by gansie
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by gansie
I surely can’t claim to be calm in the kitchen: extra virgin splattered on the counter top, an onion slice burned onto the range, and our new addition — a *mouse* — running out from underneath the oven. (Maybe we’ll be lucky enough for 80P to take an artsy photo of the critter.)
Regardless, with the craziness of the holidays already suffocating us, maybe it’s time to combine some deep breathing and fine chopping.
Check out Kim O’Donnel’s take on “How to Cook Your Life,” a documentary about “nothing and everything.”
The camera follows Brown over a two-week period in 2006, while he leads Zen and cooking workshops in Austria and in California. On the surface, the movie is all about Brown, an ordained Zen priest and the author of several cookbooks, including “The Tassajara Bread Book,” (and a founding owner of Greens, the legendary vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco), a premise that may bore those on a cinematic diet of shoot ’em-up meat and potatoes. But if you’re the kind of movie goer who chews slowly and mindfully, it’s an enchanting, thought-provoking film, asking us to slow down, and yes, smell those onions.
Opening December 7th
Mango, persimmon and raspberry sushi with coconut shavings
Scene: 6pm. Thursday night. Pinch of Minch and BS lounge on the couch
during hour two of Curb Your Enthusiasm marathon. A crumbled bag of
pretzels lay on the table. Somewhere, a stomach growls.
Pinch of Minch: Dude, Brendan, I’m hungry.
BS: Yah.
P o M: I mean, really hungry.
BS: Uh huh.
P o M: I want sushi. Real bad. Like, if I don’t have it, I may die.
Do you know what I mean?
BS: No I don’t, but sushi sounds good.
They go back to watching TV, until 30 minutes later….
P o M: Dude, I’ve got a crazy idea. We should make sushi.
BS: Eureka.
P o M: Out of what’s in the fridge. Like what-ev-er is in there,
mayonnaise and mac and cheese sushi. Pickle and coffee ice cream
sushi.*
BS: Hmmm. What about fruit? Fruit plus sushi is fruishi.
P o M: I have some frozen hot dogs. I’m making hot dog sushi. I am a genius.
BS: Let’s make some crazy sushi.
P o M: This could be really gross.
They give each other high fives and race to the kitchen. What follows
is a Lewis and Clark expedition of culinary craziness. And a short
time later, some of the oddest- and damn fine- sushi emerges from the
kitchen and into the bellies of our two protagonists.
by gansie
My first job post-college helped elect Annise Parker to her first term as Houston City Controller. During this period – the first time in my life where I didn’t have homework and I couldn’t get wasted and skip class – I forced myself to be semi-responsible. Thus, instead of going to happy hour every night, or going out to eat, I tried to cook dinner myself. If really only a means to waste time between getting home from work and getting to bed. But I’ll get more into those first cooking atrocities another time.
I remember how much I hated getting up for work. Not that being “Volunteer Coordinator” was all that awful, but I just thought – wow, do I really have to sit in front of a computer for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week (campaign – 7 days/week and 10 hours/day) for the next 45 years?!?! I hated being an “adult.”
Then, one of my coworkers brought in cheese and crackers for lunch. I stared at her in awe. I was so jealous. Here I was, eating my awful frozen veggie Cajun-seasoned stir fry enhanced with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray (thanks, Mariah!), and she had the brilliant idea to bring in cheese and crackers.
As a kid, no one would ever allow you to eat just cheese and crackers for lunch. But as an adult, and as an adult making an embarrassing $750/month, the absolute genius of a cheese and crackers lunch made me thankful for finally being able to make my own decisions, be it lunch or a host of any other adult situations.
That being said, I now make lots of dinners that don’t necessarily pass as full fledged meals.
Are those “gasps” I hear from my ES readers? Yes, I know, I’m sure you think that every meal I create deserves its own Hollywood Star, but sometimes I keep it low-key. Shocking, I know.
The other night for dinner I made my own little plate where I could mix-and-match the items to create bite-sized pita canapes.
Read on for my sample platter.
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