holy crap its been a while. Thanks for everyone still checking out my blog as well as staying in touch! That means a lot. I took a 4 week vacation to find my inner recipe side. :)

I have a lot to share, so let's start off with this amazing recipe that is perfect for summer!

On a side note:

favorite summer vegan beer:

honeymoon ale - seasonal beer from the folks who make the amazing blue moon ale. This is a must try and I have only seen this in a 12 pack at bev mo. No one has this on tap as far as I am aware! Let me know if you see it....

Ceviche has always caught my eye as an interesting dish for the summer. This turned out totally amazing and I believe I ate this for 7 days straight! I promise this will be in your fav 5. :)

Ingredients:
*3/4 cup lite coconut milk
*2 tablespoons olive oil
*3 roma tomatoes
*1 block extra firm tofu
*2 tablespoons wizards vegan Worcestershire sauce
*1 yellow pepper
*1 red onion
*3 serrano peppers
*handful of mint leaves
*3 tablespoons of fresh lime juice
*handful of cilantro

Cut the tofu into cubs and marinate with the vegan Worcestershire sauce. Let sit over night.
Mix the remaining ingredients and let this sit over night in a separate dish.
Next day, bake the tofu on 400 for 30 minutes. Add to the other mixture and serve in your favorite cocktail glass!

this soooooo rules!
lime summer spicy!

enjoy!!!!!

We got a couple lovely little fennel in our CSA box and I wanted to something to really enjoy their flavor. I normally end up cooking fennel, but I thought I'd look for a raw salad with fruit, since it's so hot and humid in our apartment. I ran across this and made a few adjustments. It was tasty!

2 fennel bulbs
2 nectarines
Handful of mint leaves - washed and dried
1 lemon - juiced
Shaved parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Slice the fennel very thin and clean thouroughly. Split into two bowls. Slice nectarine and split in two bowls along with the mint and shaved parm. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with lemon juice. Mix and serve.

Notes: I forgot to put any olive oil on it, but it tasted so fresh and light this way that I'm not sure I would put it on anyway. This was a great summer salad and could be presented in a much prettier way for guests.

Servings: 2 salads

You’d have to ask Jes what it’s like to meet us en masse for the first time. I can only imagine that it’s mildly terrifying. Strictly speaking on an individual basis we’re not particularly scary. But, we’ve all known each other for at least 10 years and we’ve been having dinner together once a week for most of that time. We don’t always communicate in full sentences anymore. A lot of the time we short hand ideas via various British comics – Eddie Izzard, the folks at Beyond the Fringe, the occasional influx of Yes, Prime Minister, although that’s mostly just me. We have multiple in jokes about homunculi (because well, once you have one they seem to multiply – the jokes, not the homunculi). We’ve had perfectly serious conversations about the composition and history of blood mead that sounded for all the world like we were contemplating serving it at our next party. Rest assured, to the best of my knowledge none of us has ever served anyone blood mead for any occasion. And, while having an opinion about which captain was the best captain isn’t a requirement, having the answer not be Janeway probably is*.

This is to say that a friend brought her beau to Dinner this week – friend and beau were the reason Dinner got moved to Friday because they couldn’t make it up to Boston for dinner on Wednesday but still wanted to see all of us. Well she did, it’s possible the Boy was feeling a little more cautious about the idea. Still Jes survived introduction to Dinner many years ago, and a couple of years after that we gave a stamp of approval to her boy who also survived admirably. Also, he seriously espoused the idea that he’d detracted from her cool factor which made all of us laugh hysterically because none of us has ever been cool. This beau also passed with flying colors. He definitely knew that Janeway was not the correct answer.

Upon inquiry Jes reveals that she wasn’t nervous coming to Dinner the first time, she was nervous about coming the second time. Not because we were Dinner, but because we sat down and ate around a table and discussed things! She was expected to know things. This should reassure my father who worries that I don’t have enough esoteric conversations on a regular basis.

* Said with love, irony and a completely straight face at dinner last night.
** For those who didn’t get it, it’s a gratuitous Star Trek reference.

Pulled Chicken
Barbeque Baked Beans
Hardboiled eggs
Cole Slaw
Corn
Melon
Tomatoes

Lemon Chess Pie

General note about Dinner this week: There were 12 RSVPs for Dinner (granted one was from a 2 year old, but still), one of whom is a vegetarian. The quantities of food that you need, and the quantities of food that will disappear when you feed 12 people are slightly mind boggling. It isn’t a question of making half again as much food to feed an extra four people, it’s more like doubling everything and then some.

From the amount of food on the table you would have thought I was feeding the invading Russian army, and while there were leftovers to send home with people there wasn’t as much as you’d expect. There was extra pie, which we ate for breakfast as is only right and proper.

