Pumpkin* Pozole

Alliteration is good, 'cept I didn't use pumpkin, I used sunshine squash. But they look similar. Anyway, it's getting cool at night, and Halloween is tomorrow, so pumpkin* soup. Had some homemade duck stock laying around. Nixtamal was taking up room in the freezer that I needed for red sauce. I love it when a plan comes together. Note that I realize this pic is particularly poor; we liked it last night, I promise.

Pumpkin Pozole recipe:
Duck stock
Tomato Stock
~2c uncooked nixtamal (hominy)
2 onions
garlic
1t. corriander
1t. cumin
chipotle chile powder
cilantro stalks
3lb sunshine squash
can of organic pinto beans
can of organic lentil soup
1Q chicken stock
handful of dried oyster mushrooms
some rice to thicken

Pretty sure this is the exact ingredient list. Cooked up the nixtamal with duck stock and tomato stock. It takes a couple of hours. I used up all of my stock for the nixtamal, that's why I used canned beans.

Grind corriander and cumin in a coffee grinder and toast in a soup pot. Add chile powder, it toasts really quickly, ~10 sec. Olive oil, garlic, onion. 10 min or so. Add chopped cilantro stalks. Cut squash in half, scoop out seeds and save for another use. Chop, don't peel. Add, saute for a while. Add stock, beans, cooked nixtamal, mushrooms, rice. Cook for an hour or so. Quite good.

Green Zhoug

From the Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden. A yemeni dish. In a food processor: a bunch of cilantro, a handful of serrano chilies, 6 cloves of garlic, a little olive oil. In a coffee grinder: 1t carroway seeds, 4 cardamom pods. Mix. salt and pepper. Great on bread.

War of the Worlds / Story Corps

This is the funniest story I've heard in a LONG time. Priceless. (Pic has nothing to do with the story, just wanted to catch peoples' eye so they listen to it....)

BQE / NPR

Cool story about Sufjan Stevens this morning on NPR. Also, it began with a bit from the movie Quick Change.

a Terrific Thursday

Surf looked great last night, offshore wind. Also had a nice chat with Ryan last night. Excited to surf this morning, opened the kitchen door to check the wind, and the door wouldn't open. There were three boxes of Roma tomatoes blocking it! Epic. I only have maybe 12Q of red sauce in the freezer right now, should get about 5Q out of these boxes. Surf was fun, surfed Depressions for the first time in a while. Was out about 1/2 hour before the sun popped over the bluff. A little small, but got one great left. 'Twas a tad cold this morning, wearing my brother's Kodiak Island Brewing Co. hoodie to warm up.

Vanilla Extract

When I first got the beans in the mail (mid May) I chucked a couple into a small (375 ml) bottle of rum, as per the suggestion of chocolate & zucchini. Colored rum. So the color difference wasn't obvious. Started another batch in August, in the pics the beans have been in the vodka for an hour or 2, starting to get some color already. Seeds at the bottom look cool.

Update1: Late August. I also put some beans in with clear rum, and took the pics right away, so it's still perfectly clear.

Update 2: 29 October. The 2 bottles with clear booze are on the sides, the older one with colored rum is in the middle. Taste/smell are nice.

Elvira / OnionAV

Awesome. Her real name is Cassandra Peterson (that's your last name, dude!), and I was always proud that we shared last names when I was growing up. Of course 'Peterson' isn't exactly an uncommon last name, but whatever. Elvira is also the name of a printer in the VIPER lab, so I'm totally tangled up in blue with her. Anyway. It's a great interview, even if you have no real or imagined ties with her.

Blazers 96 Rockets 87

I listened to the first game of the year via 1120 AM from Eugene, OR. Yes. I got a eugene radio station down in SB! It wasn't very good reception, but beggars can't be choosers....

Rise With Us

Go Blazers!

Bon Iver -- 11 October 2009 Milwaukee, WI

Nope, I wasn't in WI to visit R/S/L. Yet. A radio station there has a stream of the show. Give a listen. Observations: the "new" song 20min in is from the 'Dark was the Night' compilation album. From the stage, upon hearing a request: "we only have 11 songs, so you're probably going to hear most of them." They sound happier playing the newer songs. Except "Re: Stacks" is always good. There's more rocking out, I dig it.

