About Food

Being who I am, it makes sense that one of the ways I am preparing to tackle cancer is though food. My friend Tirza just sent me a wonderful cookbook -- The Cancer-Fighting Kitchen: Nourishing, Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery. The author, Rebecca Katz, takes a whole-foods approach that fundamentally resonates with my values around food.
Of course I have no plans to simply subscribe entirely to one food philosophy. However, based on a composite of information (including friends experiences, meeting with a nutritionist, etc.) I do plan to make some dietary shifts to both boost my immune system and manage the eventual side effects of treatment. Likely this will be fewer carbs and sugars and (believe it or not) more meat -- especially broths.

The new list on the right bar of this page is a place where I will simply list recent meals. I like the idea of sharing the creative and delicious things we are concocting as well as keeping a record for myself.

Eating the Big Apple

We are in New York for a couple of days (amidst a visit with family in PA and before a short trip to MA in a week). And while, yes, we have been enjoying lots of good time with family and friends over the last 10 days, it is the FOOD we have eaten that I find most bloggable. This is largely because we are deprived. Living in NE Wisconsin, far away from urban life and subsequent food venues, R and I do a good job of getting by. We make almost everything we eat, and seldom eat out ('cause, frankly, we can do it better). But all year we anticipate the five days we will spend in NYC as this blissful nether-worldly immersion into food culture. We have been talking and planning for months. And on Monday, the festivities began.

Let me tell you a little bit about what we have been eating.

On Monday night, after a long day at work, Maggie was noble enough to pile us into the car and drive us to Flushing to eat at Kum Gang Sang an enormous restaurant that one reviewer comments "is starting to resemble the closest thing to Disneyland- complete with entertainers and waterfalls- that the borough can cough up." The 곱돌 비빔밥 , or, Gop Dol Bibim Bab was delicious. Hollis and I asked for the vegetarian versions (I know, it is practically a sin to ask for vegetarian Korean dishes) while Mags and Rhonda ate the cow. These hot-pot dishes came to the table sizzling, and the kimchee, sweet potato, and seaweed salad were heaped into the bowl. I greedily filled my to-go container with every scrap.

The next morning we walked from Bergen St. (where M & H live) to Joyce Bakeshop on Vanderbilt where lattes were procured (very good, but not a Seattle latte). We couldn't stop to taste the pastries, because we were off to the Brooklyn Bagel Meccaa -- Bergen Bagels -- where we ate untoasted bagels (everything for me and poppyseed for R) oozing with cream cheese.

Our next goal for our food day was Vietnamese sandwiches and bubble tea. We walked around Brooklyn for several hours with the goal of burning off the bagels and becoming hungry again. It was a lovely, sunny day, and the walk was perfect. Hollis showed us around the neighborhood, we poked our head into a few cute shops, and talked and walked. Finally, we made it to a new place that Rhonda found on a "cheap eats" page of citysearch (Hollis had never been). Hanco's was delicious for two girls completely deprived of vietnamese sandwiches for a long, long time. The tofu was a bit too soft for my taste (yes, we all ordered tofu) but the carrot slaw was awesome. We also had taro bubble tea to boot.

After Hollis and Maggie headed off for skiing adventures, Rhonda and I ventured out for our final adventure of the day -- a quick slice of pizza at Antonio's on Flatbush. We totally disregarded the advice of this pizza critic who said that better slices could be found in Park Slope. Instead, we opted for what was cheap, greasy, and totally delish.

Corn Syrup -- as American as ...

Bad Blog Mommy

I have been a bad blog mommy of late. I have allowed my blog to sit unattended and, at times, unbathed, for far too long. I would like to place blame on Sarah Palin, the University of Wisconsin Colleges, and Buddy, to start.

I have been having a hard time dealing with the wallop packed by the beginning of the academic year. You see, colleges and universities have this genteel etiquette of giving new faculty less responsibility in their first year. It was lovely back when I was new, and the only committee meetings I had to attend dealt with potlucks and the occasional campus event. However, as I begin my second year at a professor, I feel like it was a mean, mean trick to convince me that I really like my job, and then add twice the work. I am struggling to recapture that feeling of warm-fuzziness that was a regular part of my first-year experience, and in the meantime, I am disoriented and confused by the amount of meetings, charts, bylaws and agendas.

But enough whining. We did something very cool this morning: we bought 5 dozen ears of corn and par-boiled and then cut it off the cob. We now have 18 bags of corn (3 cups per bag) to last us all winter long.




Geez, I don't know. Maybe I complain too much. Maybe Sarah Palin is right -- we can have it all!