Pulled Chicken/Pork (serves about 8 )
There’s the verb to barbeque which involves throwing things on a grill and cooking them until they’re done. And, then there’s the noun barbeque which is closer to a religion in certain parts of the country than it is to a method of cooking. To be scrupulously honest this is not a substitute for authentic slow cooked barbeque which tastes and smells like something close to heaven. However, in the absence of a smoker, or even a wood burning grill, this is a decent simulacrum.
You can make this with pork or chicken. I’ve done it with both, but this week was a birthday dinner week and the request was specifically for pulled chicken so that’s what I made.

It should be served on white hamburger buns, or white bread. I must be most firm on this point. This is not the time to break out the organic, homemade, whole wheat bread. Good, old fashioned hamburger buns are what you want to use.

You can eat your cole slaw on the side, or piled on the sandwich with the meat. You can add extra sauce or not, and you can make the sauce as spicy as you like and even add a dash of Tabasco on top if you like. I like my pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw and extra sauce, but hold the Tabasco.

Dry Rub:
3 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp dry mustard
3 Tbsp kosher salt

5-7 lb* meat (pork shoulder, Boston butt, or a combination of chicken breasts & thighs)

Sprinkle the dry rub over the meat and rub it in slightly. Place on a baking sheet and cover tightly with tin foil. Roast until done.

Allow to cool slightly and then pull the meat apart with your hands/fork (it’s easier with your hands).

Because you’ve covered it with foil you’re basically cooking the meat in its own steam which keeps it nice and juicy. It also means that you’ll be end up with a lot spicy chicken broth from the liquid that cooks out of the meat. Do not throw this away. This is seriously delicious. Use some of it to moisten the pulled meat before you mix in the barbeque sauce.

Barbeque Sauce:
½ cup cider vinegar
½ cup mustard (scant)
¾ cup ketchup
¼ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup molasses (generous)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne
½ tsp black pepper

Place all ingredients in a pan and whisk to combine. Cook it for about 15-20 minutes to allow the sugars to melt and the sauce to thicken slightly. Adjust vinegar/molasses/ketchup levels to taste.

When you first mix this together it will taste like you could use it to strip paint. Don’t worry. Cook it down some and then taste again. If you still think you could use it to strip paint add some more ketchup and molasses. If you like paint stripping in a barbeque sauce add a little more vinegar or mustard to the mix. If you’re not really into spicy you might want to go easy on the cayenne. You also want to bear in mind that you’re not going to be eating this straight from the pot, you’re going to mix it with a lot of meat and that will dilute the spiciness a lot.

Mix most of the sauce with the pulled meat. Reserve some sauce to serve at the table.

You can make this in advance and reheat it in a pan on the stove. I usually add a little more sauce as it reheats it so the meat doesn’t stick to the pan and/or dry out.

* One final thing to bear in mind, I usually figure on about half a chicken breast per person (which is roughly 1/3 lb) but when you make barbeque you have to up that estimate. I don’t know if it’s because it’s good, if it’s because it’s piled on a sandwich, or what the reason is, but people eat far more barbeque than they would if the meat was in it’s original configuration.

Barbeque Baked Beans
Recipe previously given: Seasonal Ennui

Cole Slaw
Recipe previously given: Fried Chicken Dinner

Hardboiled Eggs
Have you ever tried to make southern food vegetarian? Everything starts with bacon. A friend’s husband came to Dinner this week and while technically he’s kosher not vegetarian, it’s effectively the same thing when he eats out. I was searching for something else to serve so that he’d have enough protein to eat despite a meal that was based around a meat dish.

Friends who had barbeque at their wedding (incidentally, best wedding food I’ve ever had) solved this issue by serving macaroni and cheese, but honestly my week got a little crazy and I just didn’t have time to make macaroni & cheese. So, I compromised with baked beans (omitting bacon and adding garlic) and hardboiled eggs.

Lemon Chess Pie
This is one of my 10 desserts. It’s easy. It’s elegant. It tastes like the inside of a lemon bar. And somehow people always think you put a lot more effort into it than you actually did, which in my book is pretty much the definition of a perfect dessert.

½ cup butter
2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp flour
5 eggs
Juice of 3 lemons
Zest of 1 lemon

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing thoroughly in between each addition. Add the lemon juice and zest. Beat to combine. Pour into a 9” pie shell and bake for 35-40 minutes at 325. Allow to cool and then refrigerate for several hours, or overnight.

When you add the lemon juice your batter will look like it’s curdling. Don’t worry. It’s just the acid in the lemon juice breaking the eggs a little. It always looks like that and it’ll bake up fine. Although, if you wanted to make the batter in advance I’d do it up to the point where you add the lemon juice and only add that right before you’re planning on baking the pies.

I baked the chicken before I put the pies in and I think my oven was still a little too hot when I baked them so they browned more than they’re supposed to. The pies were still good, some of the sugar essentially caramelized on the top of the pie, but they weren’t quite as pretty as I’d wanted.

I had hoped to be able to organize a little free time between jobs, but that didn’t work out in my favor.
They needed someone to come quickly, and they never mentioned the odor, the tarantula that guards the toilet, the ankle deep murky water where the dis-functional washing machine sits….
Not a big deal really.

