he said
broadcast on npr, rudy giuliani just said:
the best way to achieve peace is through overwhelming strength.
go ahead, laugh until you cry until you laugh.
(ummm, i don’t want to link to them, but check out: w w w . peace through strength pac.com/Home.aspx)
day by day poetry
i keep a Skybright Studio canvas pad propped up on the table against the world map. It has a hot pink cover with a distant lighthouse under a full moon seen through sparse trees rendered in white lines and smudges; it is 16 x 20 inches. I write impulsive poems on it in sharpie marker. They often come from bits of conversation. It started in the fall sometime, and it is now full. Below is part of the resulting poem, annotated with links. Visually, it is beautiful on the pad, haiku format one to each sheet, but a ribbon like that would make the blog space too long so the lines are longer here:
she would ask, did you have one big love? What does love mean to you now?
she was radicalized around ideas of nation states & nationalism in high school English Lit class where she learned
America is a constructed country
American, an invented identity
with myths & traditions made in patchwork & whole cloth
the latest experiment
i get paid what i got paid in dc but now i live in new york.
i’m choking on it.
he was angry, when she asked if he had slept with a prostitute
after he said he had lived next door to a brothel.
residual feelings, she called them; like semi-sticky dust leftovers of love
“writing is like marriage—one should not commit one’s self until one is amazed at one’s luck”
even our complex, artful, deranged & joyful sexuality seems hopeless in the maw of this poverty, war & isolation
a fundamental human challenge
you are here; you are an agent of change; you are the butterfly effect
a flock of greckles in your face; a hawk circling far away
a pink plastic flamingo, an origami piece crane, and a hummingbird—
all in the same sky
i’ve only slept with 9 people, she said.
But how do i count the 6 dyke orgy in high school, or
that play-party where 20 people fucked the prince
while me & another femme pet him—how do i count that? She took the prince home the next night.
i count that
well, dunk me in buttermilk & call me a biscuit—
you’ve got grits, kid.
i like being part of a grand history. like she said: i cross the police line &
join the past 2 decades of AIDS activists
“writing saved me from the sin & inconvenience of violence”
bran muffins
now, if you are bravely still reading, you will get a treat. oh, these muffins are yummy, pretty, and- as far as well-meaning home baking goes- good for you. It is a tweaked recipe from Nikki & David Goldbeck’s American Wholefoods Cuisine.
in a small bowl, measure out 2-3 tablespoons of wheat germ. Using a microplane or patience and a good knife, zest a lemon into it. Stir in 2 tablespoons of sugar.
pour 1 cup of buttermilk in a large liquid measure. Add 1/4 cup of honey, 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Whisk one egg in a bowl and add that to the measuring cup too.
sift together, 3 times, 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour) with 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1 1/2 of baking soda, and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt. add the final sifting to 2 tablespoons of wheat germ and 1/2 a cup of bran measured into a big mixing bowl.
gently make a well in the flour mix, and add the liquid ingredients to the dry. stir until just combined with a wooden spoon.
oil a muffin try- medium, twelve muffins. pour the batter into the tin cups, and sprinkle the lemony sugary wheat germ over the tops. bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
brilliant
golden raisins, toasted sesame seeds, ginger…all good possible additions
quick curried peanut sauce for many veggies
chop one medium yellow sweet onion, and smash, peel, and mince a few cloves of garlic. Peel and mince a half inch of fresh ginger.
sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil until the onions are translucent. Stir in the ginger along with a teaspoon of curry powder and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Stir in about three teaspoons of sesame oil and three tablespoons of Braggs or tamari sauce.
glop in a cup of peanut butter, and whisk in boiling hot water in a thin stream to bring the mixture to a saucey consistency.
prepare the veggies of your choice: fairy tale eggplant sliced in half and roasted; purple potatoes halved, par boiled and fried; steamed baby artichokes; bell pepper and broccoli sauté; string beans. What’s in season?
