Baked Lingcod, Tomato Salad / Freedy Johnston

Heirloom Tomato Salad with Mozarella Fresca and Green Goddess

10 small-to-medium heirloom tomatoes, 3 medium sized balls mozzarella Fresca, handful of fresh basil torn up, 4T Green Goddess dressing drizzled on top, finishing salt flakes & fresh ground pepper

Goddess recipe: http://food52.com/recipes/23729-green-goddess-dressing

Baked Lingcod w Lemon Garlic Sauce

Recipe via Elise, but I used Sorghum flour instead of wheat. http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/baked_ling_cod_with_lemon_garlic_butter_sauce/

Lingcod from my seafood CSA Siren SeaSA http://sirenseasa.com

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Freedy Johnston

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OVqBYkrlsmw

Two Salads - Daily Dinner

Fig Chèvre Basil Salad

10 figs, 1/4 log silver goat chèvre, 1/3c torn fresh basil, 1T olive oil, 1t balsamic, s&p 

Harissa

http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-harissa-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-190188

Cantaloupe Tomato Salad w Harissa

1-2 cantaloupe, 5 medium heirlooms, 1/3 giant cuke, 1-3c feta, handful fresh mint, s&p. Dressing = Harissa mixed with olive oil and honey. Source http://food52.com/recipes/12856-summer-melon-salad-with-harissa-feta-and-mint

My #memademay = #FreeFiFro

I don't have enough 91°-appropriate handmade-by-me clothing to do memademay, but I love the idea of broadening the make/craft focus away from the starting/doing and into the using. 

How else can I reach out my awareness and use the things I make? I do a lot of kitchen-oriented making, and I use the things I make regularly. Daily? Add that to the list, but it's not in the same spirit as wearing (because using is so much easier), so I'm challenging myself differently. 

Last time I counted (years ago), I had 22 WIPs. Yeah. I made a soft rule: no starting something new until I'd finished or frogged two WIPs. That went okay for awhile, but for at least the last year I haven't made a point to keep track. 

So, my May = repurpose/finish/frog aka "FreeFiFro". Since many of my projects are large (sweaters, blankets), it's an unrealistic goal to *finish* in one day. But you can only eat an elephant one bite at a time. So instead of stashing 10+ projects in the basement and rotating half-assed between 6+ "active" projects, I'm going to focus at least one hour of undivided attention on a project—the same project—every day until it's finished, freed, or frogged. Starting today, right now, on this alpaca hat I've been debating. Debate: over. Finish and write up pattern. Bite one: go. 

Garlic Soup / J Dilla

Garlic Soup

Shallots

Celery

Organic butter and/or EVOO

Sauté. 

Thinly slice 20-30 cloves of garlic and add to sauté 5 mins. Add some ginger and thyme and a hearty splash of ww vin. Saffron threads if you've got 'em, bay leaves, homemade stock* and sea salt. Simmer for how long it takes you to make Harissa and a simple salad. I made my salad with baby spinach, butter lettuce, red bells, avo, sprouts**, and a sprinkling of cooked lentils/quinoa. S,P, Balsamic, OO. 

Harissa

Roasted red bell, coriander-cumin-caraway (dry roasted), OO, onion, garlic cloves, red chiles, lemon juice, sea salt -- all blitzed.

Back to the soup: take out bay and immersion-blend a few pulses - maybe 1/3 of it. Bowl, plop in a spoonful of Harissa. The garlic mellows and this ends up being a pretty satisfying soup. Adapted from that by Yotam Ottolenghi.

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J Dilla - Donuts

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This meal was from Day 4; I'm now on day 7.

I'm enjoying this so much, the cooking part. There's so much hoopla about cleansing and things tasting like dirt. I haven't found that needs to be the case at all. But I do think back on cleanses I've read (and tried) that were obviously written by doctors/medical professionals rather than someone who cooks—checked all the boxes except palate. And in striving for 'variety', ended up using lots of ingredients only once, and lots of prep and cooking. A real drawback is that it's time consuming. (For me it's also A LOT of food). I go from super full to starving on a dime. Having stuff prepped or having go-to, brainless reach-for's has been vital. 

My next fantasy project: make cleanse food for folks (think Blue Apron style) and/or a book that has actually good tasting recipes and ones that take reality into account. Ex. - you don't have to spend thousands of $ buying tons of produce (3 x a week), but instead the recipes and meals are thoughtfully set up so they last a few meals and snacks with less constant work.