I had to work on my birthday - again.
Last year I was locked in a “supply closet” napping and reading comic books until I snuck out. This year I really had to do something other than just sit there, but I was able to leave freely when I was finished. It’s good to try to do something a little special for your birthday so, after my morning class I followed some road signs to a nice place - where the 1st Emperor of Japan’s parents are said to be buried. I wandered around there and at a nearby park for a few hours, I watched the fish + found a huge snake, then drove back to the center of the city to work more.
After work I went for a short cycle to a spot that would have had fireflies if there were any fireflies around.

I’ve been wanting to see fireflies since my 1st summer in Japan, when I realized that not all places have fireflies like they ought.
It soon became clear that there weren’t any fireflies, so just went to the Indian restaurant in town.
I would have gone there earlier in the week, but I wanted to try and do something fun on my birthday.
I ordered a vegetable curry + nan.
The guy asked me how hot I wanted the curry “from 1/not hot - to 50”/ I can’t even imagine how hot that would be.
I said 9/ the low end of the scale (yes?) and I don’t know how the hell he worked out what number means what because I drank a whole pitcher of water + ordered extra nan + all of my insides were still burning all night and late into the next day - Hot!

I woke up late the next day because, I could, and because my parents had another birthday party for me / without me in New Jersey. I went to an internet café that night with my web camera + talked to a lot of the people there and talked to my girlfriend elsewhere. There is a time difference between here + New Jersey, so I was up until the sun started to rise the next day.

The next day I went back and painted 2 pictures of the place I’d found the day before. It was, after all, the 1st and only nice place I could find then. There were few people there on my birthday, and there were as many people the next day. I hadn’t seen anyone at all pass by for more than an hour when, of all things, I saw a black guy with curly hair.

The guy who’d decided we would go swimming at the waterfall had told me a few days before that there’s a super friendly black guy with curly hair in town. I had only seen 2 people who were not Japanese in as many weeks, and thought it safe to assume that there were not 2 black guys with curly hair.
+ he was really nice. He said he would be leaving town shortly - for greener or more fragrant pastures, I know not. Good for him

Given that I have to drive up to an hour out, several times a day, for classes here and there, I have managed to find some better places than what you see (and smell) in the center of town.

Two days after my birthday I spent almost 3 hours driving around looking for a beach that isn’t made of concrete. I did get 2 more paintings done when I did finally come across a beach. An old guy with a fishing pole stood and watched me for about 30 minutes, then he went off fishing.
I asked him if he knew of any pretty/ prettier places around + he was stumped. I live on a peninsula, on an island - and shouldn‘t have this problem. The sea is on every side of me, but all the roads just seem to connect one pig factory to another.
I forgot how to get back to the waterfall I slid down naked, but during a 4 hour break I drove around near another city I have to work in twice a week. I get 4 hours free time before starting there each Tuesday, so I was glad to find some nice looking mountain peaks not too too far from where the classes are. The 1st week I went up a one lane mountain road to a campsite + hiked around with all my heaviest paint on my back looking for the best vantage point. After about 2 hours of walking I realized I’d had the best view when I was still in the parking lot.

I went straight back there the next week and painted a large picture very leisurely. When I was all finished, I looked at my watch to see how much time I had left to do another painting, + I had to check and recheck my watch - because I was 25 minutes away + only had 15 minutes to get to class.
I drove quickly and changed shirts at a red light, and only got there a few minutes late, only a few seconds after the 1st students.

Another time I got to another class 5 minutes early, only to learn that 5 minutes early is really 25 minutes late if you have the starting time wrong.

I had another set of classes in a really small town, really far away, with an hour and a half break between sets. I found a super cool river there where a campsite had been - all covered in vines now. The rocks along the river are all oddly eroded - like green water running deep down in grey swiss cheese.

[gallery]

I don’t love teaching those kids there, but I like that I have a couple hours of daylight after my last class there + I’ve managed to paint 2 pictures there in 2 trips.

I ran low on paint thinner really very quickly, but there was none to be found in my new town, so I had to drive to the capital of the region on a sunny Sunday afternoon. I saw the volcano that always spits ash into the sky sit peacefully/ not erupt, …but it was still impressive. The city itself was also surprisingly nice. There was green grass there. Green grass is even rare on the golf courses here, but it was right there in the middle of their big roads, manicured, with street cars running along side it all. I got one bottle of paint thinner, directions to a branch of my bank, which was of course closed on Sundays, but why do the ATMs need to take the day off?

