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September 10, 2016

striped bass for dinner tonight . . .

We live in a working class town in Central Massachusetts with numerous Universities (Holy Cross, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Mass College of Pharmacy) and Hospitals (UmassMed, Memorial and a bunch of others.) There are also a couple of Vietnamese grocery stores in town (Mekong and Ha Tien.)

What both of these specialty asian food shops have are open bins of fresh whole fish of all stripes (large to small.) One of my favorite trips is to go on a Saturday morning before the crowds hit at midday and to buy two medium size whole striped bass. The guys behind the counter then trim, scale and clean them. Today’s ‘catch’ costs less than $12 for the two fish. And you can’t get fish much fresher than this unless you catch it yourself, it seems!

For dinner tonight, I’m going to steam the striped bass in a large skillet until they’re cooked through. When done, I’ll move them to a large platter and pour a sauce over them (sauteed garlic, ginger, scallions with soy, sherry cooking wine, oyster sauce, a little sweetener, thickened slightly with a cornstarch slurry.) The sauce is heated separately in a pan until it tastes just right (sampling as we go,) and is then poured gently over the fish just when we’re ready to sit down at the table to eat. Because the fish is so tender all by itself, I like to keep the sauce/glaze light and full of flavor but not so salty as to overpower the delectable fish itself.

As a side dish, I’m making Chinese string beans – an experiment to replicate some of those steaming piles of green beans at restaurants that are tender in the middle but still have a bite plus a spicy hot glaze that’s piquant but not overpowering. I looked at some recipes online and I think the secret to the texture/bite is to heat up an inch of of vegetable cooking oil in a covered pot until hot and deep fry the trimmed beans (that have been rinsed but are absolutely dry before putting in the oil) as part one of a two-step cooking process.

I just finished trimming the beans and what I noticed most of all is that these are not regular bean beans like the ones you see in the super market or at the farm stand. I picked these up at the Asian food market and they’re, well, an ASIAN variety of beans. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Anyhow, they are just gorgeous: unblemished, uniformly thin, crisp to the knife. They’re dark green but not as skinny as French haricots verts!

These are going to be great! I never bought string beans at the Asian market before because I thought that all string beans were created equal! Not anymore! So, after I rinsed the beans, I patted them dry with a paper towel before the next step of cooking them in hot oil to kind of par-fry them (as opposed to parboil.)

deep-fried beans (90 seconds) on bottom; raw ones on top

After 90 seconds frying in the oil, I removed them and drained them on kitchen towel to remove excess oil. THEN, in a skillet, I heated up some fresh oil and sauteed some crushed fresh garlic, minced ginger root, and chopped scallions. I stir-fried the beans quickly in a skillet large enough to move them around and then added some seasoning (a dab of Ohsawha soy sauce and a tiny bit of sugar (splenda).) Then, I sprinkle the cooked beans with a shake of red pepper flakes and tasted it: tender and flavorful. Here’s how they looked.

Both G. and I thought that the steamed fish and string beans were plenty for our dinner and that we didn’t want or need any cooked rice.

So that’s our dinner tonight. I would tag this one as a healthy “foodie pick” for a Saturday night meal. Sound good?

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September 10, 2016

“feast or famine diet” . . .?

a FIESTA of dahlias from Fivefork Farms this a.m. . .

dahlias, majestic in a favorite vase . . .

So, if you read the last post, you’ll know that I’ve come across a 21 day diet that includes 2 days of fasting, drinking bone broth and eating regularly the rest of the time. I’ve refined this somewhat into what I call a “feast or famine” diet that includes:

2 days apart fasting – drinking juices and bone broth;
2 days of salad suppers – salads on a dinner plate with a serving of protein (teriyaki salmon, sliced steak, shrimp)
3 days left for foodie menus – pappardelle pasta with veal ragu, Peking duck, teriyaki chicken thighs on the grill, etc.

‘famine’ fixin’s for beef bone broth. . .

Anyhow, I’m going to try it out, starting tomorrow when the Instant Pot arrives and I make up some bone broth to store in the freezer.

Starting Monday, September 12th, I’ll start the 21-day diet clock. And on October 3rd, I’ll weigh in (couldn’t resist the pun) and see where things stand.

Meanwhile, here are more photos of the beautiful dahlias at the end of summer – and the beginning of our weekend!

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September 10, 2016

the ‘unseen hand of the Universe’ today. . .

A friend from my college days wrote to me today that she didn’t understand how elements in my book, “Uncommon Hours” combined such concepts as transcendental values, the tarot, horoscopes and the “unseen hand of the Universe” as components of a consistent world or life-view. I, in turn, was baffled because it’s exactly how my life seems to perk along everyday.

