Spicy Thank You No. 2

I used the Penzey's "Singapore" spice mix two ways, both soups, one lentil and one squash. I liked both soups but wouldn't definitely buy the mix again.

Lentil Soup
--
1) broth
2) lentils
♣) Singapore seasoning: Tellicherry black pepper, lemon peel powder, citric acid, garlic, onion, turmeric, coriander, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, fennel, cinnamon, fenugreek, white pepper, cardamom, cloves, and cayenne red pepper

For (1) I used a beef soup bone, cooked it in well water for a few hours, then took out the marrow, meat, and connective tissues that fell off the bone. While I got the lentils started cooking in the broth I pureed the meat and fat with my wonderful immersion blender then added it all back into the soup.
   For (2) I used black lentils! I'd never used black lentils before. I soaked them for 24 hours, rinsed them, and then cooked them in the broth.

It was good. It is always good when you use sprouted lentils cooked in broth. I may have added onion, since I add onion to practically everything, and of course S 'n' P. The important thing, though, is the broth/stock. And the lentil-soaking. I would not make lentils without soaking them and cooking them in broth. Homemade stock IS SO GOOD.
   Our guests liked it a lot, too.

Nutter Soup
--
1) butternut squash
2) coconut milk
♣) Singapore seasoning: Tellicherry black pepper, lemon peel powder, citric acid, garlic, onion, turmeric, coriander, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, fennel, cinnamon, fenugreek, white pepper, cardamom, cloves, and cayenne red pepper

I call this nutter soup because it is so good it's crazy. And because it's butterNut and cocoNut — funny because it has neither butter, nor cocoa, nor nuts in it.
   I have never seen the idea to combine butternut and coconut. I don't know why!!? This should be a standard!
   The coconut milk we buy is full fat, so there's lots of cream clumped at the top of the can (and said can is BPA free). It doesn't have guar gum added: coconut only!
   Now I know what I can make for my vegan friends!

Thank You Note, Installment #1

One Christmas gift from my parents last year was a gift certificate to Penzeys Spices. I recently made and received my order. I bought seven items. I'm going to make a blog post for each item after I use it. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Spice Item #1: "Sunny Paris"
♣ components: shallots, chives, green peppercorns, dill weed, basil, tarragon, chervil, and bay leaf

Ante

I selected this one because I thought bJorn would 'specially like it. As it turns out, when I got the package, I arrayed the seven containers for him and asked him to vote on which to use first, and this tied for first.
   I love dill, chervil, shallots, and bay leaves. I was intrigued by the green peppercorns. Tarragon, basil, and chives are hit or miss for me.

As

I tried it with zucchini noodles and eggs. 
   I fashioned the noodles with our newest, fabulous kitchen toy. We've used it many times since acquiring it a month ago. It makes the best veggie noodles I've ever! had (including in restaurants). Yum.
   I seasoned the noodles and fried them in melted tiger. Then I took them out of the pan and pan-scrambled some eggs. Sunny Paris is green. This is the closest I've ever come to green eggs. 
   There was no ham.

After

Tasty! It's great with eggs and znoodles (say that—it's fun). It also goes a fairly long way: I'll get a few uses out of it. (I got the 1/4 cup jar.) Because of the delicacy of chervil, the rarity of green peppercorns, and the difficulty in drying shallots, it's easier to buy than to concoct at home. I'd buy it again!

Hippie-ki-yay

When I was in 3rd grade, my sister Mona was in 6th grade. A boy in her class saw me in the lunch room and told me I looked like a hippie.
   I went home and asked Mona and my mom "what's a hickey?" [Sic.]
   My mother, suspicious and displeased, asked me why I asked, so I recounted the lunch room encounter. We soon worked out the source of the confusion — or at least, the source of her confusion, because at the end I was still confused about a) what a hickey is b) why looking like a hippie is bad.
   Whether Mona knew a) what a hickey is I can't say. (If she did she (like Mom) wasn't interested in clarifying it for me.) I can say with some confidence, however, that Mona was not confused about b) why looking like a hippie is bad: she was mortified that young Mr. White had found my look remarkable and asked our mother if something couldn't be done about my appearance.