I had a good walk around - for 5 hours, then got dizzy + needed to eat. I thought I might be able to find a vegetarian restaurant, but I got interested in the menu of an Indian restaurant. I’d gone back to the ridiculously spicy Indian place in my town just the night before, and had a much easier time with a level 6 vegetable curry. The level 6 potato and garbonzo bean curry was just right.
While walking down the street, I heard someone politely ask - in English, if they could talk to me, and he looked like a Jesus hound when I turned around and saw him, but it was just a nice guy from Tennessee trying to get people to go see his band play. I don’t know how successful he getting anyone else to go. I didn’t go to find out. I was mostly glad and relieved that I didn’t have to fend off another: Mormon, Jehova’s witness, or door to door newspaper salesman.

The day after, I finally found the kind of beach that I expected to find everywhere. It was just 20 minutes away. I saw all of 9 people there the whole day. There may’ve been one or 2 more people there in the morning, but I was then busy wading through the murky standing water on my balcony - as I had thought it proper to try and wash some clothes.

It took about 40 minutes to walk from one end of the beach to another. I got tired and painted a picture from the midway point + went swimming. It was warm like bath water + you had a great view of the whole bay + the mountains across the way. There was a shrine built on some rocks at the opposite end of the beach. I swam out to it when I got there. My 1st painting blew over while I was swimming, but not seriously damaged. I smoothed out the scratches in the paint with my fingers, which resulted in larges patches of both my arms, shoulders, and feet turning a Smurf-ish blue (for several days - baked on paint!).
I painted another picture of the shrine on the rocks, the sea surrounding it, and the mountains off in the background.

Actually I think it was carrying 2 big blue paintings 40 minutes down the beach at sunset that somehow turned large parts of me blue.

I got back to the center of town around 8:30 + tried out a revolving sushi place I had passed and wondered about. They had fewer vegetarian dishes than the Kaiten-sushi where I’d lived in times past, but they put roughly the same amount of mayonaise on what vegetable dishes they could make.
Everyone was looking at me over their shoulders as if they had never seen a foreign sunburnt man with warpaint drinking lots of water.
I tried to discreetly wipe my blue fingerprints off the counter + think I got it all taken care off.
The inside, door handles, and roof of the car at the mechanic’s is another story.

------------------------------------------------

We get time between classes: An hour, two, or five.
+ I’ve noticed… that the time between classes, however long it is, it goes by quicker than the limited time I spend in class and driving long distances to class.

Today, for instance, my car wouldn’t start right away, so I was 5 minutes late for class,

it took about 5 minutes to get them all to come in the classroom,

and I let them leave a bit early,

…and I let them talk amongst themselves for another however many minutes (It wasn‘t enough).

That left about 40 minutes of them kicking, slide tackling, wrestling, pinching, and climbing all over each other (mostly kicking). When I say each other I mean myself as well. You twist a kid’s arm up and he acts all repentant, …but that doesn’t last 15 seconds. The other kids, don’t stop kicking him for 5 of those seconds either.
One kid had like 50 rubber bands on his arm that he kept snapping at the others, I grabbed the lot of them, pulled back and threatened to let them snap at him - which I did do when he tried to kick me. I suspended a pair of them, a leg in each arm to get them to stop kicking each other, and some other little monster jumps on my back. I tripped up a pair of them (lifted their feet) while they were trying to kick me, and that was funny, but the one pretended to cry so that the others would come within rubber band range, and I had to spend another several minutes confiscating them then.
You try and tell a kid that slide tackling someone is a good way to get punched in the face, but stupid kids don’t listen.
It was easier last week when 3 of the 5 of them refused to get out of the mini pool + come in the classroom. I saw/ heard through the window that the little girl took all her clothes off and was yelling at the principle to look at her ass. I didn’t initially know she was the one who was supposed to be in my class.

She had no nametag!
Ha!

I hadn’t thought reading 1 page (5 short sentences with lots of colorful pictures), doing 1 workbook page (trace less than 10 words), then playing a game was a lofty ideal, but you see how quickly it degrades into “No kicking anyone who is down on the floor.”

Like I said, my free time goes so much quicker.

But the driving part is what really concerns me now.
The car is as un-inspected as it was when I was given the key and the “it’s your problem now” from my boss two weeks ago. It seems not to have been inspected for quite some time now, but (perhaps?) only very recently has it started squealing - …like a donkey would squeal, if it were in hell.
When there was a little drizzle of rain for the 1st time, I turned the windshield wipers on, + instead of wiping the windshield (like windshield wipers do), they stuck together. That is to say: they collided and would not work out their differences ( maybe passions?). I had to stop the car, turn my hazard lights on, pry them apart, and repeat the process. Luckily it was not raining hard and it soon cleared up.

I told my boss about it. He said it’s good that it isn’t raining anymore.

Now I don’t want to have to pay upwards of $1,000 plus some hundred dollars to have his old spare car fixed up enough to pass the stringent (costly) Japanese inspection standards, but I also don’t want to get pulled over driving an un-inspected car + paying whatever awful fee that likely entails.
For his part, he didn’t want me to drive around uninsured (or he has a friend that sells insurance), so he called a friendly insurance agent, who came bearing a form with all my information already filled in. Some of the information was wrong. People don’t often get any of my names right, this guy had me down as Shinda Raian. If you translate that 1st part, …it actually means: “He’s Dead”.
Funny mistake from an insurance agent.