*Stock - I save the trimmings of my vegetables in a bag in the freezer. Need stock? Trimmings go into stockpot with water, simmer, voila. 

**Hooray home sprout grower, right? I was too lazy to do the jar method so bought one. Either way, so worth it!

Collard Wraps / TAL

Collard Wraps

6-7 large pristine collard leaves

Cooked quinoa and lentils*

Half a bundle asparagus

2 spring onions

2 carrots

1/2 large red bell pepper

1/2 sweet red chile

Olive oil spray

Balsamic vinegar

Tahini mustard sauce (recipe follows)

Avocado

Cut off the stem of your collards so that they're close to being round. Lightly steam them (2-3 mins max). I leave in the stalk, cause I tried it once cutting out the stalk and overlapping and it was a messy nightmare. Having done it both ways, for me this is superior. Set aside to drain and cool. 

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly spray with oil. Cut up your carrots, onions, and peppers into 2-3" sticks. Spread out on pan, lightly oil surface, easy salt, pepper, sprinkling of balsamic then into the oven for 20 minutes. While they're cooking, break off the bottom tough parts of asparagus stalks. Cut down to 2-3" pieces if necessary. When veg are done with round one, remove from oven, turn, add asparagus, and return to oven for 10/15/20 mins depending on size of your veg. You want them roasted to your liking. Remove and set aside. 

Cut a peeled avocado into 8-12 wedges. 

To assemble: it's like a burrito or more like a sushi hand roll! Spoon some quinoa/lentils, spoonful of sauce, arrange a bit of each type of veg + some avo and roll. I secured with toothpicks. I also left the top open for prettiness and also cause it was easier. 

Tahini Mustard sauce

Half a cup of tahini

Half a cup of water

2T clean (sugar free) mustard

2T lemon juice (or more to taste)

Crushed garlic clove 

Pinch o salt

Blitz it up in a mini food processor or that contraption that came with your immersion blender (if you're me). Makes a TON, so I'll be figuring out what to make with it over the next week I guess. 

*quinoa lentils - in my fuzzy logic rice cooker, I put in one cup washed and drained quinoa, one cup green french lentils, 1 piece kombu, 4 cups water. Set to cook for 'regular'. Made a giant batch. Again with the figuring out....

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What did I listen to?

This American Life. 

I'm on a podcast bender. Sorry records, I'll be back soon. 

Still with me? I will blab. 

Number one: what's with me being so descriptive with the cooking instructions? Who do I think I am, Julia Child? Get over yourself, me!

Number two: doing a lot of it. Hello, I'm on a cleanse!

Number three:

So this is what I made for dinner day three of our Standard Process Cleanse. My observations at this point were UGH! So much food! I felt like I was constantly making food or eating food or making shakes or drinking shakes or taking pills. And I felt crazy bloated but had surprisingly lost weight, because honestly, the bloating, jeez. Also felt a bit spaced out and for the first time had a kind of detox-y pseudo-headache weird brain feeling. Not bad, just like when you were a kid and wore a headband that was too tight. So due to the I'M TOO GODDAMNED FULL feeling, I went down to one shake a day. I make a triple batch in the morning. Pour one for Evan's breakfast, one for his lunch, and split the third in half for me: one for mid morning and one for mid afternoon. What a difference!

Kitcheree / Colin Hay

Evan and I started the Standard Process Cleanse yesterday. I was surprised by how little was out there when I searched looking for recipes and inspiration, so I'm taking notes—both for myself (so I can remember what I did, what worked, what didn't) and for anyone else who stumbles upon this.

Today is day 2; starting there as yesterday I felt like a big pile of garbage due to Game Night being the night before and why not start a cleanse with a bang, the bang being a shit ton of champagne the night before. 

Made the kitcheree yesterday and the squash today, which I'll post separately. 

Kitcheree

1c red lentils

1c red quinoa

1 thumb sized chunk of fresh ginger

1 pinkie sized piece of fresh turmeric 

Olive oil

6c water

Salt

1T cumin sed

1t mustard seed

3 carrots

2 dried chile peppers (crushed),one seeded depending on your spice tolerance

Sort and rinse lentils and quinoa in a few changes of water. Drain and set aside. 

Peel and finely dice the ginger and turmeric. Heat oil in a Dutch oven until hot, add ginger and turmeric and sauté over medium high heat for a few minutes.