Lemony Gingery Veggie Stock
Fill your big and heavy pot with clean water and put it on the stovetop to boil. Scrub two fist-sized turnips, a potato, and two carrots (the ones so big you cannot imagine using them for anything in the kitchen). Trim any stems or roots. Trim four stalks of celery too; rinse them if they are dirty. Toss all these veggies in the pot.
Press three cloves of garlic under the flat side of a knife and peel. Break three inches of ginger into pieces. Cut a lemon into quarters. Toss all of this into the pot.
Bring the water to a rolling boil then let it fall back to a simmer for half an hour.
Stem any mushrooms you have about for this recipe or any others. Wipe them clean and add to the stock. Pour in a few cups of water. Cover and bring back to boil then simmer half-covered for another hour or so. Stir occasionally, and use the back of the spoon to squish the ingredients gently, especially the lemons.
In your sink, set a colander in a bowl or pot large enough to hold all that hot stock. Pour the stock through and using cheesecloth or the back of a wooden spoon, mush the veggies to squeeze their best stuff into the broth.
Let the broth cool and store in jars in the frigidaire. Or you can use it right away to back soup. Viola:
Miso Awesome Soup
The amounts here are for a generous bowl for one voracious feminista yogi. This soup is quite adaptable by size – feed your feminista yogi flock!
Bring a pot of water to boil and cook a handful of udon noodles. The corner health mart carries an organic brand that comes in 8 oz packets with three bundles of noodles, and one bundle is just right amount for a big bowl. (One big bowl eating is typically friendly cooking for one eater, one broke but taste-conscious eater. Those inspired, sexy soups, pastas, and salads you whip up for dates with your one true one want a roomy, gorgeous bowl. Right now my favorite is a ceramic piece that heats up comfortingly in my lap when I sit cross legged on the couch. This bowl, runny with glaze in cinnamon, oatmeal and cream, is my flat mate’s handmade treasure. I gotta find my own perfect piece; I will let you know how the quest goes.)
Slice two or three scallions (green onions). Peel and mince an inch of ginger and two cloves of garlic. Slice three or four thin slices of chili. Chili is highly subjective; know thyself.
In a medium sized sauce pan, heat a few teaspoons of vegetable oil and sesame oil. When a flick of water sizzles in the oil, lower the heat and add the chili, garlic, ginger, and scallions along with some sea salt and black pepper. Add two to four tablespoons of tamari.
Clean off your mushrooms—any kind you like, of course. I used the smallest possible shitakes and creminis, carefully de-stemmed and cleaned with a paper towel. Sauté the mushrooms briefly in the fiery oil, about five minutes, until their heads are glistening and glossy brown.
Pour broth over the frying mushrooms, about 3 cups. Bring broth to a boil.
Halve a lemon. Snip a cup or so of watercress and add it to your bowl.
Lower heat and with the soup at a low simmer, squeeze in the lemon juice from both halves and stir in two tablespoons of miso. Bring back to a fine simmer and pour over the delicate greens.
I eat this with two tools: chopsticks and a big, shallow spoon.
kohlrabi salad with purslane and mysterious mini-greens
the kohlrabi plant has its own special way of being a vegetable
The Kitchen Gardener’s Companion, Pat Katz’s A-Z encyclopedia for using the food that you grow, 2000
oh, pat, it’s true. kohlrabies look like alien vegetables or vehicles – door knob sized bulbs of waxy celery green or purple like shredded purple coleslaw cabbage. Since hardly any one eats it, kohlrabi gets compared to everything: cabbage, turnip, cauliflower. It is like the asian pear of veggies. Impossible to describe; go find them.
5 small purple kohlrabis, broken off from their stalks and leaves. Pare away any nubbins or hard spots but no need to go so far as peeling. Cut them into cubes. Sauté them in a bit of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Let them sit in the hot pot until your greens are ready.
pick over 5 generous handful of greens. This week I got purslane, some mild form of mustard with tiny, ruffled leaves, and a mysterious micro-plant with a transluscent stem and two bitty leaves, like clover. I think any mix of mild fresh summer greens would be good, but the purslane’s nice because it is so juicy and queer.
in a big bowl, toss the greens with the hot kohlrabi and dressing. For the dressing, shake together in a jar:
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
¼ cup of olive oil
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp black pepper
¼ cup minced, fresh cilantro
It is surprising that kohlrabies are not better known, since they are easy to grow and store, as well as being easy to enjoy in many different ways. Their name is German, taken from the Italian caroli rape, cabbage turnip.