Anyway, here is the first in a potential series of how hippie I am.
   I never use the microwave: All my food is warmed or re-warmed on the stove or in the oven. I have not used the microwave since August 2012.
   I don't have any studies to cite about whether the microwave is bad for your food, but I operate as though it is. (Go ahead. Call me a kook. Or — even better — a cook!) I do believe that avoiding the microwave is a big fat deal in moving away from convenience as the deciding factor in food choices. When convenience is king, health suffers.

In case you were wondering, I received clarification about a) what a hickey is when I was in 5th grade. A girl in my class, Heather Scot, invited all the cool girls into the bathroom and took out a red ink stamp-pad and said let's make ourselves look like we have hickeys. I took the opportunity to ask what a hickey is, and Heather took the opportunity (as I thought she would) to tell me.
   I've also figured out some reasons people might have for b) why looking like a hippie is bad, but Jimmy crack corn.

hEArT

Things I have made this year that I have never made before:

Rumaki 

... sort of: Instead of wrapping chicken liver in bacon, I wrapped chicken heart in bacon. I had a bunch of frozen chicken hearts from the farmers' market and I wasn't sure what to do with them.
   The hearts in my freezer were much larger than the ones in my memory. I had had chicken hearts before (Brazilian BBQ) and I remembered them being wee. I cut these ones into three or four pieces before swaddling them in bacon.
   It wasn't bad! I mean, wrapped in bacon, what can go wrong?
   I think maybe liver would be better f(even though the first time I had chicken liver — a couple of months ago — I didn't like it much). I also think that no matter what offal I used I'd marinade it next time.
   Props to LF.

Artichoke

I'd eaten this heaps o' times ... mostly on pizza ... but never prepped it. The heart really is the best bit.

Sea-Cucumber Salad

This is a joke name. Like Dorf Salad. My dad doesn't like walnuts so when my mom made Waldorf Salad she would leave out the walnuts, and my dad called it Dorf Salad.
   Until this very year, yea, the year of our good lord 2013, I thought that the "wal" in Waldorf came from "walnuts". I didn't know it was a salad born in the Waldorf Astoria.
   Anywho.
   No sea cucumbers were eaten in this salad. (I don't know if sea cucumbers are even edible.) Seaweed and cucumbers, however, were main features. The salad's alternym could be Weed Salad.
   In keeping with the heart theme in both dishes above ... um ... It was yum and I shall make it again! ♥  
   Props to this recipe and others like it (to which I made, comme toujours, significant modifications) and this TEDx talk. After we watched it Jorn asked "will you make me seaweed salad?" and I said "yes".

Quilt-t

When we (R&I) announced that Roscivs was dying, my dad flew up to Seattle the very next day. The doctor said it would be "weeks", maybe "months" (for any strangers reading, it turned out to be "days") but my dad ... he wanted to make sure. It's his MO, his motto: Don't put off to tomorrow the important thing that can be done right this minute.
   That's why my dad is awesome.
   When he arrived, we all (my mom, my dad, my sister Winnipeg, and me and Roscivs) went out to lunch at Wild Ginger — where we always had dinner together when my parents visited. We managed this even though Roscivs was in a wheelchair and even then barely mobile.

At that lunch, Winn offered to make me a quilt out of Roscivs' t-shirts.
   I visited Winn last weekend and we started the quilt. With much luck and work, it will be done by his birthday.

Up

My 2 cutest, funnest, bestest piano students brought me Valentines today.
   One of them brought me a pipe-cleaner heart-shaped bracelet.
   And one of them also (not as a Valentine) brought me a composition of her own, written out (on plain paper she lined herself) — the grand staff (two clefs), a time signature (ok, half of a time signature, but does the bottom number even matter? Nah), unison and non-unison segments, everything!
   Its title: "Up and Down". First it went up, then it went down. It rocked.
   We have done a little improv together, I taught her to read music, and she works out of my theory books while her sibling has a lesson, but we'd never done notation!

Live Music

Roscivs and I played violin together when we met. I didn't hear or see him play piano until later.
   He was at Aunt Wanda's when I saw him play piano for the first time. He played Bach's Gigue from Partita no. 1. This is a piece where the hands cross over each other a lot. His hands were so attractive.
   He didn't play it too fast. His tempo was heartbeat perfect.
   He bought a keyboard for us as a surprise gift for the one year anniversary of us getting engaged, and straight away I asked him to play the Gigue for me (although I didn't know it by that name; I called it "the hand cross-over piece" and after he died I had to use this phrase to find a recording of the piece). I took motion-blurred pictures of his hands. I still have them ... in my mind.
   I can see him when I hear it.

