Category: Random Stuff

On the Complexity of Mayonnaise

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Complicated things can be explained by examining their individual parts. Complex ones cannot. They are always greater than the sum of their parts. This dynamic has nothing to do with the number of parts or, say, the cost of the object. A jet engine is complicated. Mayonnaise is complex. You can easily replace a part in a jet engine and not alter its fundamental nature. It’s still a jet engine, though possibly inorperable. With mayonnaise, if you change one ingredient, you run the risk of altering the essence of its mayonnaise-ness. What matters is not the components alone but how they interact with one another. (Speaking of interactions, people tend to describe themselves as complex and their spouse as complicated).

from The Geography of Genius by Eric Weiner

Recipe and image from http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/mayonnaise-241083

Whisk together yolk, mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until combined well. Add about 1/4 cup oil drop by drop, whisking constantly until mixture begins to thicken. Whisk in vinegar and lemon juice, then add remaining 1/2 cup oil in a very slow, thin stream, whisking constantly until well blended. If at any time it appears that oil is not being incorporated, stop adding oil and whisk mixture vigorously until smooth, then continue adding oil. Whisk in salt to taste and white pepper. Chill, surface covered with plastic wrap, until ready to use.

Can “Love More” be a political strategy?

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It has been 10 days since the U.S. Election. Like many,  I have been involved in exhaustive soul searching about the threat of being reduced to a name on a registry as a suspicious ethnic OTHER. I kept thinking about a Dalai Lama lecture I recently attended. He shared a story about a monk who was imprisoned by the Chinese. The conversation went something like this:

Monk: ” I was in deep danger.”

Dalai Lama: “You mean in danger of loosing your life.”

Monk: “No, I was in deep danger of loosing my compassion for the Chinese soldiers.”

The last ten days, I’ve been thinking about this exchange and the fear of loosing compassion. Here are my strategies to “Love More” during and beyond the age of President Donald Trump that include:  acceptance, resistance, understanding, action and gratitude.

  1. I paused and let the loss sink in as an essential part of democracy. At least a military coup was not a threat here.

  2. I commiserated with dear ones and discovered unexpected support and new dear ones.

  3. I oscillated between connecting and disconnecting with others, in person and on social media. I allowed myself erratic emotions of….. okay, I’ll just hate them back to ….no, but I love a lot of “them.” Who are “they” and “us” anyway?

  4. I smiled more.  Said “hello” more. As if to say…You may see me as threateningly brown but I will recognize you as a person. It is your choice to be suspicious, not mine.

  5. I started to read Fox news along with CNN, Huff Post, BBC, Le Monde, and other newspapers to remind myself that every story has multiple perspectives.

  6. I read books about “other”perspectives and cultivated my compassion.        http://www.npr.org/2016/11/14/501975656/one-way-to-bridge-the-political-divide-read-the-book-thats-not-for-you

  7. I signed up to learn more about my local government through apps like “Countable” and other websites.

  8. I continued with my weekly volunteering and looked to volunteer, donate more to food issues and women’s empowerment.

  9. I refuse to demonize and categorize others. I choose to make the people I live with “my people” regardless of income, political inclination and ethnic composition. I will be loud and visible in defending my people here and now.

  10. Most importantly, I refuse to let fear pollute the deep gratitude I feel towards all the people, my people, White-Black-Brown who have supported and continue to nourish my life. The list is too long! ….teachers who taught me and my children to read, nurses who held my hand as my children emerged into the world, the people who stock the grocery store shelves, cashiers who patiently look up the numbers for produce they never use,  the lady behind the fish counter who shares recipes, the police officer who found my orange purse after our house was robbed, the postman who brings my boxes to the door with a smile, the bank teller who patiently replace a stolen new debit card, the construction workers fixing the roads, the trash collectors who carry away the smelly ugly mess, the quiet librarians, the diner cooks who make me eggs on the weekends, all the people I don’t ever see, who support my life nevertheless……..this is why my family came to this country, for these people who make America great every-freakin-day, who work hard to make it possible for me to sit here with my cup of coffee and write to you. That person over there behind the counter, who charged me $2.34 for a cup of coffee and asked me if I wanted a mug or a to-go cup. Yes, all the people behind the counter and behind our view. I as an immigrant have failed to convey my deep gratitude for people who now feel invisible, afraid and left behind.  I will do better. Maybe just starting with holiday cookies. This is a war of love just as much as policy. I may not be able to make people feel different about me but I can try to  win “hearts and minds.” Some, I will never. Haters will hate, right? But that can’t be an excuse to do nothing. Maybe the US military can help us “nation build” at home (oh yes…also send my gratitude to veterans). Happy to be a domestic American soldier of compassion.