Prairie Home this week

Missed it on saturday due to the aforementioned access to television. Listening at school. It's a better than average one: O.C.M.S. is one of Garrison's favorite bands, I dig 'em too; the rhubarb bit was nice, something about backyard rhubarb is better in Minnesota than North Carolina; the poetry bit at ~40 min was great.

a Strange Saturday

There has been surf this winter already, which is much appreciated (we only get surf in SB in the winter, and last year was the worst winter I've ever seen). Surfed W,Tr,F this week. All three days were good, but I had had to cut the sessions a bit short in order to get to school at a reasonable hour, so I was really looking forward to this morning. As I went down the stairs I saw a beautiful spitting barrel, and was even happier; W & Tr were a little small, F a little big for my spot, today looked to be just right. And then some search and rescue dudes came around the corner and told me the beach was closed! Sadness. Apparently someone had found a pile of clothes and a surfboard on the beach, no sign of the owner, they feared he was in the ocean somewhere, and didn't want people in the water to confuse the helicopter search. So.

First thing on the to-do list was to pick persimmons at the garden. There is a fuyu tree and a hachiya tree that no one else seems to know about. I had picked a couple of hachiyas a week or so ago, wasn't sure if I'd like them, as they have to be uber-ripe before they are even edible. Well, fuyus are still better, but hachiyas are quite good. So I nabbed some more of each.

Fuyu stash

Hachiya pulp

While at the garden I heard an interesting interview with Tom Russell, a singer who had gone to UCSB in the 60s. He name dropped Neko Case and Dylan in the interview, so sounded good to me... Also on NPR was a story about Everett Ruess, an artist and wanderer who's remains supposedly had been identified back in May, solving one of the great mysteries of SE Utah. But now things are up in the air again, it wasn't him.

So here I am at Keely's, catsitting and watching college football. Not a bad saturday, though wish I had surfed.

New Seasons / NPR

I'm sort of an Oregonian (born there, but never lived there for 7 winters in a row), but my folks and brother are Oregonians. The whole Portland as ideal place to live thing kinda confuses me, rain/grey-ness just gets me down, but culturally Portland seems to have its stuff together. Anyway, there was a cool story about the New Seasons grocery stores in PDX on NPR tonight. I dug that the owner of the stores came to Portland from Chicago, and that he decided to go west to Oregon because his brother had given him a copy of 'Sometimes a Great Notion' by Ken Kesey. Amazing book.

Yogurt + Spirulina + Plum Jam

Thanks for the spirulina, Sharon

Ecopragmatism/On Point

On Point is a good radio show that comes on on KCLU every morning. I hear the beginning of it sometimes when I'm late leaving for school. The show on wednesday was about Ecopragmatism -- basically climate change is upon us and it's about trying to deal with it. Give a listen.

Lime Banana Buttermilk Sherbet

Tammy accused me last night of re-telling the same old story when it comes to bananas + buttermilk in sherbet. Which points to the fact that she listens/remembers too well, but also that i need to write it up on the blog, so I quit talking about it. So. Lime Buttermilk Sherbet is epic. Do not mix bananas and buttermilk to make sherbet at any cost. The other mistake I made is I squeezed more lime juice than I needed, and increased the sugar, but not the buttermilk amount, which inhibited freezing -- you have to have the right proportion of sugar to liquid for freezing, eh? Anyway, here's the proper recipe when using powdered sugar: 10oz pow'd sugar, 3/4 c. lime juice, 1Q buttermilk. salt and zest help. Ice crystals seem to be less of an issue when using powdered sugar (?) so a tiny bit of booze seems to be less necessary.

Update: I'm starting to like this flavor more. I'm adding it to the sorbet chronicles.

Kevin & Vana in Bolivia

The salt flats in SW Bolivia have intrigued me for a long time. I think I saw them first in a Michael Palin travel show, mid 90s. Anyway Kevbo and Vana were just there. Their travelblog is awesome. More photos.

Keith Whitley/OnionAV

More OnionAV stuff today, this time an entry from the 'Nashville or Bust' series, about Keith Whitley, who I'd never heard of. The comments section is remarkably devoid of stupid comments, lots of interesting stuff about living in Appalachia.

Bronson Pinchot/Random Roles

Jeez, I'm really feeding the blog today. Bronson Pinchot did a great Random Roles with the OnionAV. Some really funny stories in there. Other great Random Roles are linked, too, here. {Teri Garr and Fred Williamson give great dish}. It's one of the best pop culture features going.

