September 17, 2009
I rarely bake or eat cookies or pastries, but for some reason I really wanted to make cookies for Justin and Julieth’s dance party wedding reception. It took place the day after the wedding, so I had lots of time to think about what kind of cookies I wanted to make.
Perhaps inspired by the countless blooming roses on display in Peninsula Park, I decided to make a recipe that I’d never heard of, a recipe that as far as I can tell is wholly original: ginger rose thumbprint cookies.
Basically, I made regular thumbprint cookie dough using flour, sugar, eggs, and vanilla, and then added a healthy dose of rose water to the mix.
Then, after forming them on the cookie sheets and baking them briefly to set a little, I dented the tops with my thumb, filled them with really delicious ginger preserves, and then baked them the rest of the way.
While they were baking I ran outside and stole two big roses from my neighbors, which I pulled apart and washed. Rose petals are edible- they don’t really taste like anything, but they do have satiny texture and make a beautiful garnish.
After the cookies were done and completely cooled I topped each of them with a single petal. The sticky ginger preserve held the petals firmly in place, and after that I used a misting bottle to spray more rosewater onto the cookies.
They looked beautiful and while aesthetics are important, even more important is flavor: happily, they tasted even better than I thought they would: neither the rose nor the ginger flavor dominated; instead, they seemed to flirt with other on my tongue:
Ginger: “Hey beautiful.”
Rose: “Hello lovely.”
Ginger: “Let’s make out!”
Rose: “Here? In this cookie? OK!”
I tried to let the flavors linger for as long as I could, because as soon as I presented the partygoers with my creation they were gone and that was it. Omar Khayyám said that the rose that once blooms forever dies, but fortunately I can always make more of these.
September 14, 2009
Paella is not the kind of dish I make all the time, in fact, I’ve only made it twice now. But it’s surprisingly simple to put together when you want to feed a lot of people a bunch of really delicious food.
First: buy all this stuff.
In the wrappers are chicken thigh, pork loin, chorizo, sole, mussels, and clams.
Grind saffron, sea salt, Spanish paprika and some dried chiles into a powder. Add lots of chopped garlic and grind it into a paste. Then stir that into four cups of chicken broth and let it begin to simmer.
Brown the pork, chicken, and chorizo in a deep pan and then remove, leaving the liquid. In that, sauté seeded tomatoes, artichoke hearts, onions, garlic, bay leaves, and diced bell peppers. When they’re getting close to done, spread the veggies in a layer at the bottom of your well seasoned paella pan. Top the veggies with the meat and sprinkle as much Spanish paprika over everything as you can imagine wanting to taste, then add a little more.
Top the meat and veggies with bomba or arborio rice, and pour the garlic saffron chicken stock over everything. Add shrimp, fish, mussels, clams, and garnish. Wrap tightly with aluminum foil and place it in the oven at 400 degrees.
My god, how I’ve missed this color.
The last time I made paella it was uncovered on a ceramic grill, and by the time I got it assembled the coals were dying so it took a long time to cook. This time everything was cooked perfectly after only 30 minutes. I couldn’t believe it.
The rice was soft and fluffy. The shrimp were crisp and plump. The mussels were firm but tender. And the meat and veggies hiding below were a delicious surprise.
In fact, everything came together so well that I won’t wait for a wedding to make it again. If you were really motivated, you could put everything together in an hour and eat it for the rest of the week!
Well, I could, anyway.
September 11, 2009
I’ve recently added some new randomized header images, and I thought it might be nice to reveal where I took each of them. Completely from memory, here goes:
Somewhere in Montana, Summer 2004
Tongariro National Park, North Island, New Zealand, October 2006
Charles Melton Winery, Barossa Valley, Australia, December 2006
Sunrise at Ankor Wat, Cambodia, February 2007
Mui Ne, Vietnam, February 2007
Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, March 2007
Black tip reef shark just off of Ko Tao Island, Thailand, March 2007
La Rioja, Spain, April 2007
Alcazar Palace wall, Seville, Spain, April 2007
Pantheon oculus, Rome, Italy, March 2007
Gatto above a 200′ cliff, Vernazza, Italy, March 2007
Lavender field, Provence, France, June 2007
Ascending the Villarrica Volcano, Pucón, Chile, September 2007
Thousands of adobe homes, La Paz, Bolivia, September 2007
First swim ever, Samara, Costa Rica, November 2007
Haystack Rock tidepool, Cannon Beach, Oregon, February 2008
Sunset from my apartment, Portland, Oregon, Autumn 2008
East bank of the Danube, Budapest, Hungary, December 2008
Mt. St. Helens, Washington, April 2009
Somewhere in New Mexico, June 2009
Cable car, San Francisco, California, July 2009
Seven miles above Earth, August 2009
Waialua, Hawaii, August 2009
Waikiki, Hawaii, August 2009
September 10, 2009
Note: Full resolution pics are available here for those who would like to print them.
