Recently I have been incorporating the Sichuan spice huā jiāo into many dishes. Huā jiāo translates as “flower pepper” and also gets called Sichuan Pepper or Prickly Ash Pepper.
Huā jiāo does not have a hot flavor, instead it produces a tingling sensation. Má là is the delectable taste that occurs when a hot spice is combined with the tingling from flower peppers.
I purchase my huā jiāo from 50 Hertz and recently attended an American Botanical Gardens lecture by Yao Zhao, CEO of 50 Hertz. In the online lecture chat I mentioned a brussel sprout dish I concocted and was super pleased with. Yao asked if I could write it down…
I decided I wanted to toast RBG and figured it needed to be a little sweet, a little spicy, strong, potent and well balanced. And it needed to be classy. I started contemplating ginger liqueur, lemon liqueur and gin. Then I googled RBG cocktail and discovered there are already several versions of a Ruth Bader Ginger. All riffs on a dark and stormy. So, I ended up with: 1.5 ounces dark rum (Kirk and Sweeney 12 year) 1/2 ounce Domaine de Canton 1/2 ounce Citronge 1 ounce lime juice Splash of cardamom bitters Shaken with ice, served with a fresh ginger slice and some crystalized ginger in the glass
Gather your ingredients
“I ask no favor for my sex. All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Here’s to a life well lived and a legacy that prevails.
On how she would like to be remembered:
“Someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has. To do something, as my colleague David Souter would say, outside myself. ‘Cause I’ve gotten much more satisfaction for the things that I’ve done for which I was not paid.”
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Over a long career on both sides of the bench — as a relentless litigator and an incisive jurist — Justice Ginsburg helped us see that discrimination on the basis of sex isn’t about an abstract ideal of equality; that it doesn’t only harm women; that it has real consequences for all of us. It’s about who we are — and who we can be.
My cooking style could be described as experimental. It usually works out well, but last night’s dinner was amazing. So much so I’m going to try to lay it out for future use and so you could play along.
So, until we ate it (devoured it) I didn’t realize how epic it was going to be… therefore I didn’t photo document the process.
There was a lovely eggplant in the fridge, so that was my muse to start. I sliced it into rounds about 1cm thick. Really, 1cm is the best description, so more than a 1/4 inch and less than 1/2 inch.
Toss the slices in salt in a large bowl and let stand for 30-60 minutes.
Rinse salt off and let drain in a colander, while you rinse and dry the bowl. Gently squeeze liquid from each slice and put back in the bowl. Add olive oil and some Tony’s – here’s where eye balling comes in, you just need enough oil to lightly coat all the surfaces.
Lay on a sheet pan and pop into a 400 degree oven for 11 minutes, or until the bottom of the eggplant slices are golden and crisp.
During that 11 minutes you get to blend some of the magic. And this is where I got super experimental and lucky.
I was thinking along lines of a pizza, we have a cherry tomato challenge going on, and I wanted to use some up. So I needed a “sauce”.
I grabbed the small Vitamix blender and added a handful of pecans, about 15 capers, two heads of black garlic, and a tablespoon or so of mayo. Blend to a smooth paste.
Flip each eggplant slice over and dollop some of the “sauce” on and gently spread it out.
Cut cherry tomatoes in half length-wise and place some on top. Put back in oven for another 11 minutes.
Add a little parm to the top of each round and back in the oven for 3:33 mins. (I rarely use round/standard timer settings. Whole minutes are kinda arbitrary, I just use a number that feels right).
These little circles of delight were firm enough to pick up as finger food… But Derek and I both made a sandwich on left-over rolls* from the day before:
After the sando’s we just ate the rest breadless while sipping on some red wine.
Make these. Get creative with the “recipe” ad-libbing is good.
*so, I’ve been winging bread without recipes. These rolls had teff, barley, whole wheat and white flours in roughly even amounts, also stone ground oats. A splash of apple cider vinegar, olive oil and water. I sprinkled Birch Syrup Spit Salt on top. They turned out light, spongy, delicious.
They took a while to warm up to each other, but now they are good buddies.
Mr Sinatra’s other buddy is a pheasant. For reals. This pheasant is most bizarre he comes and pecks the window and the cat can get right up to him. The bird is more leery of humans, so it’s hard to capture a decent photo.
When he’s not hanging out with birds Mr Sinatra likes to hang out IN things, mostly boxes, though bags and cupboards are acceptable, too.
He also helpfully sits ON things a lot, too
Meanwhile, Trails is happiest outside on a trail…
She also likes sleep overs with her old friend Keva…
And seems to appreciate a really good view.
Trails is very good with her moose neighbors, the other day she walked right past this one. What a good girl!
We’re hoping that Mr Sinatra picks up some leash tips from Trails
Trails, do you think SinSin is going to figure it out?
Easy and delicious. OK, the batbout was time consuming, but you could use something else as a molten cheese vehicle. This is the second mid-week dinner recipe by Nigel Slater that I’ve used and it is phenomenal. I used what veggies were around the house – potato, tri-colored carrots, mushroom, onion and garlic.
Batbout is a Berber pita-like bread and this recipe was accurate and easy. I used 2 cups barley flour, 2 cups white, and 2 cups wheat. After the batbout was cooked and while still hot I brushed them with 50:50 olive oil:balsamic and sprinkled with zaatar.