Ruth Reichl/Fresh Air

This is a great interview. She was the restaurant critic for the NYTimes, and then editor of Gourmet Magazine -- which recently was shut down :(

Duma

I quite liked this movie. It's about a 12 year old kid who finds a cheetah kitten, rears it, and then returns it to the wild. It's supposedly based on a true story, and there is no CGI. Great cinematography. Cheetahs were the only 'big' african animal we didn't see in the wild, though here is a pic of my brother with a cheetah:

Semi-Artistic Food Pics

Sara recently accused me of hoarding food. In this pic: spaghetti, kabocha, sunshine, butternut squash; fuyu, hachiya persimmons; limes; red bell peppers; a couple of kinds of heirloom tomatoes. Eek. Unfortunately, I googled persimmon jam and the verdict apparently is that it is pretty, but doesn't taste much like persimmons, so I think I'm going to have to eat them fresh. Life is hard.

Got to get the Rogue 6-pack in the pic...

Veggie stock, buffalo taco filling, beans, reducing red sauce

semi-artistic... not quite interesting

Brian Jungen/NPR

Brian Jungen is a native american canadian artist who operates a bit differently from the people who's art I collect. I quite liked this interview with him, and there's a portfolio of his stuff, too.

Ryan sent me the National Museum of the American Indian link.

Why My Shades Are Usually Drawn:

This print is by Ron Hamilton, who goes by the name Hupquatchew when he signs prints. 1972.

mint condition at a museum

not mint condition, on ebay, paper massively deteriorated, probably due to light exposure. UV kills.

Man, looking at this print makes me sad. It's only ~40 years old. This is probably from back before they used acid-free paper.

Update: I emailed the print maker, who owns Pacific Editions Limited in Victoria BC, and he thinks the print has been damaged by "fungal foxing" -- caused by storing it in a wet, unheated locale. Light is bad, but usually leads to an even color discoloration.

While I'm at it. Maltwood gallery page for Ron Hamilton, Tim Paul, Frank Charlie, Patrick Amos, Joe David, Art Thompson, Bill Reid, Roy Henry Vickers, i could go on.... and will at some point

Lentils

Made Mujadra bel Burghul the other day with these lentils. It's one of my favorite recipes from The (new) book of Middle Eastern food by Claudia Roden. It's lentils and bulghur, with caramelized onions stirred in at the end. Real simple and good. Supposedly it was a lenten dish for Syrian christians.

Where the WIld Things Are interview/Onion AV

Kinda like the Coen Brothers one yesterday, good, not great, but worth a read.

Winter Squash

The squash that was pictured in Fall found it's way into my belly, in a couple of tasty ways. As with many food items, Jamie O has influenced my thinking quite a bit on what to do with it. His favorite is butternut squash, which I quite like as well, but Ventura/Givens has had other varieties thus far: delicata, sunshine, kabocha. Delicata is kinda small, kinda tasty. The seeds are really small, and because of that they don't have a woody shell, so you can eat them straight up. You can eat butternut seeds straight up or toasted, too. Good. I also saved the Sunshine and Kabocha seeds, but they are big and I think they have to be hulled. As for the flesh, the key thing is fennel/cumin/corriander. Grind them in a coffee grinder and toast in a dry pan for a minute or so. Then olive oil, garlic and a hot pepper (fresh or dried). Add the roasted squash, roughly cubed, with skin on. {I've been roasting the squash whole lately, 400 for 1 hour}. Cook enough to dry it out a little and concentrate the flavor. Pomegranate molasses to sweeten it a little is nice. Mmm. Tasty.

Coen Brothers / OnionAV

Nice. Questions are soso, but the way they answer them, the rhythm of their dueling replies is pretty cool.

I took this the other day, don't quite remember why. Premonition?

Human Nature / OnionAV

Human Nature was done in the My Year of Flops column in the OnionAV today. It's a pretty good movie, written by Charlie Kauffman, directed by Michel Gondry. It's not Eternal Sunshine, but it's pretty good. And the article is good.

Fuyu II a.k.a. searching the web for ideas

Going to make a Fuyu persimmon tart for Keely this weekend. Was looking for what other people have done. Came up with a good idea: instead of Googling for recipes generically, add blogspot to the search string. That way you get real recipes that people actually have done. And pics. Just like mine....

cheatin' tart
a blog off of Mollie Katzen's site

Neko on Prairie Home THIS Weekend

oh yeah

And while I was on the Prairie Home website I saw this question/answer. Pretty amazing, really:

Mr. Keillor:

I am an aspiring writer and am currently working on a book, but I need some advice on how to proceed. I feel like my characters are moving too fast, things are happening too quickly. I have my plot and everything, but I feel as though I might end it a little too fast. What do you suggest?