I wondered how interested the insurance agent would be to hear that my windshield wipers don’t work, but he still wanted to sell me the auto insurance…

The day after I first/ second/ and third tried to use the windshield wipers - It rained. It rained really hard and, of course, my windshield wipers would not wipe. I tried calling my boss to remind him I couldn’t drive 15 kilometers in a typhoon unless I could see, but he was out of town all morning and I only had his office number - Which nobody was around to answer - Which, I imagine, must have peeved the people at the school I didn’t show up to too.
Although I did show up, (a mere) 25 minutes late + saw a whole bunch of teachers gathered around a telephone looking angry. I don‘t know if they were upset because I hadn‘t died, or because nobody had answered any of their calls to the office, …or maybe they were all just PMSing.

I bet my insurance agent is happy I‘m not dead though. I pay by the month after all.

When I went out in the typhoon to make sure the wipers still didn’t work, to reassure myself it was safe to go back to sleep, they almost did work, and after a little bit of readjusting them (in the typhoon) - they did seem to work like you‘d expect windshield wipers to work. Somewhat reluctantly, I went back inside and made something to eat, + put dry clothes on, + left my scuzzy apartment when I should have already been there.)

So my boss called me back around lunchtime + suggested we take his/ my car to a mechanic + have the things he’s tired of hearing me remind him about looked at, + I’ll have no reason to not go to work on time.

The mechanic’s wife came out - looked at the wipers and realized that one was much longer than the other. She switched them + it was all fixed within 3 minutes. I told her all the other things that seem to be wrong with the car. She got her husband, who was surprised that a car with so many flaws had been able to pass inspection. My boss said he didn’t remember how much time was left until it needed to be inspected again, but he knew it was okay. I told him yet again that there was no sign of it having ever been inspected. The mechanic asked how much longer it had. My boss looked all over the car (in the rain) for the inspection sticker (which is always in the same spot ( where my windshield has a circle of sticky residue). The mechanic’s wife looked though the papers in the glove compartment and declared it almost 10 months overdue. He was surprised. He said the police would throw me in jail if they caught me driving it; Which is the same thing I had told him 4 or 5 times before.
I guess he realized I shouldn’t be expected to pay to fix up his old car/ or more importantly, realized that I wouldn’t, so he’s said that he’ll pay the mechanic’s inspection fees/ get it up to specs.

I was relieved to hear it. Sort of wished I hadn’t filled the car up just an hour before, but it was on empty. The loner car they gave me drives so much easier than his car, but it was even emptier than mine had been when I filled it up out of necessity.

That’s all seemingly sorted out now. Thankfully.
The other gripe that I have now is his expecting me to work one of my days off each month.

I thought I should make the most of my 2 hour evening break, so I went into the clinic across from the mechanic.
The doctor, and later - the pharmacists were all afraid of me. Well educated medical professionals never want to admit that they’ve never had to deal in insulin and needles before, and they always try to cover up the fact that they’re having their staff telephone every other pharmacy in the area looking for insulin/ needles.

They always give me a form to fill out (all in Japanese), which I do fill in (in Japanese)

, and they always seem to read it over carefully before asking me if I speak Japanese.
Doctors and Detectives are separate professions after all.
I say: “sometimes”.

Ingredients:

1 qt. cubed zucchini (do not peel)

1 1/2 c. water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 vegetable bouillon cubes OR 2 packets G. Washington's Golden Seasoning and Broth

1 tsp. dry dill weed

1/2 c. chopped onion

2 Tbsp. margarine or organic butter (I substitute olive oil for this)

Method:

Combine all ingredients (except onions and butter) and cook until fork tender, about 7 - 10 minutes. Cool.

Meanwhile, Saute the onions in butter (or olive oil). Cool.

When everything has cooled to room temperature put it all in a blender and puree until creamy and no chunks remain. Or, if you have a submersible stick blender you don't even have to wait for the soup to cool. You can just blend it in the pot while it's still hot.

serves 4

1 Mango peeled and pitted

1/2 cup sugar( I use super fine sugar, or process in the food processor a few seconds)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

pinch salt

Puree Mango flesh in a food processor

In a bowl mix the puree with 1 cup of Hot water, the sugar, lemon juice and salt. Taste, more sugar may be added , if desired.

Place bowl in refridgerator to chill

Put the chilled puree in an ice cream maker and freeze following manufactures directions

1/2 teaspoon dry sage

1 teaspoon dry Rosemary

2 tablespoons fennel seeds

11/2 tablespoons Cumin seeds

11/2 tablespoons coriander seeds

2 dry red chili peppers(optional)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons dry mustard

1.2 teaspoon black pepper corns

2 tablespoons brown sugar (light or dark)

Toast the cumin, fennel seed Coriander seeds, pepper corns, and chili pods, in a skillet till fragrant. COOL TO ROOM TEMPERATURE. Gring finely adding the dry rosemary and sage. Finely add the brown sugar.

