The Foods of Summer

I have to admit that I haven't had the most exciting diet this summer, if you can even call these rainy days a summer.

Anyway, with the Seattle Century around the corner, I've been focusing my diet on things rich in protein, lean, etc. So I've been eating a lot of smoothies for dinner. I have to say that I have mastered the smoothie (finally). First, you put the ice in (I use about 6-8 cubes) and crush. Then I had 1/4 cup juice and blend. Then 1/4 cup greek yogurt and 1-2 spoonfulls of peanut butter. Then half a frozen banana and some frozen berries. You can use any fruit you like a smoothie flavored after. I like blackberry. It's sort of like a peanut butter and jelly smoothie. Delish!

But I haven't been eating smoothies every day and despite the crappy weather, the Ballard Market has managed to provide me with greens and radishes and beats and other delightful things. And Seafood Fest gave me a whole salmon at $2/pound. Ridiculous pricing. I wish I had gotten pictures of the whole deboning process (which I mangled). But all of these things together have given me some super fresh dinners.


After deboning the salmon, I marinated it in a dressing made with lime juice, vinegar, olive oil, thyme, salt & pepper. I cooked at low heat in the oven. The fish turned out super tender but I kind of overdid it with the lime. Still, doesn't it look pretty? The medjool dates were a wonderful addition. But I kind of think they always are.



The salmon being too tart ended up being kind of glorious because I turned some of the salmon into magnificent salmon salad sandwiches. I used a small amount of tartar in place of mayo, and then diced up radishes, carrots, cucumbers, onions and tomatoes, and threw in a pinch of my mom's zuchini relish. It was pretty much in my top 5 sandwiches of all time. And I wish I had a picture of that too.





A couple weeks ago, I house/dog sat for my parents. With the Century coming up, I didn't want to give up a weekend training ride so I brought my bike down with me. I sought out a ride with at least one big hill that would be about 40-45 miles. It turned out to be the most beautiful ride I have yet to do. The weather cooperated. And it was so smooth on a beautiful bike path, I rode through farm land, prairie, and right up the base of Mount Rainier. Almost the whole ride, I could see it shiny in the distance.




Then I got to feast off of strawberries from my mom's garden and a veggie pasta tossed lightly with olive oil, salt and pepper.




It was simple, light, and totally rejuvenating after a long ride.



While I've been having my usual egg on toast for breakfast, and most often a smoothie for dinner of late, I have still be trying to cook something big each week to take for lunch. This week it was fried rice. I had one of those days where it just sounded so damned good. And I almost never cook rice (usually subbing quinoa for any situation where it would be appropriate). But I really wanted rice.







I started with jasmine rice (which I had to go out and buy since I don't keep it on hand). I put two cups in my steamer and let it go. Then let it sit for two nights. When the rice was ready, I pulled out my big frying pan (because I haven't yet bought a stinking wok) and put some olive oil in at medium heat and let it warm up. Then I tossed a diced walla walla onion and a mashed and chopped giant clove of garlic in the pan. I let them brown and soften slowly. Then I tossed in some diced mixed peppers (some red, yellow, and orange). I don't like it when my peppers get all mushy so I didn't leave them in too long. Then I doused them in hot chili sauce and soy sauce. I wanted to make sure there was a nice flavorful sauce. Here I added some baked tofu. I made sure they were nicely coated and warm and then, finally, tossed in the rice. I mixed and mixed until my arms were sore. That was a lot of rice. I mixed until the rice was fully coated and warm. Then I added peas and mixed. Then, I made a hole in the rice, dropped in an egg, and mixed until it was mixed and cooked.


It's maybe not the best fried rice I've ever made. Mostly because I really didn't care for the Trader Joes Baked Tofu. I really wanted the protein but I've picked around it and it's still pretty damned good.

I've also had a few failed attempts at homemade mayo. It turned out like mayo, but I haven't gotten the vinegar ratio like I like it. And I also made meringue because you only use the yolks when you make mayo, so you have to do something with the whites. What better than meringue, eh? Soon I might try my hand at marshmallow though.

