Giant in the Kitchen: Saving Padron Pepper Seeds
I don't think it will work. As I mentioned earlier, I want to save some seeds from the fresh Pimientos de Padron thatI received in the mail. After further thought, I don't think the seeds will do well because the peppers are prematurely picked. My knowledge is rough, but from what I've read seeds need to be harvested from peppers when they have grown to full maturity. The peppers I have are prematurely picked because that's when you want to eat them. Fortunately I found seeds for sale online. I'll have to order a pack and try them in the spring.
The Artist Drinks: Compari, A Drink You Won’t Have to Share
I have started drinking Compari a bit more lately because I've been watching the first season of Mad Men. It's a fantastic show about Madison Avenue ad men in the 60s. The show has really gone for historical accuracy, and so everyone drinks like fish. It blows my mind the amount people used to drink. I got excited by the ridiculousness of seeing people having 10 drinks a day and so I started emulating them. I've gone from having 4 drinks a week to having 5 drinks a week. Don't tell my mom...
My aunt Sara got me drinking Compari about a year and a half ago. It's an Italian bitters with a uniquely herbal taste. Often considered an aperitif, I prefer it as a digestif. Something to sip slowly into the night. Actually, we should be using the words aperitivo and digestivo because Compari is Italian. If I am going to be snobbish with my drinks, why limit my snobbery to the French tongue? I'm not a failed polyglot for nothing.
Here's what's great about Compari: it is an acquired taste. I've grown to really enjoy the medicinally herbal taste that it leaves in my mouth, sort of like a Ricola without the sugar, but none of my beer-drinking friends like it at all. I can be all sassy, "Hey guys, want to try my favorite drink?", and they never say yes twice. I come off as generous to my Pabst drinking buddies, but don't have to share my expensive Compari.
I like it straight up on the rocks, but if you're working your way into the taste of it, try 1 part Compari with 2 parts Seltzer. Cheers!
The Artist Arts: Museum Ho!
I was in Cleveland last week, visiting family, and took advantage of some cultural experiences which aren't afforded me in North Carolina. I hit up a few museums and ate as much ethnic food as I could get my hands on. When I was a kid growing up outside of Chicago, I would get really antsy whenever we would visit The Art Institute. I could hardly last 30 minutes before I was dreadfully bored and, most likely, obnoxiously vocal about the fact. I really enjoy experiencing cities more and more as I grow older and I regret not taking advantage of everything Chicago had to offer. That being said, I had a great time in Cleveland and was really impressed by how affordable it was to do stuff there. Both of the art museums I went to were free to the public and had very enjoyable collections.
The Cleveland Museum of Art has been under renovation for years, but the few galleries that were open were well arranged and thoroughly engaging. I spent about an hour there, and learned a good deal about colonial American art. One of the galleries was dominated by a set of huge paintings depicting Apollo and some of the Muses. They're by Charles Meynier and are really stunning. I'm posting some pictures, but they don't really do the works justice.
The other museum I went to was the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College. It's kind of in the middle of farm country, but definitely worth the trip. Added Bonus: You're only going to pay for gas 'cause this museum is free too. It has to be one of the best college museums in the country (not that there are really very many). They have works from almost every period, but their modern collection is a real gem. A set which really drew my attention was of modern Chinese propaganda posters. They're from the 70's, but they are obviously drawing on the American WWII look. I have to wonder why this style of patriotic advertising is so popular. It must be effective. Here's one American propaganda poster alongside the two Chinese ones. They're crappy pictures because I didn't have very good light, but you get the point.
I know Cleveland has a bad reputation, you know, rivers burning and the like, but it really is a place to check out. Lots of art. Lots of cultural experiences (Little Italy is always fun). And Big Fun, an amazing toy store.
The Artist Forages: Blueberry Picking – A Gay Old Time
I've been meaning to write about blueberry picking for a while, but never got around to it for whatever reason. The blueberries have been in season in North Carolina for around a month now, and I've been lucky enough to get out to the farms 4 different times. There are two organic blueberry farms within a thirty minute drive of me, so I've really been taking advantage of their proximity. Blueberries are really important to get organic when you can because they have such thin and sensitive skins that they absorb whatever pesticides are sprayed onto them. I'm not sure what pesticides really do to our bodies, but I do know that it's nothing like the comic books. They definitely don't give us superpowers and an impetus to help get kittens out of trees. More likely it's cancer or an impending sense of doom.
I should probably mention at this point that I eat frozen blueberries for breakfast almost every day. They're fantastic with granola and yogurt or shredded wheat and milk. I also eat them a few times a month in pancakes. Blueberries are amazingly nutritious for us humans and they seems to grow all across the states. They're always listed as a superfood in those asinine "healthy foods you should be eating" lists that are regularly on the front page of Yahoo or in the NYTimes. (Those lists always have foods that aren't grown in the US and/or are ridiculously expensive. Açaí palm, anyone?)
There's a huge catch 22 with blueberries for me. They make me feel healthy and I'm sort of hooked on them as a staple for breakfast, but organic blueberries are super expensive and I'm a poor singer. For the past year I've been buying frozen organic Maine blueberries from Whole Foods (the only place I can find organic) at around $3.60 for a dinky 10oz bag. I'm no mathlete, but if I'm eating two bags per week for 50 weeks, that's over 360 dollars. How stupid is that? That's more than my groceries cost for an entire month.