For example, I spent quite a bit of time today in the local Bank of America office trying to sort out some accounting errors and to report fraudulent activity on my checking account. It took a long time because the Bank’s fraud department didn’t answer the phone even after an hour’s wait in the manager’s cubicle. After I went home to try the fraud line again, I returned to the bank to close out my account and open a new one. During this time, I had become friendly with the bank manager who helped me with these transactions. During our chitchat while waiting to connect with said fraud department, she told me about “Instant Pot” – an electric pressure cooker. I was delighted to hear about it because I’ve used a manual pressure cooker to cook brown rice macrobiotically but had stopped doing it because it took too long. She was enthusiastic about this kitchen gadget that would cook rice, make stock and stews as a pressure cooker (meaning fast) and could also be used as a slow cooker. When I went home, I read about it on Amazon, saving it in my checkout box.

Later this evening, I watched a chamber music special called “Simple Gifts,” a “Live from Lincoln Center” program about artist-led performances at the Shaker community in Kentucky, held in an incredible tobacco barn that was magical in its appearance with daylight showing between the slats and superior performances of artist-led chamber music. I thought it was an interesting concept not to have a conductor, but for various musicians leading the rest of the ensemble themselves, depending on whether/when they had the lead melody including wind instruments. It’s such a simple and basic concept but I had not seen it performed with such a large ensemble. I was also impressed by the co-directors, a husband-wife musician team who played the piano and cello: Wu Han and David Finckel who are also directors of the Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center.

Directly after the special, the PBS station segued right into a healthy diet program featuring a Dr. KellyAnn somebody. She was a little grating so I turned it off but idly looked up her book online and read about her regimen to lose weight and turn your health around in 21 days because I had resolved to get in better shape just tonight after we had finished dinner. Her routine turned out to rely on two days of “fasting” and sipping homemade bone broth from beef bones or chicken bones, etc. simmering on the stove for six hours or so.

So if you’re still with me, of course, that brings my day full circle to the convo at the bank earlier where I learned about the Instant Pot which, (voila!,) is capable of making stock that takes hours on the stove in just a couple of hours in its electric pressure cooker mode. Get it? The unseen hand of the Universe, right?

But what about the horoscope part? I had read that Jupiter, a very powerful and positive planet, would enter G.’s birth sign today for the first time in twelve years, perhaps auguring good fortune. Lo and behold this afternoon, we received some good news from a Court ruling, giving us a small victory we had hoped for. Maybe we might even be turning the corner in this David vs. Goliath battle! See what I mean?

The opening question above also challenged the spiritual premise of my book and my first over-reaction was to ditch it, frustrated that yet another reader didn’t “get it” the way that I had intended. After today’s events though, I decided not to give up on it just because someone else could not imagine a life filled with so much serendipity and synchronicity.

Today has been a busy day and I feel the Universe has given me a good lesson (again!) Hallelujah! This is the way my life goes along, just about every day. I’m not kidding. Is it just following your intuition? Seems like more than that to me, doesn’t it?

Thank you Helpers!

Note: I ordered the “Instant Pot” to make bone broth per the 21 day diet plan. Will buy ingredients today at Mekong, a Vietnamese market in town and make a first batch of bone broth after the pot arrives and I figure out how to do it. Stay tuned.

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September 8, 2016

a last ride . . .

Here is something from a website called “elderhelpers”. I started reading it and then found myself drawn into the description of a last ride taken through New York City. Here it is:

A sweet lesson on patience.
A NYC Taxi driver wrote:
I arrived at the address and honked the horn. After waiting a few minutes I honked again. Since this was going to be my last ride of my shift I thought about just driving away, but instead I put the car in park and walked up to the door and knocked.. ‘Just a minute’, answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor.
After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 90’s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940’s movie.
By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets.
There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

‘Would you carry my bag out to the car?’ she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman.
She took my arm and we walked slowly toward the curb.
She kept thanking me for my kindness. ‘It’s nothing’, I told her.. ‘I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother to be treated.’
‘Oh, you’re such a good boy, she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address and then asked, ‘Could you drive
through downtown?’

‘It’s not the shortest way,’ I answered quickly..

‘Oh, I don’t mind,’ she said. ‘I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.
I looked in the rear-view mirror. Her eyes were glistening. ‘I don’t have any family left,’ she continued in a soft voice..’The doctor says I don’t have very long.’ I quietly reached over and shut off the meter.

‘What route would you like me to take?’ I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.
Sometimes she’d ask me to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, ‘I’m tired. Let’s go now’.

We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her.

I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair.