Place in an air tight container and refridgerate. Use as needed.

Please note the rub does not contain any salt. Please season your meat with salt at your own taste level.

Fresh string beans have literally started pouring into my door.  I planted only eight bush beans in my vegetable plot, but they’re exuberant in their production.  As such, I’m now scrambling to find interesting ways to prepare them (besides steamed or sautéed).  I went the not-so-healthy-route to kick off the bean season. 

No, that is not a basket of French fries in the picture above.  It’s a basket of beer-battered (yes, BEER battered) string beans.  No doubt, it’s criminal to turn such a nutritious vegetable into a fried snack food, but I loved ‘em!  Seriously, these were ridiculously addictive, especially with an extra sprinkle of course sea salt on them.  If I’d thought of it before inhaling nearly the whole basket, I would have even tried them with my favorite French fry condiment: vinegar!  I bet that’d send them over the top. 

As it was, I just heated up a little bit of marinara sauce to dip them in, although the original recipe (taken from a faded undated newspaper clipping) offered directions for making a special dip for on the side.  Me, I like to eat my beer-battered string beans while they’re piping hot so I couldn’t be bothered with spending time on the dipping sauce. 

Now that I’ve got the junk food bug out of my system (seriously, is there any healthful salvation in this dish since it did get me to eat two big handfuls of beans?), who’s got a good idea for using up a surplus of beans?  I don’t have enough yet to consider canning, so something fresh and interesting would be appreciated.  I know I’m the one that’s suppose to give YOU ideas on this site, but I’m lacking inspiration and hoping you’re holding some.  Yes? 

Beer-Battered String Beans
Taken from clipping out of the Philadelphia Inquirer

1 lb. fresh string beans
1 C. beer (lager works well)
1 t. salt
1 T. lemon juice
1 C. all-purpose flour
Vegetable oil for deep frying (about 2 cups)
Tomato sauce for dipping (optional)

Trim and discard tips of beans.  In a bowl, whisk the beer, salt and lemon juice into the flour until smooth but still foamy.  Dredge the beans in the batter. 

In a large deep skillet, heat oil until it sizzles when a bit of batter is dropped into it.  Fish out the beans from the batter, shaking off excess, and fry about 10 at a time.  Cook until golden brown, flipping the beans over with tongs.  Repeat to cook all of the beans. 

Drain on a paper towel and sprinkle with additional salt if desired.  If using, heat the tomato sauce and serve on the side with the beans. 

(serves 4-6)

1) Almonds

Almonds are a great source of essential fatty acids which are crucial to the production of testosterone. They are also very high in zinc which is a key mineral for increasing testosterone levels.

2) Celery

Celery contains androsterone which can contribute to the production of testoserone.

3) Avacados

Avacadoes are high in both vitamin B6, folic acid and essential fatty acids which are all essential to healthy testosterone production.

4) Bananas

Bananas are high in both potassium and B vitamins. They also contain the enzyme bromelain which is believed to aid in testosterone production.

5) Pumpkin Seeds

Pumpkin seeds are a fantastic source of zinc and magnesium, the two minerals that are essential to healthy testosterone levels and the two minerals that a lot of vegetarians lack. If you only do one thing to modify your diet in order to raise your testosterone levels start eating pumpkin seeds.

6) Asparagus

Asparagus is a fantastic source of vitamin E which is widely considered to stimulate the production of testosterone.

7) Eggs

Eggs contain high levels of vitamins B5 and B6 which are important for fighting stress. Stress is a key contributor to low testosterone levels.

8) Flax Oil

Flax oil is a great source of essential fatty acids which as has been already stated is essential to maintaining healthy levels of testosterone in the body.

Apparently I can't always predict when a dish is going to be good. The only reason I made this was to use up some soba noodles and scallions. Then I found two opened bags of peas in the freezer and half a lemon in the refrigerator, so the meal seemed worth making even if it ended up being no better than edible.

There are some unusual ingredient combinations in this recipe. Soba noodles and feta? Soy sauce and lemon juice? This is why I had my doubts.

I was really surprised when the meal wasn't just edible, but I loved it. Between the lemon juice and the feta, I was expecting it to be too sour, but the tartness was nicely balanced by the soy sauce and sugar.

Not only was this delicious, it's one of the easiest meals I've made recently. Only one ingredient needs to be chopped, which is a such a welcome change from the meals I normally cook. It's nutritionally balanced on its own, requiring no side dishes to be a full meal. It can be served warm or cold. I had it ready as soon as Dave got home from work, but when he decided to work out and shower before eating, it was no problem to set the salad aside until we were ready.

Really, this might be the perfect dish - tasty, healthy and easy. I'm already looking for the next opportunity to make it.