Add quinoa and lentils to pot with a pinch of salt. Stir to coat, then add water. Bring to boil, then cover and reduce heat and simmer for half an hour. 

While simmering, toast your cumin seed and mustard seed until the just start to pop. Cut your carrots into bite sized rounds. 

When 30 minutes have passed, uncover and stir. If it's watery, leave the lid off. Add spices and carrots and cook another 20 minutes. You want it mushy like oatmeal or risotto, not watery like  congee. 

The Standard Process cleanse (or purification, as they call it), is a supplemented one. Recommended and procured through health care professionals like acupuncturists (in my case) or chiropractors. It's a lot of supplements & 2-3 shakes per day. You eat unlimited vegetables, half that amount in fruit. You can have quinoa and lentils (obvs), as well as green beans and peas. Some seeds, coconut milk.... It's pretty generous, really. Basically no caffeine, sugar, booze, dairy, grains, eggs, nuts, or processed foods. You can have clean meat starting day 11. You're eating cleanly so as to not undo the work of the supplements you're taking, which are giving a scrubbing to your liver, kidneys, small, and large intestine. 

Last night we were treated to tickets to see Colin Hay at the Palace of Fine Arts. I was somewhat familiar with his music, but in the most basic way, so decided to use the day for a more comprehensive, dedicated listen. His songs are beautiful, sweet, singer-songwritery. Some of his lyrics are chuckle-inducing, and they all have an honesty in the lyricism that I find unique in their personal Everyman observationism. His voice is distinct and consistent, and there's a specificity in his style. I was expecting a sweet, quiet show. 

What a surprise. Dude is HILARIOUS. I would say almost half of the performance was story-telling, all of it highly funny and often quite touching. His wife joined him for part of the performance which added a different level of entertainment I couldn't possibly describe. So, yeah, go see that guy. 

An irritating thing: when people BLAH BLAH BLAH too much in their posts. Apologies. 

Meatloaf & Baked Potato / Rock On

Inspired by this article in the recent BA, I've had baked potatoes on the brain. Was going to roast a chicken so I could use the carcass to make stock, but a) I don't have room for more stock in my freezer, wtf is my problem and b) meatloaf sounded SO good. My go-to meatloaf uses beef and pork and sometimes veal, but I went wild and am using a new 'recipe'. More fast n loose than my usual. We'll see, it's baking now. I also want to make these cookies, but House of Cards is calling. 

Potatoes

Two giant russets, scrubbed. Pricked, rubbed with olive oil, generously sprinkled with fresh ground tellicherry black pepper and sea salt. Baked directly on middle rack at 400 for about an hour. 

Meatloaf

Halve a red onion. Pulse it to bits in a food processor. 

Toast 3 slices GF white bread.

In a bowl put:

1# ground turkey

1# 85% lean beef

1# 80% lean beef

Pulsed onion

2+ minced cloves garlic

2 t kosher salt

Lots of fresh ground pepper

1/4cup ketchup

Egg 

Pulse bread in the food processor until it's crumbly. Add 1 cup milk. Let it soak while you do an initial mix of bowl ingredients. Add milky bread to bowl. Knead until just mixed. 

Form into a loaf-like mass on a parchment-papered rimmed baking pan. 

400 degrees for about an hour and 15 minutes, depending on your oven. 

Rogue moves: no carrot, celery, bacon, sausage, parsley, Worcestershire ....

No pan!

Upside: way faster and easier.  

Smokey Tomato Soup / Paradise Theater

Its raining. First time in months ... and they've been hot months. Game Night was last night, so I'm a bit dehydrated. Soup + knitting + tee vee = perfect. Especially tomato soup; you always have the ingredients on hand, cause its just canned tomatoes and onions plus whatever else you want to add, right? Easy breezy. 

Did you know that canned tomato products have an expiration date? I didn't, but now I do! Most of mine were over 2 years expired. Oops. So: thank god I have a shit ton of fresh tomatoes. 

Spent a little too much time outside picking tomatoes while onions were 'caramelizing'. Oops. Decided to leave burned onions instead of tossing and doing over. For "flavor profile". Now it's  'Smokey Tomato Soup'.

Decided to keep smoke as dominant flavor rather than add heat/peppers. Fresh tomatoes = lots of cherry toms = sweet. So already that balance between sweet and smokey. Needed a lot of salt, which I don't like to add too much of, so added a just a couple dashes of Tabasco and a dash of vinegar instead. Rounded it out perfectly. 