‘How much do I owe you?’ She asked, reaching into her purse.
‘Nothing,’ I said
‘You have to make a living,’ she answered.
‘There are other passengers,’ I responded.
Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug.She held onto me tightly.
‘You gave an old woman a little moment of joy,’ she said. ‘Thank you.’

I squeezed her hand, and then walked into the dim morning light.. Behind me, a door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life..
I didn’t pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly lost in thought. For the rest of that day, I could hardly talk.What if that woman had gotten an angry driver,or one who was impatient to end his shift? What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away?
On a quick review, I don’t think that I have done anything more important in my life.
We’re conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments.
But great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one.

PLEASE SHARE THIS TOUCHING STORY

Volunteer on www.elderhelpers.org or get help for an elder: www.elderhelpers.org/start

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September 7, 2016

the next time you crave ice cream . . .

Try this instead. Trader Joe’s organic goat’s milk yogurt (creamy and less thick than Greek yogurt) – add a swirl of honey and top with some glazed maple walnuts (for salads.)

The salty-sweet mix plus a little crunch from the nuts is very tasty. Plus it’s quick and easy. YUM!

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September 6, 2016

tomatoes! . . .

G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S!!!! (enough said!)

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September 5, 2016

marathons! . . .

my favorite scarf . . . lost for months, and now found!

Well, I have stuck to my guns and done some marathon cleaning out this Labor Day weekend. Along the way to my delight, I discovered that PBS was running a “Downton Abbey” marathon of clips from yesteryear. So, it’s kept me company while cleaning up – a very nice accompaniment, I must say – and I highly recommend it if you want to turn it on while it’s still running. It’s amazing all the plot lines and wonderful dramatizations – from Mr. Bates’s FIRST murder conviction (of his estranged wife) to Anna’s incarceration accused of killing Mr. Green? or was it Bates again? Finding the ticket in the coat and tracking down witnesses who finally free Anna by the pair downstairs (Mr. Moseley and Baxter, the seamstress lady) hasn’t come up yet but I’m hoping it will before the marathon runs out this weekend!

This morning, I’ve managed to go through re-sorting some of my wardrobe, reorganizing my shoes/boots and setting them on the shoe rack after vacuuming it out. Then, I put my two purple dresses and another plaid one into the long see-through wardrobe bag. Then, I was delighted to find the black plaid shirt that I’ve been looking for . . . and underneath it wound around the hanger were two scarves! I let out a little shriek of joy (that’s the only way to describe it) when I spied the Eileen Fisher ombre grey/blue scarf that I have been kicking myself for losing months ago. (I even searched on eBay to find an identical one but no luck, which as it turned out is probably a good thing!)

In any event, I washed a sweater in Ivory Snow and tucked the ombre scarf into the cool water. It’s now hung up on a towel to dry out on the back deck. And I am clicking my heels together with glee!

So here’s a happy note to cleaning things out – finding my favorite scarf is sparking joy all over the place!

Postscript: It’s two days later and even though we had a full day to the North Shore to see the ocean with Hermine off the coast, I managed to clean out the bathroom cupboards and shelves. And I have discovered the secret of cleaning out messes of lots of stuff pretty quickly:

a) take everything OUT, wipe it down and put stuff into cartons and take it into another room.

b)then sort “like with like”;

c) throw out everything you don’t want and won’t use again.

d) put it back in containers, “like to like”

Simple, right? I had everything unloaded on the kitchen table, sorted ‘like to like.’ What it made me realize was that outside of physical injuries (my broken ankle and George’s pulled back muscle,) that we haven’t been sick in years – no flu, no colds, no bronchitis, NADA.

Now that was worth cleaning out all the bathroom detritus once and for all! YAY!

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September 5, 2016

bento box lunch prep ideas . . .

found on google bento box photos. . .

So here we are on Labor Day, the Monday before a full week of school for a lot of folks. One of the ideas I had for my daughter’s lunches (she teaches high school French) was to give her an insulated bento box that I found on Amazon (where else?) Along with it was a very cute recipe book to make rice cakes (onigiri) wrapped in nori and such. Very appealing but might be too much effort for busy people getting ready for school!

Today, I woke up thinking about (really) quick and easy ways to do a master prep to provide lunch food ahead of time, drawing from ready made dishes from Whole Foods or one’s local Chinese take-out or Trader Joe’s. So, here’s some ideas to simplify as well as to expand one’s way of thinking about making bento box lunches to take to work or school. The secret is that you don’t have to do everything yourself! YAY!

