry Frozen Yogurt

the red bits are from the cranberry sorbet

This didn't start out to be what it ended up to be. I am loving the lemongrass tea crème fraîche sherbet that I've been making, and wanted to try a little more subtle tea, celestial seasonings sleeptime herbal tea to make the tea syrup. Well, it wasn't very interesting. So I soaked some dried cherries in the syrup and made tea/cherry frozen yogurt instead. Now yogurt doesn't have anywhere near the fat content of crème fraîche, so I had to add a bit of booze to it, some homemade vanilla extract and some orangecello if I remember correctly. Anyway, it's still only ok, but it was worth trying... 1.5 c tea (2 bags), 8 oz sugar, ~2 Q yogurt, ~2 T booze. stickblender for sure.

The full sorbet list.