Soba Salad with Feta and Peas (adapted from Gourmet July 2006)

Makes 4 servings

1 (10- to 12-ounce) package soba noodles*
1 (10-ounce) package frozen baby peas
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon black pepper
6 oz feta, crumbled (¾ cup)
4 scallions, finely chopped

1. Cook noodles and peas together in a 6- to 8-quart pot of lightly salted boiling water until noodles are tender, 4 to 6 minutes.

2. While noodles cook, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, soy sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.

3. Drain noodles and peas well in a colander, then rinse under cold running water to stop cooking. Drain well again, then add to dressing along with feta and scallions. Grind more black pepper to taste over salad.

12 ounces dried chinese noodles , boiled according to package directions. Drain, and rinse in cold water. Drain throughly and stir in 2 tablespoons Peanut or vegetable oil.

Garlic and Ginger paste(3 garlic cloves and 1" piece ginger, ground finely)

2 cups shredded Cabbage

3 Scallions sliced on the diagonal

1 red pepper, Cored, and sliced thinly

2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil

4-5 dried red Chili peppers

2 tablespoons Soy sauce

Heat oil in frying pan or wok and add the dried chilis. Allow to cook till they start to turn a darker red. Add the Ginger Garlic paste and stir 5 seconds.

Add the cabbage and red pepper,stir for 1 minute. Add scallions and stir 1 more minute.

Add noodles and 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Stir and serve.

serves 12

3/4 cup of dark roast coffee beans

5-6 cardamon pods, available in Asian markets

4 1/2 cups water, to brew

1/2 cup-3/4 of a cup sweetened condensed milk

crushed ice

1 tablespoon sugar mixed with 2 finely ground cardamonn pod, optional

In a coffee grinder combine the coffee beans with the cardamon pods till finely ground.

Brew in a drip coffee maker as per manufacturer's instructions.

Transfer to a serving jug. Cool and then refriderate for 2 to 24 hours.

Devide the condensed milk between 12 cups. Top gently with the coffee, careful not to disturb the bottom milk layer.

Sprinkle on the cardamon sugar, serve . Stir prior to drinking.

Serve over Baked Rice and topped with Black Bean Salsa for a complete meal.

INGREDIENTS:

* 16 oz tempeh, defrosted and sliced into strips

* 14 oz coconut milk

* 1 cup favorite stock

* 1/4 cup unsweetened, natural shredded coconut

* 3 tablespoons white miso

* 2 tablespoons or equivalent of favorite natural sweetener, such as natural brown sugar or brown rice syrup

* 1 tablespoon organic coconut butter

* ½ tablespoon Bragg's

* 1 teaspoon ginger pulp

* 2-3 cloves minced garlic

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place slices of tempeh in a 9x13 glass pan. Set aside.

2. Combine all remaining ingredients until blended well. Pour over tempeh and bake at 425° for 45 minutes, until bubbling and golden. Much of the liquid will be absorbed.

3. This is good for many applications, but at our home is especially favored as described above!

Today, I finally managed to get a reasonable number of calories down. I had to cheat to do it, though. Maureen made some key lime pie that was just incredible, so I had two slices in place of my usual bowl of cereal. What can I say? If you're gonna cheat, you might as well make it worthwhile.

I had a good workout with my friend Gordon tonight before dinner. It was uppers night, which we both enjoy more than lowers night. We did a number of exercises we don't normally do, since I'm hoping that mixing it up a bit will help trigger some additional growth.

• Bench Press (16x135 / 11x155 / 1x205 / 5x185)
• Seated Overhead Barbell Press (7x95 / 7x95)
• Standing Dumbbell Flys (12x15 / 12x15 / 12x15)
• Standing Dumbbell Raise (12x15 / 12x15)
• Standing Curl Bar Press (12x50 / 9x50 / 9x50)
• Curls (12x70 / 9x70 / 8x70)
• Pec Fly (12x130 / 9x130 / 7x130)
• LF Triceps Extension (12x100 / 12x100 / 12x100)
• LF Seated Row (12x75 / 12x75)
• Pushups (1 set / 20 reps before bed)

Oh, there is some bad news. I'm down 2 lbs this week, from 192 to 190. Maybe it's just temporary, but I think it may be tied to the reduced number of calories and the cleaner diet I've been following this past week. I guess it's ok to lose some fat, but I was hoping to gain weight with new muscle mass, not lose weight.

Well, that's it for tonight.

Anyway, Purripu, or dal, and rice is a comfort food for me. It is quick, healthy, and a complete meal. It is also served with other curries - I like purripu b/c it binds all the curries and rice together. And it is the first Sri Lankan dish that I ever cooked because it is so easy to make.

First. What dal do you use? Masoor dal (split or whole red lentils. Where can you get them? If in NYC, any Indian store, Kalyustans in Manhattan or Patel Bros in Queens, for instance, but also grocery stores carry them.

Here's a picture of whole purripu, rather than the split kind. This will just take a little longer to cook, but there's no difference.