The idea is to make or buy a batch of something and divide it into serving sizes on your work table. Then, package a lunch up in a heavy duty Glad freezer bag and freeze them. Take them out in the morning, pop them into your bento box and by the time you’re ready to eat lunch (unless it’s at 10:30 in the morning because school starts so early,) it should be ready to go. Might have to nuke it a little to bring to room temp though I’m not sure about that. So here goes my imaginary lunch sous chef prep ideas:

BUY from Whole Foods in small portions for the week: 1. salad bar yummy fare: edamame salad, pickled beets, cherry tomato salad, chick peas, etc. 2. barbecued chicken wings; 3. piece of cooked salmon; 4. avocado to ripen, cherry tomatoes, eggs
BUY from your favorite Chinese carryout: fried rice, veggie lo mien, moo shu without the pancakes
COOK: 1. boil up some frozen shrimp (16-25 size) or skillet cook with a little teriyaki sauce; 2. Trader Joe’s Thai shrimp dumplings; 3. hard boiled eggs; 4. cucumber/wakame salad (dress with Japanese vinegar, soy, sesame oil

With these ready-made, carry-out and home-cooked ingredients, then apportion combinations that will be appetizing and also avoid monotony. Pack up in freezer sandwich bags. Seal and you’re good to go. At least for a couple of weeks – then you can get pad thai from the Thai restaurant, chicken nuggets, and slaw or other veggies from Whole Foods.

And maybe somewhere along the line, try your hand at making rice balls. It seems labor intensive to me because the secret to delicious rice balls is the filling or condiments you add to it. There’s a little Japanese tea sandwich place in Brookline that makes a delicious rice ball. I have no idea what’s in it but the tastes are so subtle, I don’t think you just get it out of a jar.

In the meantime, here is a photoarray of bento box photos that might inspire you with new combinations – I find it useful to see visuals for ideas. And adding a couple of cherry tomatoes, some hard-boiled egg, avocado slices and a little fresh fruit goes a long way.

Hope these ideas are convenient enough to pull off. The idea of bento box lunches is to provide a concept for healthy and fun lunches – not to slave over how to prepare food for them all week, right?

Enjoy!

Footnote: Here are directions from the Food Network for boiling eggs:

Soft:
Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, then add your eggs and cook 4 to 5 minutes. Drain, cool in ice water and peel.
Medium:
Bring a pot of water to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low, then add your eggs and cook 7 to 8 minutes. Drain, cool in ice water and peel.
Hard:
Place your eggs in a pot and cover with cold water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then cover, remove from the heat and set aside 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, cool in ice water and peel.

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September 4, 2016

old fashioned spaghetti and meatballs . . .

2 patties of leftover Angus grass-fed hamburger patties, sourdough bread in milk, egg, onion. . .

We’ve been trying out grass-fed angus ground beef lately. The other day, we had hamburgers with all the fixin’s and found the beef tasty but the texture a little dry. I’ve been thinking about using the leftover beef to make meatballs and find that cooking mid-morning for all the ‘sous-chef” prep steps makes dinner easy to put on the table when the time comes.

Today, I thought I’d mix the leftover beef patties with some sourdough bread soaked in milk, minced onions browned in the skillet, an egg, Lawry’s garlic salt, cracked pepper and salt. In other words, my classic recipe for making meatballs. The softened bread crumbs make the meatballs tender and extend their volume at the same time.

I think I’ll make the meatballs a tad smaller than usual so that there will be more of them and they’ll be easier to eat. After they’re browned, I’ll drain off the grease, clean out the pan and then add the meatballs back to a jar of ready made spaghetti sauce for about forty-five minutes to warm and meld the flavors of the beef and tomato sauce right before we’re ready to sit down at the table. (Yep, I’m not fussy about making the tomato sauce myself and have found various brands of sauce that do just fine.)

Sixteen medium sized meatballs from 2 hamburger patties . . .

I’ll cook up some thin spaghetti to go with the meatballs – a little bit more bite than angel hair which we also like. And plenty of hand-grated parmesan cheese (not boxed) to add on top if we feel like it. A simple lettuce salad (boston and red leaf) with some chopped scallions dressed with a sharp Marukan seasoned vinegar and olive oil with crushed garlic and a dab of Poupon mustard dressing will round out the meal. Skip the garlic bread of old – too much carb & gluten!

Happy Sunday everybody!

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September 4, 2016

“mise en scene” . . .

plantings on our back deck. . .

A quiet Sunday morning on Labor Day Weekend.

Here are a few photos I took which show our tranquil home – which, in retrospect, seems to be the only thing I’ve ever wanted. We are lucky to have each other doing what makes sense to us and sharing our adventures together.

favorite cup of coffee. . .

Thanks to the Helpers & the Sage!

leaves and shoots today . . .

a favorite pottery teapot made by Warren McKenzie on the soapstone countertop. . .

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