30 rocks

Before Roscivs got sick I made "new month resolutions", one per month. To incorporate a new behavior, do it for 30 days. This month I had enough energy and incentive to try a new month resolution again. I am lucky; I made it: for January, I have juiced every day!
   Yesterday, in fact, I did a one-day juice fast. I ate only juice. I even managed to make a tasty savory dinner juice.

♣ Dinner Juice: asparagus (4 stalks), bell pepper (1, yellow), bok choy (1, baby), cilantro (handful), cucumber (3, peeled), garlic (1 clove), ginger (0.25 in.), lime (1, peeled), green onion (5), parsley (handful)

For my dear readers who might be :-? or :-7 about this juicing thing, well, I was too. But
 a) it is part of the GAPS protocol I'm following
 b) St. Pear (my doctor) kept recommending it
 c) a friendquaintance (a friend of Roscivs' from Jr. High) started juicing daily (without any particular health need), and then
 d) I heard about it from my dearest L. Fractal

and it's totally working for me.
   I think it will be easy for me to keep at this. I'm going to maintain my daily breakfast juice and escalate to a juice fast every Tuesday.
   I have had more energy this month — more enough to do a new New Month Resolution for February. I haven't decided what.

Moo Goo

My Kiva loan this month was to Bolivian Señora C., who sells bovine gelatin and wants to invest in freezers to protect her product.
   I buy bovine (moo!) gelatin (goo!): I buy it from Great Lakes; theirs is made from grass fed cows. I use it to make stuff like homemade marshmallows. This recipe is easy and pleasing. My modifications: I heat it until it looks good (don't own a candy thermometer) and I use a hand mixer (don't own a stand mixer).
   I realize that "heat it until it looks good" is not prescriptive or directive in the way recipes usually are. But that's how I cook. I measure with smells and tastes and sounds, not cups and minutes.
   I measure, but not with tools that can be shared.

Potion #025

♣ Today's juice: I call it Rooty Fruity Green (Plus Golden Coin)! Rooty: rutabaga (1), beet (1), ginger (~1 in.), carrot (1); Fruity: apple (2), lemon (1, peeled); Green: wheat grass (1 oz?), dandelion greens (~12 leaves), kale (½ bunch), mint (~7 sprigs). And an egg yolk (pastured, raw).

Potion #024

♣ Today's juice was red bell pepper (4), lime (1, peeled), parsley (a handful), cucumber (1, peeled), apple (2), carrot (2). Pepper + lime = pretty tasty.

Musicings

Friday night I walked alone downtown to the Black Box theatre and took in some jazz — all originals. I enjoyed myself.

I thought about where I want my business to be in a year. My goals: 12.0 teaching hours* a week; T/W/Th; starting at noon. My current position is 8.0 teaching hours a week; M/Th; sometimes starting earlier than noon.
   I want to retain at least 3 of my students from now to then. This is not a goal because I don't have a good idea of how to effect it.
   Since Friday, in furtherance of my goals, I have

1. started moving my Monday students to Wednesday
2. posted expanded (Wednesday) hours with the company for whom I am an independent contractor
3. decided I will open up Tuesdays in June (health permitting)

The end.

—
* 1.0 teaching hour is ≥1.5 working hours.

Wintry Day Summary

Today I woke (11am), then I juiced (celery, beet, carrot, apple), then I bundled (-1ºC) and walked (1.5 mi) to my phototx (255 mJ).
   I walked home (1.5 mi) with a stop in at the local apothecary to buy bentonite clay and kelp powder. I add these, in rotation, to my nightly baths.

Potion #009

♣ Today's juice was apple (3), no egg yolk. I'm afflicted with a poison|bug. My 100.2ºF body is eliminating from both ends, resulting in 6 pounds lost.

Potion #008

♣ Today’s juice was beet (1), burdock (1), carrots (2), celery (5), cucumber (1), grapefruit (½), mint (2 doz. leaves), pear (1). Color: gorgeous. Rating: yum.