Brown/kinda burn one chopped yellow onion in a knob of butter and a healthy pinch of salt. Add a bunch (2-3 cups) cherry tomatoes, plus a small handful of leftover baby carrots and one slice of raw red bell pepper that are leftover from the party you hosted last night. Throw in 6 medium chopped up fresh cluster tomatoes, a glug of olive oil, fresh black pepper, a couple bay leaves, and a scant pinch of ground cloves. Simmer until tomatoes are broken down and there's lots of liquid. Add a quart sized freezer bag of defrosted beef bone broth that you had in the freezer. Bring to simmer for 10-15 mins. Remove bay leaves and blend using immersion blender. Pour in some milk. Taste. Add salt. Taste. Add a little bit more salt, a couple shakes of Tabasco and a shake of balsamic. Eat with quesadilla instead of a grilled cheese  sandwich. Use leftover queso dip from last nights party as quesadilla filling. 

Meyer Lemon Cake / War

Meyer Lemon Polenta Cake with Lemon Rosemary Glaze

Eggs - yogurt - shit ton of Meyer Lemon zest - lemon juice - ground flax - sugar - GF flour - polenta - xantham gum - baking powder - salt - more lemon juice - rosemary
Inspired by Sprouted Kitchen

Tom Tom Jam / Tom Tom Club

Mixed Tomato Jam w/ Gypsy Peppers
Adapted from Food in Jars

1# Romas 2# Heirlooms (from my box), 1.5# heirlooms Gypsy Peppers (from my garden), lime juice, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, salt, red chile flakes

Surprisingly different in flavor than the last batch I made, although recipe tweaks are minor. Way more tomato-y. Now all I need is a hunka cheese.

Listening
Tom Tom Club - Close to the Bone

Apricot Liqueur / Gentlemen Take Polaroids

Apricot Liqueur

Leftover part of flat of Apricots from a friend, after making Apricot Jam ~ two bottles Everclear ~ simple syrup

Soaked the apricots in spirits for six months. Added syrup and soaked for another four months. Strained in the Chemex. Pretty and tasty. Made a LOT.

Listening

Gentlemen Take Polaroids

Blueberry Mango Pavlova / Strange Times

Ah, Easter. Such a Spring-y, happy pretty occasion. My brother and I got to spend it with our fantastic aunt and uncle in Davis. Cynthia made an amazing brown rice with mushrooms and almonds dish ("seconds, please"), carrots, fresh snow peas from the garden. Jay grilled up a perfect cut of lamb. Family favorite mint jelly (note to self: make this). And I made dessert:

 

Blueberry Mango Pavlova

6 egg whites (room temperature)

1/2 t Cream of Tartar

pinch of salt

1.5 c sugar

1.5 T cornstarch

1.25 t vanilla

4 mangoes, cut up

1.25 c blueberries

whipped cream

Oven to 300°. My oven is a bit wonky and kept creeping up, so the end product wasn't perfect. And I am now likely to make a series of Pavlovas until I master that, so be warned. I based my recipe on Shuna's Pavlova (courtesy of Elise), so for technique, go there. But I didn't want to make individual ones, I wanted to make a big one. So I traced a 9" circle on parchment paper and filled that with a base for the meringue, then did big glops around the edge to make a 'bowl'. Like I said, it cooked too quickly due to my oven, so wasn't as pretty as I wanted it to be ... and was more crumbly too. Just before serving, fill the 'bowl' with whipped cream and top with mangoes and blueberries. Even the not-pretty meringue, once topped, cleans up good. This first attempt was simple, but I'm already thinking of ways to top it.

Listening

The Chameleons / Strange Times

Blueberry Banana Soft Serve / Sentimental Lady

Home with a funny tummy; wanted something simple and comforting.

Blueberry Banana Soft Serve

Cut up a ripe banana into 3/4" chunks and freeze for a couple of hours (or more). In vitamix or food processor: 1/3 bag frozen blueberries, frozen banana chunks, half a small thing of plain yogurt (I had a thing of Voskos in the fridge. I'm a Fage girl, but was trying this out on recommendation from a friend. Tart, tasty, recommend!)

Yeah, so blend it all. If using vitamix, use the pusher wand to get it blended. This should work in a food processor, but I didn't try that, so let me know if it does.