Ingredients:

masoor dal - however much you want - let's say 2 cups,

a couple of curry leaves

1 inch piece of cinnamon

1 small onion, quartered

black pepper

1/2 tsp. turmeric

salt

Wash the lentils, and then put it in a pot, and cover with twice as much water as lentils (4 cups). Then throw in the cinnamon,  curry leaves, the onion,turmeric and black pepper to taste. Do not add salt yet. Bring to boil, and then reduce to a simmer, partially cover it and you will see the lentils absorb the liquid and soften. About 5 minutes in, add salt. Then cook approximately another 10-15 minutes. If you think you're running out of water, then add some boiling water to it, if you think it is too watery, keep cooking it. Purripu is served in a porridge-like consistency.

Right now, it is somewhat bland. But the next step is to temper the purripu. When you temper a dish, you add a flavorful addition at the end to enhance the flavors - in this case, by frying some onions, red chili and mustard seeds and then adding it to the mixture.

2 shallots finely sliced.

2-3 dried red chilies (this is to taste)

1 tsp of mustard seeds

a curry leaf or two if you want.

Add the chilies and shallots to olive oil and caramelize the onions.  Then add the mustard seeds, and curry leaves, if using. After the mustard seeds pop, pour the whole thing into the purripu and mix it in.

Variation: Add spinach when you are cooking the purripu - just take a box of frozen spinach, add it to the purripu and cook it together. it is delicious! This and rice is the best lunch to take to work with you, or to eat when you want comfort food.

1 pint Fizzy red wine or White

1/2lb red Raspberries

1/2 cup superfine sugar

5-6 Fresh mint leaves, more for garnish

Rind of half an orange

Boil wine, sugar and mint leaves together till sugar is dissolved. Add Raspberries and allow to marinade at least 1 hour.

Remove the mint and put mixture into a food processor with the orange rind . Blend         Place in a freezer safe dish and freeze 3 hours, srirring frequently to prevent the formation of ice crystals.

Serve with more mint, dipped in sugar and water then frozen (use as a garnish)

You'll have to forgive my poor photography; I'm very disenchanted with my current dishes, and I fear that's spilling into the overall aesthetic presentation of my cooking.  Regardless, this cucumber pineapple salad is pretty in any dish.  The colors complement each other, and there's quite a bit of visual texture here.  For that matter, there's quite a bit of flavor here, too.   When dressed, this salad works nicely with Thai or Southeast Asian-influenced dishes - possibly Japanese, too.  When tossed together without dressing, this is a perfect accompaniment to curry served over a plain Jasmine rice that is seasoned lightly with a few toasted mustard and cumin seeds.  The sweetness of the pineapple and the perfumed flavor of the curry are perfect foils to each other.  And, if the pineapple is cold and the curry hot, the contrast is even more gratifying.  I would imagine this would go well with a jerk-seasoned chicken or fish, also.  

Cucumber Pineapple Salad

• 1 C pineapple cubes 
• 1 cucumber, seeded and sliced
• 1/3 C red onion, thinly sliced 
• 1 minced serrano pepper
• 1/2 C cilantro
• 1/4 C mint
• 2 T chopped toasted cashews
• juice of one lime
• 1 T light soy sauce
• 1 T honey
• 1 garlic clove, minced

1 lb orecchiette or Mezzi Rigatoni pasta

Salt

1 lb cherrt tomatoes, washed , dried and halved

1 lb arugula, washed and dried throughly

1/4 cup Basil oil or extra virgin oil

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Freshly ground black pepper

2-3 ounces Pecorino Romano cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler.

2 ounces toasted Walnuts or Pine nuts

Cook pasta according to package , or till al dente.in boiling ,salted water

While pasta is cooking, Place rest of ingredients in a large non reactive serving bowl, except for the Pecorino cheese and Walnuts

Place the cooked, drained pasta into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and toss.

Garnish with the Walnuts and Pecorino.

Serve

Serves 4-6

_7160251

Originally uploaded by oldredsneakers

...before it got ugly looking.

How to cook everything vegetarian by mark bittman suggests:

toast bread cubes in a pan with olive oil and garlic
add blanched fava beans
scramble with eggs, salt and pepper

it yielded a delicious mess of garlic-infused crunch and savory egg with the nuttiness of the fava beans. In the future I might stick to fava beans on toast, and eggs some other time.

I've adapted her recipe to match our preferences.  Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS:

* 1 ½ cups brown rice

* 1 ½ cups jasmine rice

* 4 cups water

* 2 tablespoons cold pressed olive-oil (or butter if that's what you prefer)

* 1 teaspoon real salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.      No need to preheat the oven!  Add rice to a 13x9-inch Pyrex pan.  Pour in water, oil, and salt.  Cover tightly with lid or foil.  Bake at 375° for one hour.

2.      Remove from the oven and fluff with a fork.  Place in serving dish and cover with a clean, damp kitchen towel.  Let it stand like this for at least 5 minutes before serving.