So how do I rationalize the consumption of large amounts of organic blueberries on a poor man's budget? I pick my own! In two hours of foraging, I can pick a gallon of blueberries, and it only costs me $10. Let's do a little more math. A gallon weighs 8.35 pounds, so there are 133.6 ounces in a gallon. Divide that by 10, and you have 13.36 10oz bags. Multiplied by $3.60 (the cost of a Whole Foods 10 oz bag), you have $48.09 or what the $10 worth of blueberries would have cost me at the store. That comes out to $74 for a year's worth of blueberries. Awesome, right? Of course my math could be wrong, but I like those numbers.
Wait! The Gay Old Time! Let me tell you, blueberry picking is a gay old time. I bought a big blue bonnet from the garden section at Target. It protects my pasty Irish skin from the sun and since I'm huge it looks fantastic (What's better than a 6'6" guy in a big floppy hat? I'm like Hagrid or something). It's easy to get lost in the rows of blueberry bushes looking for that one perfectly juicy berry and before you know it, your bucket is full. It also gives you a newfound respect for migrant farm workers who spend 12 hours a day doing what you're tired of doing after 2.
I have a kite, anyone have a generator?
This is sort of awesome. It's always intriguing to see how people are finding creative ways to harness natural energies.
I have to wonder though, have these people ever actually flown a kite? The things don't exactly stay up indefinitely. Maybe they have a bunch of kids working for them to get the things airborne.
Giant in the Woods: Fire Roasted Sweet Corn
Okay, so I wasn't exactly in the woods. Actually I was just in a backyard, but there was no kitchen involved so it was kind of like the woods.
It's corn season still, and the corn is terribly affordable. I ate fresh sweet corn 4 or 5 days in a row last week when I was in Ohio and I think we were only paying around 2.50 for a bakers dozen at a local farm stand. If this isn't struggling artist food, I don't know what is.
There's nothing better than a dose of fantastic sweet corn everyday. The recipe here is simple to do in conjunction with whatever else you are grilling and will make the whole meal delicious. It really brings out the flavor of good local sweet corn and only takes about 15 minutes, including prep. Try to make this recipe while you can get fresh corn. There's almost no point in using the out of season stuff from the grocer.
I'm going to assume that you know how to start a grill. I prefer charcoal grilling, but gas works fine. Just make sure that it is HOT. The corn is being roasted here, but since it is sweet and fresh, you don't need to cook it for long. Good sweet corn can be eaten practically raw (like in the Crispy Corn Salad Recipe), so you are just browning it with a quick dry heat. In the pictures I have the corn roasting on the sides of the grill, but they would do well placed right in the middle of the rack, taking the direct heat.
Take an ear and peel back the husk as if it were a banana. You aren't shucking here, so be careful. Don't tear off the husk. Remove the silk completely from the exposed ear, following the example of the pictures below. It doesn't really matter if you have a strand or two left, but you want to get rid of as much as you can. When you have the silk cleared away, fold the husk back up so that it is loosely covering the entire ear. Toss it on the grill for 10 minutes, turning occasionally, and you're done. That's it. Dash clever, right?
Thought for the Day
I'm back. Posts should resume as usual.
I was at Sweet Melissa's in Rocky River, Ohio yesterday. It's a decent trendy/organic kind of place with tasty and affordable food. It was a good lunch, but not necessarily noteworthy. What I took away from the place was the interesting comment painted on the hallway wall leading to the exit:
"Save the Earth, it's the only planet with chocolate."
poignant, verdad?
Blinfo! (Blog +info)
Hey, So I'm traveling and don't have regular access to a computer/the internet. I also don't have a usb cable for my camera. I promise a plethora of entries next week, but right now things might be a bit sparse.
Where do I get Steampunk trousers?
How cool is this? Obviously Steampunk isn't really practical as far as application to daily life, but the way it embodies a quasi-scifi-machine age look is fascinating. It's interesting how it balances the dirty industrial look with a sense of optimism.
Have you seen the music video for The Smashing Pumpkins' track Tonight Tonight? It's got that same sense of optimism and wonder.
I'm sorta gettin tired of the whole jeans and a tshirt thing. It'd be pretty stylin to incorporate steampunk into my wardrobe. I don't know about you, but I'd totally wear a matching steampunk vest and trousers! I'd have to call them trousers right? Or maybe knickerbockers.
This Beats Medieval Times, Hands Down
Take a Gander
I've been toying with going somewhere interesting for dinner on my birthday, but now I think that I'll end up being disappointed. The best we have in the states is Medieval Times, and while it is a gas, it's basically dinner theatre in the round...with horses.
They've one upped us in Japan. Look at this edible body. I'm sure that it doesn't taste good, (blood sauce anyone?) but who cares. How often will you get to eat a dough body with consumable organs? It even is served on a wheeled gurney.
The funniest thing here is that they've created a body with enough detail to require blurring the naughty bits in the photo. Fantastic. Ah, to be young and Japanese.