Lucy G.
Chico CA

--

Hard to advise a writer in Chico at this distance, Lucy, though I remember Chico fondly from a visit a couple of years ago. A different California from the mythical parts — Hollywood and hippiedom — and I loved the little one-story white wood house where I stayed ... a sort of shotgun-style ranch house in which the breeze could breeze on through. It was an amiable town and I especially remember the friendly breakfast that an amiable man at UC arranged and what a friendly hour it was over coffee and frittatas. My abiding experience of California over many years is amiability, mellowness, a friendly open attitude. I met some Californians a month ago in northern Michigan and we sat down to dinner and it turned out to be one of those sweet friendly encounters with strangers that goes on for three hours and you want it to go on a couple more.

If I were a California writer, I would try to describe this sense of easiness and perhaps tie it to the landscape and the climate. I'd write about people in love with their home. But they must deal with the same troubles that afflict other humans, and not only mudslides, earthquakes, and brush fires, but also the dreadful problem of indifference. Spiritual listlessness, what is sometimes included under Sloth, or Acedia, in the Seven Deadly Sins. The inability to carry out one's duties. Not an easy subject, indifference, but it's very much part of most good crime novels. Injustice is supposed to arouse us from indifference: an essential test of our humanity. And indifference is the prime target of satire. Your characters might need to slow down and look around them and be moved by things outside themselves, including the vast indifference of the world. And you, in writing this fast-paced novel, might need to allow yourself the freedom to make those sudden astonishing discoveries about your characters that are a beautiful reward for aIl the hard work. Writing opens up continual new possibilities and characters reshape themselves as you try to pin them down. You may be underestimating your characters, not letting them breathe and sing and jump around. Characters start out as cardboard cutouts and then they start to talk back to us. We create small mean characters and they develop endearing traits and our heroes prove to be shallower than we'd hoped. But don't let me tell you what to do, Lucy. Most books are too long, so I shouldn't be telling you to extend yours. I just hope your novel is set in Chico.

Surfer Wins Nobel Peace Prize

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K. I was very confused when I heard it at ~6:30. He talked to the press at ~8:30, expressing his confusion, too; humility is a good thing. Hopefully he turns out to be a successful statesman, justifying the honor....

"I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize," Obama said, later adding, "This award must be shared with everyone who strives for justice and dignity."

Friday night analysis.

Alton Brown / OnionAV

There's a wonderful interview with Alton Brown on the OnionAV today. So great I commented on it on their site. He is a strong advocate of brining turkey, which Kirk and I did 3 times I think for geography grad student thanksgivings. He also suggests a 24 hour rise for pizza dough by putting it in the fridge, which is golden. The gelatin show and the eggplant show were particularly good, too. I've had the fan website for Good Eats bookmarked on the blog from the beginning -- there's just a ton of info on there. Note that it has links to video, via youtube, of all of the episodes! Food. Science. Humor.

Kevin & Vana in Peru

Another interesting post from Kevbo and Vana, this one from Lake Titicaca on the Peru/Bolivia border. Also, they mention me....

Joss 'n' Ira

While downloading this week's TAL I noticed a link to a thing that Ira did with Joss Whedon. It's worth a listen and a donation.

Fall

I suppose an alternate title for the blog could have been 'the oven door is ajar' or some variant of that. I have an old Wedgewood stove, and the oven door is sprung, so mostly closes, but not all the way. So my oven (a.k.a. house heater) use is highly seasonal. [Putting the oven to 500 on a cool winter night to do pizza is epic].It's windy here today, which is more spring-like, but the air is cooler, and leaves are dropping from the Sycamore trees, so I decided to fire up the oven. Baked some winter squash (2 Delicata, 1 Sunshine, 1 Kabocha), some utilitarian applebutter breakfast bread, and a whole bunch of Yali asian pears.

The Yali tree is next to Amy's plot (for the record, there are 6 trees: yali pear, nectarine, plum, fuyu persimmon, fig (black mission?), and cherimoya). I ate alot last year, they are great fresh, and I normally don't like asian pears. This year we didn't get any rain to speak of so they were smaller and the worms seemed to hit them harder, so didn't want to eat them fresh. Think I'm going to turn the roasted pears in to a pear sauce.

pears, cinammon, limoncello

purty and tasty. I ate some raw once the worms were cut out....

blurry, but I wanted some before/after action

purty

limoncello + pear liquid at the bottom