I am doing this so my “I” can dissolve into “US,” flawed, conflicted and confused like any family.

All this may be stupid and ineffective but this is what I’ll be doing. Bake and share cookies. At the least this election makes me rethink the “family” cookbook I’m working on for my daughters. You out there!… send me your recipes and stories, I will include them. You are now a part of my family, my story and whether you like it or not, I am yours. Let’s take better care of each other.

Thank you for reading yet one more post-election rant.

With deep gratitude,

Hungryphil

Widening the Gap: Toblerone and the US Election

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There are few candy bars as iconic as Toblerone. The popular nougat-and-chocolate bar, invented in Switzerland but now owned by the U.S.-based Mondelez International, became internationally famous in large part because of its distinctive triangular shape.

But that very shape is now the subject of controversy in Britain, where a recent announcement that some versions of Toblerone would feature larger spaces between the triangles is being viewed as a political scandal.

Why exactly? Well, many Brits think they know what is to blame for the sudden change: Brexit.

Excerpt for the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/11/08/brits-blame-strange-new-toblerone-shape-on-brexit/

Image and following excerpt  from the Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/08/toblerone-gap-brexit-falling-pound-2016

It’s easy to scoff at the fact that it takes food to act as a focal point for what is happening in this country, when there is so much that has been truly awful about this year, not least a lurch to the far right that has horrified people across the political spectrum. Child poverty, hate crime, the immediate retraction of a promise of extra NHS funding – all of these things should be more alarming than a slightly smaller chocolate bar, or a pricier snack. Even if that snack is a Pot Noodle, a fish finger sandwich, or a packet of Walkers crisps.

But all of these things have become part of a slow, heavy, ominous collective sigh that has summed up the past few months. Indeed, 2016 has been defined by a creeping sense of dread that all the progress humanity has made over the past few decades – centuries, if you’re feeling particularly doomy – might be about to unravel. The anxiety over what could happen in America on Wednesday, and by extension to the rest of the world, is almost too great to contemplate.

So in many ways, it’s little surprise that it takes something seemingly trivial to cut through the incessant bleakness. Toblerone is just a bar of chocolate, like Marmite is just a divisive topping for toast, but it takes these unusual disturbances in the domestic everyday to jolt us out of what has become an enormous, abstract feeling of doom. These small differences make all of the bigger differences seem so much more real, and like they’re actually happening.

And besides, even if you don’t like Toblerone, it’s impossible to escape the irony of the fact that the latest emblem of Brexit Britain is quite literally a widening of the gap.

More articles on the topic:

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/08/toblerone-changes-triangles-on-its-iconic-chocolate-bars-in-the-uk-but-denies-its-down-to-brexit.html

http://time.com/4562255/toblerone-changing-shape-chocolate-brexit

I wonder where we will “eat” the US Election results early next year?  How will the coming regime manifest in “unusual disturbances in the domestic everyday”?

I’m afraid. I need chocolate…

Weekend Eats Experiment: Pumpkin- Lemon Cream Cheese Chess Pie

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This month’s Southern Living Magazine includes a recipe for pumpkin pie, in addition to other classics like sweet potato and pecan. I used store bought pie crust to save time. The filling is enough for two deep dish pie crusts. For me, the combination of summery lemon cream cheese and fall pumpkin spice make the dessert one of the best pumpkin pies I’ve ever had. Sweet-tart, smooth-creamy and airy…like a two in one dessert that works very well. If you have ever wondered what happens when you put together a cheese cake and a pumpkin pie, try this. Its worth the small effort.