Up next, and soon, tales of pork ribs on the barbie. Yum!

Oooh. Updates and stuff...

I wrote an essay about Ofelia Hunt's Today & Tomorrow. It's called "Robots, the Scientific Method, and Dying."

You can read it here: Lit Pub.

I also read an excerpt from Stacy Doris' new book, The Cake Part, available from Publication Studio. She's an amazing poet. Also check out her other books, like Paramour and Conference. Her new book, The Cake Part, is available from Publication Studio.

You can see some other totally awesome people read excerpts from the book as well.

LAKED, FIELDED, BLANKED

L A K E D, F I E L D E D, B L A N K E D by Brooklyn Copeland





You can get a copy of your very own right here: alice blue books

While you are there, check out Issue 14.

The Weekend Update

This weekend I went to Portland and sat outside in 70 degree sunshine, eating and drinking on patios with friends. It was glorious.

But that's not why I'm here. I'm here to tell you that those spring rolls were awesome. You know, the ones I was talking about a couple weeks ago.

Shred (probably easiest in the food processor):

1 Beet
1 Sweet Potato
1 Yam

Chop: cucumbers, basil, fennel

Sprouts

stuff into rice paper and roll.


For the chili lime sauce: mix juice of fresh lime, bit o sriracha (to taste), bit o sugar (to taste)

I didn't use any vinegar in that chili lime sauce, but I would mos def put some seasoned rice vinegar in there to make it a bit more dressing like.

Still, they were fresh and delicious. Perfect for the oncoming warmer weather.

Death Becomes Us

Last night I met some people at the Puerto Rican by my house. I had spent part of the afternoon creating a birthday card for a friend, a hot pink cut-out of a panda pasted on card stock. It turned out beautifully. I wrote "Happy Birthday" around the pink panda and a personal note inside. I tucked it in my little purse and headed to the restaurant to eat fried catfish and drink mojitos for my friend's brithday, and then proceed to a local pub for a rocking Open Mic night.

At one point, after eating the divine pez gato, I got up to go to the bathroom...which was just past the bar. Returning, twin flat screens divulged the news: Osama Bin Laden is dead. I return to the table, before sitting, and announce it to the table. "So... Osama Bin Laden is dead."

Everyone pulls out their smart phones-- I Phones, Androids, etc. "But it hasn't come up on my breaking news alert. Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Just saw Obama talking about it."

We discuss this matter briefly. People keep asking me if I'm sure. Finally, the breaking news alerts beep on their phones. Oh wow.

We are walking to the pub. There are singer-songwriters showcasing their wares. There are photos of Osama on the tv, Obama speaking. It's on closed captioning. Everyone else is talking about everything else.

Then we all see the footage of people celebrating at the capitol. Celebrating at Ground Zero-- all alight. It's like Mardi Gras. It's horrifying to witness. Hundreds of Thousands of people drinking vodka, miller high life, totally wasted...beads and cheering. How garish. How disturbing.

We talk about this briefly, too.

I can't stop turning around to watch the news. I feel bad for not feeling celebratory. It's my friend's birthday. He has gotten older. He exists, and I'm glad of that.

But I leave, early. I go home and read the news. I wake up and stream the news. I am in shock. I see facebook. Some people are celebrating a death. Some people are questioning this type of celebration.

I see these missives:

"Even in victory there is no beauty, and who boasts of victory is one who delights in slaughter. Who delights in slaughter will not succeed in unifying nations." -Lao Tzu

"I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee." - Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-5

After witnessing so much joy in slaughter after Bin Laden's death, I was glad to see some people echo my own concerns. I take no delight in another man's death, no matter the atrocities he committed.

I'm not sure if the right decision, when faced with the realities of the world, is to go home and face them alone, in your living room, reading the news. Or to stay out, with friends, and drink and celebrate what is good in life. Friends, music, life. But for now, I'm reading the news. Writing this post. And looking forward to my evening, where I'll sit with a friend, drink tea, and laugh.