@typeAexplorations AKA Adya my sister-in-law introduced me to the pleasures and nuances of “natural” or “real” wines. She’d been working at Kask for several months and that led her to exploring recommendations for Sunrise Mini Mart in Austin, TX. As the Reynolds family was in Austin for the Holidays, of course a visit to Sunrise was in order. It was fun learning from Adya about the various processes and differences in the broad categories of minimal intervention, organic, sustainable and vegan wines. I chose a pet nat Voria Bianco a yummy sparkling Sicilian wine. Carrie, Adya and I enjoyed sampling each other’s selections during the rest of the visit.
Torchy’s Tacos
A reunion of sorts with Steve&John and Katrina&Dustin at Torchy’s Tacos north of Austin. The food was plentiful and delicious, as were the drinks, and the company was great. a damn good day.
more Austin treats
January was time to start a new batch of preserved lemons. Making them yourself is worth the wait. I use them in all kinds of recipes and cocktails. The pop of color was welcome during short days.
We got a new kitchen appliance. No, not Mr Sinatra, though he sure is cute on the counter (naughty kitty). Finally we have a Vitamix! I’ve been putting one in the cart and then taking it out ever since first visiting Sally in Hood River maybe 5 years ago. A smoothie party at work that turned into a veritable Vitamix infomercial was the deciding factor. Mostly it’s a very expensive smoothie machine, something that Derek points out, but it did make a great spinach pasta dough. And the smoothies are really smooth, even with whole raw carrots in them. Also, chopped nuts for a pumpkin pie crust were so easy. [verdict – worth it]
pannukakku
mostly about the yuca fries
parsnip-bacon cakes
Cooking is my main creative outlet. While it rarely feels like a chore it sometimes is one of my greatest joys. I am not a recipe follower, what I make is often recipe adjacent or recipe inspired; sometimes it’s completely out of my head based in what’s on hand.
I finally finished knitting my tea-cosy. This was the most miserably tedious knitting project I have ever done, by far. It was worth persevering though.
*
I won The Whale and the Cupcake in a white elephant exchange at the KBFPC staff-board Lunar New Year Holiday celebration. Julia O’Malley’s collection of essays about Alaskan food culture has recipes woven throughout. I wanted to make the Alaska Cocktail but couldn’t find yellow chartreuse in town. Luckily Heather offered to bring me some from Portland in exchange for hanging out with Frida and Lukas for a few days while she was out of town.* As described in the book, and I happened to have the prescribed gin in house already, the drink was too sweet for my taste. After experimenting it is really delicious with half the chartreuse. Next up, trying it with some soda water added.
*no children were harmed in creation of this image for their parents
Birch Bourbon Wings
When in doubt, go to the Alibi.
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In December 2019 visitors to the Diamond Creek MTB Trails started to encounter a small, timid porcupine near the trailhead kiosk. It seems some folks started to feed her because she became increasingly less timid.
Trails and snow storm over Augustine
The first time I met her was a clear sunny day when Trails and I had enjoyed a walk down Rollin’ Coal and up Dozer’s Demize. With blue skies overhead we looked out over the inlet at a snow storm over Augustine.
By now the porcupine was less timid, and getting curious. She cautiously approached me when I stopped to talk to her. I put a rather uninterested Trails in the car and went back to check out the cute little creature.
She inched down a limb of “her” tree, picked up a spruce cone, and nibbled on it. Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better than that she discarded the cone and made her way down to the snowy ground.
Around this time Lance Williamson had joined me after his run, he crouched down and started talking to her, while rubbing his outstretched fingers together. She waddled right over to him and started sniffing his fingers. Lance and I were practically melting because of her adorableness.
She looked towards my laughter, stood up on her hind legs and started walking towards me. Lance, “No way! She’s walking on two legs!” That startled her and she spun 180° and put up her stubby quills, not for long though, she soon recovered her composure and headed towards me.
January
While I hung out with her she went for a walk over to the kiosk. She was using the space under the bench as a midden and maybe a shelter. While I watched her she seemed to just go in to use the space as a litter box.
Someone had made a poster to warn trail users with dogs about the presence of a porcupine – misgendering her in naming the structure “Mr Porky’s Porcupine Porch”.
Fast forward a couple of weeks to Feb 1st and Trails and I were back at the trailhead, this time to snowshoe. Trails was still in the car and I was sitting on the driver seat with the door open, switching footwear, when this happened:
Meanwhile, Trails is hanging out on the backseat, looking over my shoulder and whimpering a little. Porcupine is unfazed, she now explores the taste of my pant leg and decides it’s not to her liking. Then she tries to climb up into the car. There are zero traces of timidity left. I consider whether I could take her home and how Mr Sinatra would feel about that.
A car drives up and Jenn Bando gets out, I warn her of the porcupine’s presence so she doesn’t let Miso and Kiva out right away. Jenn comes over to chat and as I walk towards her the porcupine follows. Both of us have our cameras out for photos.
The porcupine comes right over to me and places her front paws on my boot. Then all of a sudden she climbs right up my leg.
My view
She didn’t use her claws really, it was more like she was hugging around my leg and shimmying like up a tree trunk. She stayed there a couple of minutes, second guessing herself about the potential to eat my pant leg. And then inched back down to the ground.
A couple days later I saw Park Ranger Jason Okuly and he told me the porcupine had been transported to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.
Last weekend Bando sent me the update that AWCC have named her Ruth – they are naming all their animals after candy bars at the moment. They estimate she is a year old. By all accounts she is acclimating to her new home, they say they have never met a porcupine this friendly.
Quillpig 