Wishing you happy Monday,

Hungryphil

 

 

 

Focusing (and Fries) Hungryphil

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Dear Readers,

I need your help and indulgence.

For the next seven months, I’ll be cooking up a book project, Bittermelons and Brownies: Chewing Object-Oriented Ontology, about feeding humans from the perspective of a philosopher-mom.

I need to sit with my laptop and NOT do what is easiest for me. Blog. Instead, as all you writers out there understand I need to stare at my screen, recipes, notes, and maps… every day. So,  I give myself permission to concentrate on a sustained virtual dialogue with my daughters and other growing human beings about how to feed ourselves and others in this crazy world of things.

I’ll still blog when I need a quick shot of grounding satisfaction, like eating salty, oily, hot and steamy, thick-cut fries dipped in creamy mayonnaise or tart ketchup. Hopefully, very irregularly.

Here’s a recipe for thick cut french fries from Serious Eats.

Deeply grateful for your willingness to read my ramblings and share in my life,

Hungryphil

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chill Chili Event, Lafayette, Indiana

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Local Chili Cook Off – At the Bindery (and Duncan Hall)

The chili cook-off, hosted by La La Gallery (thank you, Angela!) was a chill event featuring over a dozen pots of chili to taste and raised money for CASA kids funds of Tippecanoe County. Armed with a plastic spoon, we went around the two locations tasting chili in small cups and noting our favorites. There was quite a variety from Buffalo Chicken Chili, Vegan Chili, Brisket Chili, Turkey Chili etc. My beloved and I had fun strolling through the art studios slurping chili on a cool October Friday evening. No mad rush, no waiting in lines, no loud crowds. Very welcoming, warm and delicious. If you missed it look for it next year and find your favorite.

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Feeding the Reflections Group

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This month I had the privilege of helping transform donated canned and frozen goods at a local shelter into shareable meals for the group. I’ve learned so much more than I have given.  Food, in the context of supporting the empowerment of women, can become a totem of ability, self-sufficiency, voice, and pleasure.  Maybe a bowl of fruit cobbler and ice cream can help someone feel cared for, included in a group and worthy of pleasure.

One of my favorite things as a mom has been making after-school snacks for my daughters in an attempt to welcome them home with yummy bites, to allow them to relax and to encourage them to share the day’s events. Nourishment in the fullest sense of physical and emotional support. It is the same reason we take food to an ailing or grieving friend. Cooking for the women’s group, working hard to find ease, is no different. Maybe there a group you would like to nourish and fuel.

Here is the intent, menu, and skills offered last week:

1. Nourishing and Building a family of supportive Women

2. Exploring cooking skills and techniques to nourish ourselves

3. Utilize available food resources And limit Food waste

Menu

Southern Fried Salmon Cake Sliders [using canned salmon at the shelter pantry]

Coleslaw [this was my contribution]

Cherry Dump Cake [ one bag of cherries from the shelter freezer]

Skills and Techniques

Cake Patties:

Any canned protein or leftover meat + eggs + Starch (flour, breadcrumbs, crackers, cornmeal, mashed potatoes) + shallow fry = yumminess

Add sautéed or raw chopped vegetables for added moisture and flavor. Add favorite seasonings, like hot sauce, Old Bay or Italian, chicken etc. Using shelf stable items a salmon, tuna, meat patties can be a good last minute meal.

Dump Cake:

Mix any cake mix with a stick of melted butter sprinkle over any fruit pie filling, cherry, apple, peaches and bake at 375 for about 30 minutes until the crumbles are cooked and browned….again these items can live in your kitchen until sweet cravings hit.

Wishing all of you a nourishing weekend,

Hungryphil

Food Poem- Autumn Song by Daniel Mark Epstein

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Little flower, you live in constant danger:
Likely to be crushed under foot or torn by wind,
Sun-scorched or gobbled by a goat.

These October days streaked with regrets and tears
Are like you, brindled flower, as they bloom
And fade, harried by heat as much as by the cold.