Food, Bikes, Bliss

It's the last day of Passover for Reform, so I had the blessed opportunity of sleeping in and leisurely sitting in my living room with a cup of coffee. Soon I'll head to the gym and then I think I'll spend the rest of the day at home reading. It's raining and a perfect day for such things. Plus I haven't been home much and Frankie has been clearly annoyed by that fact.

But it's been good, this moving and etcetera.

I travelled. I read poems in faraway cities. Like Tucson, with Noah Eli Gordon and Sommer Browning. I forgot to get a picture of that particular crowd. But I did get a picture of me and my friend Marybeth at all the various amazingnesses that we saw.

Like Marybeth rocking out to Kansas:

And raptors at the Desert Museum:

And then I read in Portland. They were all so lovely. I wanted to take them all home with me and feed them pot roast or something.

And finally, the fine folks in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, those Slash Pine magicians who made put my poems in such a beautiful casement and then invited me down into their southern hospitality just to listen to me read some poems:

Look at all of their glorious, smiling faces. They were so kind. And there were so many of them! And I was so nervous and had to speak into a microphone behind a podium that was almost as tall as I was. In fact, if you counted the microphone, it was as tall as I was.

But I survived and then got to chill and listen to everybody else amaze and wow with their awesome languages.

Now I'm back in Seattle and back for a good long while. No more mini reading tours for me for a while. Since being back, I've been hitting ye old gym hardcore. Got to train for my forthcoming giant bike ride. No longer Seattle to Portland, thanks to its selling out. Now the Seattle Century. 100 miles around the city-- 100 miles of rolling hills and probably leg, and wrist, and neck misery. But that happy kind.

I've been working hard on the bike, outside of the gym as well. Thanks to my gym's spin class I felt ready to tackle some long bike rides. One week, 25 miles. The next week, 45 miles. My legs are sore, but that 45 mile ride was worth it. It was sunny and clear blue skies with the lake on our right the whole way up.

Here's the view at Matthew's Beach:

I have, however, been going out to eat too much so cooking has been less and less. I've done a few things... developed a cayenne honey glaze, which was amazing on beef and broccoli. And even more exciting was my finally, finally breaking out my cast iron dutch oven.

I've been thinking about it for a while, and the sunny weather this Saturday made me realize I was running out of dutch oven weather. I mean, who wants to turn on the oven for hours in the middle of summer in an apartment with no air conditioning, right?

But the weather cooled as early as Sunday, yesterday, and so I took the opportunity, after work, to do a test run of a dish I've been thinking of.

I bought two free-range chicken breasts and a yam and a can of light coconut milk. After seasoning the cast iron, I dumped the coconut milk in the pan with some sesame oil, white vinegar, a scoop of massaman curry paste, and fish sauce. (I meant to include some soy sauce... but didn't realize that I was out... so it just wasn't available.) I whisked that into an even consistency. I placed the whole breasts into the mixture then peeled and cubed the yam and put it around the chicken. I put the lid on, and stuck it in the oven at 200F for about 3.5 hours.

What came out was delicious:

I fully intend to do this again in two weeks when I go down to Portland. I'm going to make some changes though. A tiny bit of brown sugar and definitely some soy sauce...both to bring out the richness of the massaman. I think the vinegar (a snap judgement made from my experiences with pulled pork) was a definite must... but maybe I didn't need the sesame oil. I'm worried it made the consistency too greasy. Then, I think I'll separate the chicken and yams, puree the yam mixture, and recombine. It'll be amazing served over jasmine or sticky rice. Which makes me really wish I had a sticky rice basket. Maybe I'll purchase one of those soon.

I'm also slowly designing my perfect spring rolls, which I imagine I'll serve with this dish. It'll definitely include fresh thai basil... and i think shredded beets, carrots, sweet potatoes, and maybe sprouts. Not bean sprouts, but maybe alfalfa or something. I'm not sure yet. And maybe some unripe papaya... hm...

More on this as it develops.

damn

...the new issue of H_ngm_n is effing awesome.

Check it here: h_ngm_n12

(linked to a spectacular poem by Amorak Huey, who I had never read before)