Procrastinatin'

I have a full day of grading ahead of me, and I deeply engaged in the work of distraction. I have been reading the New York Times, chasing turkeys in our yard, reading wikipedia entries about the McCain family, and contemplating trimming the bushes. I am really talented when it comes to procrastination.

So here are some of the tidbits I want to share:

*Last night we had our seventh anniversary dinner. The tradition is that we take turns making fabulous meals; the menu is always a surprise and the non-cook must stay out of the kitchen until it is time to eat. This year Rhonda was the cook, and last night I was presented with an amazing feast:

Apps:
-orange ginger ale
-bacon wrapped scallops
- amazing homemade baguette (a 2-day process)


Dinner:
- broiled salmon on a wilted spinach-citrus salad

Dessert:
- Peach "cobbler" (on homemade scones w/ fresh whipped cream)

It was delicious and fun. After we were done with dinner (and in order to make room for dessert) we danced around the living room for an hour.


* The turkeys are back! I tip toed around the shed and caught this guy trying to get into the garden.


* There are some great Op-Ed pieces in the New York Times right now. This article is really insightful about the "othering" of Obama. It is also just plain disturbing . I cannot believe that 1/3 of all Americans still think Obama is Muslim. (Not to mention the ridiculous assumption that being muslim is suspect. )

P.S. Rhonda is going to see Obama in Green Bay tomorrow. I am jealous that I will be otherwise occupied with the teaching of writing. harumph.

recently overheard

Me: "Rhonda, if you had a big machine in the kitchen that provided unlimited Culver's frozen custard, do you think you would get fat?"

Rhonda: [Long pause]

Me: "Are you gonna answer me? 'Cause I know you, and sometimes you refuse to answer my hypothetical questions."

Rhonda: "I'm thinking." [Long pause.]

Rhonda: "Would it be free?"

Me: [wild laughter]


And this, my friend, is the quintessential difference between Rhonda and me. I would never even ask that question as I would be too busy drooling about the imminent possibility of a lifetime supply of creamy, rich deliciousness.

And here is how the conversation concluded.

Me: "I think I would eat so much of it for a long time and then eventually get kinda sick of eating it. But then I would get into it again. I think I would get really, really fat."

Rhonda: "Hmmm. Well, I kinda think I would like knowing that I could have it at any time, and I wouldn't need to eat that much of it. A few spoons-full after dinner every day. Mmmmmm!"

Me: [Shooting Rhonda a contemptuous look that cannot be defined in works]

garden bliss and other fallacies of "the good life"

I know that I have a tendency to write about all of the charmed loveliness of our new lives in the North Woods of Wisconsin as though everyone who is not us is living in a slightly less-perfect world than ours. It is, after all, a good story: two city girls move to the country, find the warm embrace of new friends and neighbors, work hard on their old house, and grow a big lush garden. All is well. Heaven on Earth. Green Acres. Rural Lesbian Utopia. yada yada yada.

While most of what I say is true -- I have inherited my grandmother's tendency to exaggerate for the benefit of a good story -- there are so many ways that we struggle. One of the big struggles is ongoing frustration and uncertainty about the garden. We worry a lot, and have a persistent sense that WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT WE ARE DOING. Yesterday was exemplary in terms of Amy and Rhonda garden frustration; this is not just a deep sigh of frustration. This is this-sucks-so-much-I-would-rather-be-working -the-night-shift-at-Walmart kind of frustration.

Yesterday we did our usual morning walk-about only to find that both of the beds of chard (which we have carefully weeded, fertilized, re-seeded, etc) look like warm death; all of the plants are wilty, some have been de-rooted and are completely dead, and those that survive have been eaten by bugs. Mind you, this is one of the plants that "experts" say will grow anywhere, has no predators, survives over and under watering... so our chard disaster is even more frustrating. One of the most-coveted things we anticipate growing here are leafy greens. You cannot get chard, kale, greens (mustard, collards, etc) for at least 60 miles. We miss and crave these deep-green veggies, and hope to have a bountiful crop to sustain us over the winter.



One of two devastated chard boxes.






Added to this frustration and disappointment is the fact that it seems we haven't yet really gotten that much of anything else to eat out of this garden. There was lots of arrugula for a while, and now we have daily spinach. But the few zucchini, peas, and radishes have been small in quantity -- hardly enough to fulfill my vision of "putting up" loads and loads of veggies for the winter. It is an awful lot of work for not that much food, and, as of yesterday, I was ready to pack it all in.

Since then I have regained perspective, and apologized to the garden deities offended by my cursing. I know that there will be a time -- in about a month -- when we will have more tomatoes, beans, zucchini, cucumbers, and onions than we will be able to handle. However, in the meantime, this whole gardening thing feels deeply imperfect and highly questionable.