The Kitchen Gardener’s Companion, Pat Katz’s A-Z encyclopedia for using the food that you grow, 2000
dried beans, dried beans!
When they’re just in their little slack bag on the shelf or heaped up in the dusty bins in the bulk section, dried beans look like they require serious work. While they do take time, they actually hardly need your help or attention at all. Less work than a Chia Pet and infinitely tastier (though I am wondering if anyone has grown anything edible off a Chia Pet. A little Chia Pet herb garden marching across my window sill would be cute).
If you are not already a dried bean devotee, allow me to list some of their finer qualities:
- Cheap – we’re talking under a dollar for a pound.
- Convenience – you can keep a wide array of dried legumes (the family name for all beanies & their kin) around. I store them in old juice jars, and they keep practically forever. Cooking beans can be a lovely sort of ritual when you have a lot of time, or you can cook them in about an hour when you get home from work if you think to put them in to soak before turning in the night before. You ignore them for an hour – time to peel off your pantyhose (if you have been so miserably constricted all day) or put your pantyhose on (if that’s what you do in your private time).
- They are not suspended in the mystery goo of canned beans. Canned beans are serviceable. I usually have a few cans around. Canned beans are handy, speedy dinner/snacker helpers: hummus, black bean dip, baked beans, beans & rice and any other number of things. Just rinse them off really well, and maybe avoid using them in salad. But at the end of the day, the texture of canned beans is rather unfortunate. Might as well cook dried and freeze ‘em. Fast as a can. Less suspect. Less industrial processing.
The canellini bean & roasted garlic soup is more of a weekend recipe. Start Saturday evening by soaking the beans and finish Sunday evening with a lovely soup. The soup is divine re-heated, makes a good vehicle for leftover green veggies later in the week (mmmmmmmmmmm kale) and you get bonus beans to toss into pasta, salad or tofu scramble.
Sets up some kitchen luvin’ for yourself all week long, you know?
Plus, it is inexpensive! Especially when you get that $2 bottle of white wine though I don’t recommend drinking it while you cook. And if you make/have your own stock (stock blog forthcoming).
Black Radish and Spinach Salad
- black radish (one, maybe two if you are spicy; they’re beautiful, kinda witchy)
- spinach (one bunch)
- pear (bosc pears are particularly nice, and if it is earlier in fall, apples)
- lemon
- garlic
- fresh sage
- dijon mustard
- olive oil
- balsamic
- a big salad bowl
for dressing
Roast one head of garlic. Mince two cloves of garlic and one tablespoon of fresh sage. whisk together 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, 4 bulbs of roasted garlic, minced raw garlic, sage with about ½ cup olive oil and ¼ cup of balsamic.
for salad
Cut the pear in half, then in quarters and slice off the remainder of the core. Cut into thin slices (leave peeled). Squeeze half a lemon over the pear.
Peel the radish. Then shave patches of radish into the salad bowl. A veggie peeler or paring knife will work as a tool.
Rinse the sand off the spinach. (If you do not have sand and grit in your spinach, then it is from a bag or some other such garbage. While I utterly appreciate the feeling of liberation at not having to clean or cut your own veggies, it is just not worth the risk of E. coli (Escherichia coli) for your self and the destruction of the environment for everyone else.) Use icy cold water so the greens stay crisp and gently but thoroughly pat dry. I lay out salad greens on a clean kitchen towel or paper towels or some combination of absorbent materials and lightly roll it all up like a sleeping bag.
Rip spinach into slightly larger than bite sized pieces.
Toss everything with the dressing in the salad bowl. I use my hands.