I added a touch of nonfat milk, but don't think it needs it. Alternatively, could add ice. Again, not necessarily necessary.

Soundtrack

Bob Welch / Sentimental Lady

Turnip Soup with Egg / Pressure Drop

I've been reading a lot about the benefits of bone broth, so the other day I started my first crock pot batch of broth. First batch (I'll be making as many as I can) was just beef knuckle bones. I used that as the stock in this soup.

Turnip Soup with beef broth, beets and Tabitha's egg
Sauté fresh spring onion, carrot, celery in olive oil. Add dried cayenne pepper and bay leaf. Add chopped turnips and chopped beet. Season. Cover in fresh beef bone broth. Add a little water if necessary. Simmer 20 minutes or so. Add chopped up turnip greens and the juice of 1-2 lemons. Adjust seasoning. Top with sliced fresh hard or soft boiled egg and fresh cracked pepper.

Robert Palmer - Pressure Drop

Boozey Cherries / End of Mesclun Mix

The Boozey Cherries
Inspired by this recipe, Diane and I embarked on a flat of cherries. Recipe calls for one pound for a jar. I didn't weigh the flat, but we pooped out at 7 jars and there's a bunch left over for some jamming. 2011 may prove to be the summer of cherries, as I was hopelessly charmed by the gentleman by the side of the road from whom I procured my flat ("A whole box?!"). His grandson, who must have been about 4 or 5, was in charge of picking out my flat, with his little hands and elbows trying to move the flats around—so heavy!—he managed to scoot a box over just enough for his grandfather to reach it as his mom looked on, smiling and quiet.

Our first two jars were true to the original recipe. Next two were inspired by Travis' brandied cherries at Bar 355, which are laced with spice, so we replaced the vanilla with cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Next two jars, back to vanilla. Last jar: lemon peel!

Our flow chart:
Rinse cherries - pick through and dump blemished fruit - prick with sterilized needle - put in jar, pits and stems included - make simple syrup using 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup water for each jar - pour syrup over cherries - add spice(s) - fill the rest with brandy - cap and be patient.

Playlist
The Ballad of El Goodo - Big Star
Emotional Rescue - The Rolling Stones
End of the Street - The Bees
F-Hole - Squeeze
Green Gloves - The National
The Hair Song - Black Mountain
Hanging from a Hit - Okkervil River
Rabbit Heart - Florence and the Machine
Reckoner - Radiohead
Slaveship - Josh Rouse
Stop Me - Mark Ronson featuring Ole Dirty Bastard
Zero - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Take a Minute - K'naan
This is Why We Fight - The Decemberists
In Your Eyes - Peter Gabriel
The High Road - Broken Bells

God's Eye / Fisherman's Blues

God's Eye / Ojo de Dios / Sikuli
A ritual tool, magical object, and cultural symbol—symbolic of the power of seeing and understanding that which is unknown and unknowable. The Mystery. The four points represent air, earth, fire, and water. The design of the eye has the power to heal and to protect. The act of weaving, spiritual with intention, spirit with intent.

Soundtrack

Fisherman's Blues - The Waterboys

Bacon & Potato Soup / 13 Songs

oops.
soup so good it was gone before i snapped a shot.
bacon -> mirepoix -> spuds -> stock -> spice. burrmix. cheese. green garlic chives / bacon crumblings.

willis was (is, for another 4 hours) in town. add Clay n Morter and you've got yourself a ribald gathering. grilled artichokes FROM MY FRONT YARD! and sausages plus balsamic braised kale n red cabbage. it was all wintery even though it's june. but everyone knows it's been brisk here in cali. damn, if that wasn't a tasty meal and killer company. note to self: invite CnM over way way way more frequently.

add one bottle of wine and an 11pm Skype date and you've got yourself a sleepy xtina this morning. O 2:30am bedtime: why don't you communicate with my 6am wake time and give it the morning off?

Soundtrack

13 Songs - Fugazi

French Braid / Faux News

Breaking news: I French Braided my hair.

Faux News: while I was listening to / watching the Daily Show.

More Jam / Compact Snap

More Apricots
More Jam Prep
This time with Vanilla Bean. Seemed kinda simple, almost boring. Holy crap, if it tastes as good when it's done as it already does when it's stewing, it's gonna be golden. GOLDEN!

Soundtrack
Compact Snap - The Jam
I mean, really, how could I resist?