To see a more complete picture of the state of the garden, check out the photos uploaded today at my flikr site.

Strawberries

I went to Berryland on Sunday morning, before collecting R up from the airport, and picked 20lbs of strawberries. It was such a fun thing, and 20lbs of berries for 24 bucks is amazing. Even more amazing is the smell, taste, and sight of fresh-picked berries.


We now have three quart bags of frozen berries, five pints of berry jam (including one rhubarb, cinammon, strawberry), and a week's worth of homemade strawberry shortcake.



YUM!

Foodie Chronicles

Just a quick post about some of the food we've been making lately. I cooked quite a bit for my parents, and they seemed very appreciative of the home cooking. My favorite dish to come out of their visit was a creative adaptation of the Pennsylvania standby, chicken pot pie. I made buttermilk biscuits with chives (from the Holman's garden), and I roasted carrots and brussel sprouts in olive oil. The third component was simply chicken cooked in a light sauce (celery, onion, herbs, chicken stock). I then topped the biscuit with veggies and chicken. Voila! Chicken pot pie a la Amy.

Today's dinner was one of those fun, inspired uses of leftovers. We have a boat load of fried Walleye left over from fish fry, and, inspired by our West Coast exposure to gourmet Mexican food, we decided to make fish tacos. We heated up the fish in the oven, shredded some cabbage, sliced an avocado, and made a garlicky-but-sweet aioli sauce. Layered on top of corn tortillas, the result was delicious. Yum! Dessert was a rhubarb pie with freshly picked rhubard.

Chicago: Land of Good Things

At about 8:15 last night we pulled into our driveway happy and satisfied after a quick visit with friends in Chicago. On Saturday afternoon Rhonda picked me up at my department meeting in Waukesha (which I like to say very fast, with emphasis on the S-h-a!), and we headed to Chicago to see some of our closest friends. It was really exciting to catch up with folks from grad school (even briefly, Yang), walk around Millennium park with Lauren, and spend a good 24 hours with Vince and Ji. A lot has changed in the nine months since we left Seattle, and yet it felt as though it had only been a few weeks since we saw each other last.

At the core of our friendship with V & J is a love of good food. In Seattle we would regularly plan big, extravagant meals to cook together at our house. Thanksgiving with them was a must. Another notable event was the time we went in together on a bushel of peaches from the Farmer's Market, and then had a peach-themed meal (including the amazing peach barbeque sauce). So, combine our love of food with Rhonda and my good-food deprivation, and you get a Chicago food fest.

The quick run-down: We chowed down at Little 3 Happiness on Cermak. The meal included salt-n-pepper squid (sorely missed since we left Seattle), pea shoots in garlic sauce,rice noodles with Chinese broccoli and beef, and honey walnut shrimp.

Breakfast the next day was *really good* lattes and pastries at Intelligentsia.

There was a quick driveby of an ethiopian grocery where we purchased injera for a homemade ethiopian feast.

And lunch was an amazing repast of falafel, pita, stuffed grape leaves, and chicken shwarma at the Chicagoland institution, Pita Inn.

All of this foodie-ness was topped off with a routine stop at Woodman's in Green Bay where we bought lot of good food to stock our northwoods pantry.

Weird Regional Foods

In my last post I mentioned Booyah. This has led to some interesting discussions of strange regional delicacies.

Rhonda and I share a love of red beet eggs and chow chow (Pennsylvania Dutch delicacies).

Perhaps the best so far: Poutine!

I am interested in hearing from others...

1.14 update:

Hollis adds Goulash as a southeastern Wisconsin favorite, and Jerry P. notes that chow chow is also a southern dish

beauty

This morning we visited a neighborhood woman who keeps chickens. When she found out we are interested in having some chickens, she generously invited us over to see her operation (she has about thirty chickens of different varieties and six guinea fowl). we got to see how she built their coop, and witness the very cool free-range bird haven she's got going. The best part was being generously gifted with a dozen eggs. I know from experience that fresh eggs taste different than store bought. But these eggs--in their variety and color--are the most beautiful eggs I have ever come across. I spent a while photographing them this afternoon:

It is snowing, snowing, snowing right now (and has been for several hours). Finally, the first snow storm of the winter. The snow is dry and powdery and has blanketed everything.

Overheard in our house earlier today...

"So, you know how I broke the salad spinner when I let Buddy lick the pancake batter out of it and he ran away with it and tried to eat it?"

"Yeah."

"So, well, I really hate not having a salad spinner. It makes washing lettuce so difficult. So I tried something new."