Last Saturday I attended the wedding of my close friends Justin and Julieth. They met in Colombia two years ago and Julieth has only recently moved to the U.S. They’re both lovely people, and very much in love with each other.
“I’m doing what today?”
Hija y Madre
Wow.
Whatever my views on marriage may be, there was no denying the emotional intensity of the ceremony. It was as if love itself was flickering into view from across some metaphysical plane, like there was something else passing between the two people standing before us besides loving eyes and warm smiles. It was heady, and I was privileged to witness it.
Family & Friends
We are gathered here today…
La princesa.
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“Te amo sin saber cómo, ni cuándo, ni de dónde,
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where,
te amo directamente sin problemas ni orgullo;
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
así te amo porque no sé amar de otra manera,
so I love you because I know no other way,
sino así de este modo en que no soy ni eres,
in which there is no me or you,
tan cerca que tu mano sobre mi pecho es mía,
so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand,
tan cerca que se cierran tus ojos con mi sueño.
so intimate that when you fall asleep it is my eyes that close.”
-Pablo Neruda, Soneto XVII
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Los anillos.
Primero besos.
Happily ever after.
Champagne and prime rib at 11 a.m? Sure, why not?
First dance.
“Where are you going?”
“To take group photos in the rain, c’mon!”
Continue Reading…
September 9, 2009
Last Friday night Marissa and I went to see De La Soul, the seminal east coast hip hop trio that everyone I know who knows them loves, and everyone I know who doesn’t know them should.
Trugoy, Maseo, and Posdnuos
It was a great, intimate show, largely because De La Soul and the rest of us were celebrating the 20 year anniversary of the release of their masterpiece 3 Feet High and Rising.
Circa 1989
3 Feet High and Rising was remarkable for its use of obscure samples drawn from every different genre or music, complex, literate wordplay, skits that were actually funny, and most of all, the obvious fun that they had while making it. It’s full of in-jokes and cultural references, and more than anything it sounds like a bunch of close friends trying to crack each other up.
It remains one of the best albums ever made, which is all the more astonishing when considering the fact that they were all about 20 years old at the time of its release.
Looking for the love…
There it is!
“Difficult preaching is Posdnuos’ pleasure
pleasure and preaching starts in the heart
something that stimulates the music in my measure
measure in my music raised in three parts
casually see but don’t do like the Soul
’cause seein’ and doin’ are actions for monkeys
doin’ hip hop hustle, no rock and roll
unless your name’s Brewster, ’cause Brewsters’ a Punky.”
-The Magic Number
Towards the end of the show Trugoy hopped into the crowd to shake everyone’s hand before continuing the song. The first person’s hand that he shook was Marissa’s. She played it cool for a few seconds, but as soon as he passed her she completely freaked out.
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall
tell me mirror what is wrong?
can it be my De La Clothes
or is it just my De La Soul
what I do ain’t make believe
people say I sit and try
but when it comes to being De La
it’s just me, myself and I”
-Me, Myself and I
C.J. is a scrub (super scrub!)
After the show, the band stuck around to sign shirts, shoes, and whatever else people put in front of them. It was clear that they genuinely appreciated the love and support they’ve been shown over the years. It isn’t often you meet three guys at or approaching 40 years old who have been doing exactly what they love for over half their lives. I left the show feeling a little envious but also very inspired.
It’s De La Cratic.
September 4, 2009
September 3, 2009
Like a 50,000 winged herald of Autumn, The Vaux swifts have returned to Chapman School. Word of mouth hasn’t spread too much yet, so now is a good time to see them if you enjoy mindblowing aerobatics and natural phenomena without hundreds of screaming children around. More information (and video!) can be found in the post that I wrote about them last year.
September 1, 2009