Our ship sets out to sea, not with ivory or gold
In the hold, but with fragrant apples for cargo. Just so
My days are not heavy but delicate, fleeting and vain,

Leaving behind the sweet, faint scent of renown
That quickly will vanish like the taste of fruit
Passing from the tongues and hearts of everyone.

 

from Writer’s Almanac http://writersalmanac.org/page/6/

Food Poem – Cucumber Fields Crossed by High Tension Wires by Thomas Lux

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This week I enjoyed cucumber sandwiches and tea with my friends on the screened in porch. It was an uncharacteristically civilized evening. I used thin Pepperidge Farm white bread, mandolin thin sliced and peeled fresh garden cucumbers, Kerrygold yellow butter, salt and white pepper. That is it. Super simple. Here is a food poem that makes me think of that not so long ago relaxing and fun evening. May we all enjoy the season of delicate cucumber and juicy red tomato sandwiches.

The high-tension spires spike the sky
beneath which boys bend
to pick from prickly vines
the deep-sopped fruit, the rind’s green
a green sunk
in green. They part the plants’ leaves,
reach into the nest,
and pull out mother, father, fat Uncle Phil.
The smaller yellow-green children stay,
for now. The fruit goes
in baskets by the side of the row,
every thirty feet or so. By these bushels
the boys get paid, in cash,
at day’s end, this summer
of the last days of the empire
that will become known as
the past, adios, then,
the ragged-edged beautiful blink.

from the Writer’s Almanac

Weekend Eats: Indiana State Fair and Portuguese Bacalhau

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What does Indiana taste like? Like anyplace, depending on where you go, it tastes different. Last weekend was my first taste of the Indiana State Fair. While roasted corn and pork tenderloin sandwiches were obvious favorites, I looked for a mix of the expected and the out of place, like bison egg rolls (popular enough to run out by 3pm). I did have fried green tomatoes, a chicken gyro, beef tips with mashed potatoes and mushrooms, garlic chicken burrito, a pineapple whip and an elephant ear. 

Let me briefly, explain the crazy quantity of food I consumed. It was band competition day at the fair and I had to kill 8 hours between my daughter’s performance. And, I did share (some of it).

While deep fried food rules the fair, I did not partake in the deep fried candy. There is only so much I can eat.

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There were animals: a poultry and rabbits building, a swine building, a cow building, Llamas, and horses. There were crafts like basket weaving, woodworking, sewing, etc. There were farm equipment and demonstrations. There were historical recreations. It was a celebration of Indiana farm produce and industry broadly understood. There was also swirling, dropping, rushing and bright carnival fair rides and games.  I’m not quite sure how band-day relates to this except for offering a large open venue for a competition. It was quite the experience. 8 hours may have been too long but the fair is certainly worth 3 hours of rides, food, and observation.

Sunday was a day of recovery from sitting on stadium metal benches, the late night drive back, the afternoon heat, and the carnival level noise. Our one meal of the day involved the Portuguese “Try the World” box that included bacalhau, Jack Mackerel toasts and then tea and cookies. Surprisingly my favorite was the not-so-good-looking Jack Makerel on toasted baguette slices. The fish canned in olive oil and spice  was soft and not overtly “fishy.” For me, the piri piri sauce made that dish sing the high notes of lemony heat.The bacalhau (not made with traditional salted cod but fresh) was also delicious. Although the bay leaf pieces and large spices were choking hazards and unpleasant in the mouth, the flavor was light and summery. I very much liked the cooking technique under the broiler for 10 minutes on a bed of greens and tomatoes and then another two with garlicky, olive oil coated bread crumbs. I’d like to try that technique with other fish and flavor combinations. A light summer dinner done in 15 minutes.

 

Here is the broiling technique,

  1. Season fleshy thick fish pieces (Cod, salmon, tuna and the like) with whatever seasoning you like.

  2. Sprinkle lemon and drizzle olive oil.

  3. Place fish over a bed of spinach, sliced tomatoes and onions.

  4. Add chicken stock to cover the bottom of the baking pan.

  5. Broil for 10 minutes.

  6. Combine 1 cup of bread crumbs with olive oil to coat every granule, crushed garlic and red pepper.

  7. Spoon bread crumbs over fish, broil for another 2 minutes.