crack the plates

First, the most important news: our katze Unix seems to be doing much better today than she has since the fleabath incident Sunday night. (Worrisomely, she’d put her appetite on hold and would mew loudly every time we touched her). She’s in fine furry form tonight, though, and is currently sitting in my lap encumbering my typing. And oh, how soft and flea-free her tortoiseshell fur is! (Alas, we’ll still be heading to the V-E-T in the morning.)

Tonight’s dinner was generously provided by friends N & J in celebration of Nate’s upcoming birthday. As a special surprise, they prepared some sushi–Nate’s favorite–with avocado, carrot, and cucumber. (I brought over the materials to make a quick miso–red miso paste by Westbrae, cellophane noodles from Jungle Jim’s, japanese-style firm tofu, two cloves of garlic sliced thin and some kombu kelp.) Observe the taller N coach the shorter one on the wily ways of sushi:

Those are taller N’s in the foreground (second picture). Little N…well, let’s just say he could do with a little more larnin’:

But hey, who am I to judge? I didn’t even try! On that note…

In the interest of full disclosure (because this blog ought not be about my triumphs only, but about my royal struggles too), I will admit that I f-ed up not one but TWO desserts tonight. I fail so comprehensibly so infrequently that it is quite marvellous that I was able to do it twice in one evening. Still, I admit: I ruined some rice pudding by using short-grain BROWN rice and not cooking it through; mere minutes after wiping the apron of this masterpiece, I whipped up some chocolate pudding that didn’t set because my arrowroot was so expired it had completely lost its potency. Oops?

Le sigh.

Hope you’ll check out tomorrow’s update on cooking for Peace Forum: butternut squash soup that isn’t (DUN DUN DUN) …pureed!!! Better yet, just come have lunch! Tomorrow’s talk: “One Hill at a Time: Supporting Palestinian Nonviolent Resistance at Al Tuwani.”

Having just returned from a mini-vacay where I enjoyed especially the privilege of other folks cooking for me for two days, I was reluctant to make dinner tonight. (Not to mention the fact that when N came home, his right shoulder smelled strangely of cheap Chinese food which I immediately started craving. But as that is basically too weird to have written, let’s move on.) Admitting that 1) our fridge is stuffed with raw materials purchased at the Ann Arbor farmer’s market and 2) the visit left me penniless, I decided to whip up an old, quick favorite–sweet hot n sour kale n tofu.

The recipe is based on one I read in Dr. Andrew Weil (say “while”)’s book Eight Weeks to Optimum Health, and the idea is to use your ingredients’ sweet, spicy, and astringent tastes to balance & illumine one another. Here’s what I do:

• Clean and chop some kale (I’ve used regular curly; heirloom Red Russian & Dinosaur)
• Put a little oil in your [cast-iron] skillet; generously add minced garlic (prepared or freshly minced) and some red pepper flakes to taste
• Saute, add greens with a little powdered mustard (a few pinches; it helps the flavor of  the greens); toss around well; add some tamari or soy sauce, a few tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (I like Bragg’s organic), and a couple tbsps of brown sugar
• Mix well and cover for a few minutes so that it can steam and cook down a bit (greens cook down a LOT)

To up the protein and make a full meal, use your skillet to stir-fry some (extra-)firm tofu in a little oil with garlic; toss with the cooked greens and serve over organic brown rice.

Heey, here’s a picture!

(That’s Zingerman’s vegan farm bread in the back.)