"AMY! What did you do?"

"Well, um, I put the washed salad in a paper bag, stapled it shut, and then put it in the dryer on 'no heat.' "

[incredulous look] "You are crazy."

[pause]

"So, how'd it work?"

"Well, the good news is that the lettuce is dry. But I guess that damp paper bags don't do well on tumble dry, so the lettuce is kind of all over the inside of the dryer."

Thanks

Our friend Lauren is in town between a trip to China and Thanksgiving with her family in Indiana. Her short layover is mostly about eating, walking in the woods, and making things for future eating. Later today we will eat a made-up holiday meal we will call Thankslauren. As the sweet potato rolls bake, let me regale you with a photographic list of things we've done.

We canned our own tomato sauce:



We cut down a Welcome Winter Tree (formerly known as Christmas Tree) in our own woods:

And we spent hours in front of the fire:




Most of these photos were taken by Lauren who is a professional photographer.

mellingers

Rhonda's parents left this afternoon. I am forever indebted to them for insulating, re-building, drywalling and mudding our rather large bedroom. Rhonda and her dad bonded over this project (one night working until 9:30pm) and all three of them worked tirelessly for six days in a row. The last morning, while Rhonda and her dad did last-minute things, her mom taught me how to make and can apple sauce. We had a really nice visit, and we never be able to repay them for all of the hard work.

Friends

We are just back from two days in Madison. Buddy was lucky enough to have his own special Tirza-sit. He came away from the weekend with the new nickname: "snuggle bunny."

It was really good to get away for a little bit; Madison is a great city, and we enjoyed eating our way through the weekend. (The highlights: good Nepalese food on State Street, Kale and Greens and the Farmers' Market, and fresh dolmas at the Willy Street Co-op). It was also good to come home. As we turned onto Shore Drive after the last leg of the drive (we stopped for Chinese food at Chef Chu's in Green Bay, a restaurant whose name made us giggle in its similarity to our friends name -- Jeff Chiu) we talked about what it felt like to return "home." It is beginning to feel like a real home -- both through time and sweat equity -- and now we are ready to share it with our friends.

Which brings me to the second part of this entry. There is a lot going on in the lives of our friends. In addition to the previously-blogged mention of births, we have neglected to make any mention of other big, life things. Emily Hughes is 1-year cancer free!!!!; Sari Gold is a doctor; Beccalena moved to Berkeley; Gaby and Kaushik are recently without a home because of a fire (they are okay -- i still think they should come and stay here for recovery!); Ben Dorn got married; Natalie and Meg are becoming dog-mamas; and, last but not even a little bit least, Tricia and baby-Rio are coming from Northampton on Thursday to be our first house guests! The moral of the story? Buy renter's insurance, celebrate the good things, and come visit us!

xoxo

been a long time...

Another week has flown by. We have already completed three weeks of school. I have 47 ungraded papers in my bag to show for it. The week has been good, bad, and ugly. I think we are both struggling with our new and shifting roles as full-time teacher and stay-at-home domestic diva. I come home exhausted and needing to veg. Rhonda has been at home all day dealing with a range of projects from painting the bathroom to mowing the acreage to baking bread and feeding the masses (on a tight budget). I want to be helpful but am, at times, lazy. Rhonda feels overwhelmed with the amount there is to do in this old, needin'-updating house.

And there are the good things. I have funny stories to share about my crazy students. I have good teaching days where I feel inspired. Rhonda finds moments of relaxation in the woods. She has made several killer loaves of bread and new dishes (beet risotto!) that bring inspiration and good eating into our day.

One success in our week is that we finally finished the bathroom. It took so much longer than we thought, in part because of the surprises: the bathroom fan that David and Rhonda installed took several days to cut through the walls, wire the ceiling, etc. The wallpaper was a pain in the arse to get off. The walls underneath were damaged. There was drywall repair and paint consultations. Lights and fixtures were ordered online. We re-fabbed the sink and installed our own, new faucet. And then there was the shower curtain: we found the ideal shower curtain more than a month ago. But every Target in the midwest was out of it. We made lots of phone calls. We tracked it down.

Today we put the final touch on our new and improved bathroom. We found this enormous, heavy mirror at TJ Maxx for a super-clearance price of 5 bucks. It weighs at least 25 pounds and required hours of retrofitting to make it secure. We used a stud finder to locate the right mounting location only to find out that the studs stop halfway up the wall (WHY? WHY, I implore you?). After all of the effort that we put into this tiny bathroom, it was the mirror that brought us to the edge of our collective sanity. However, we persevered and jerry-rigged and alas, we have a centered, secure, level mirror. And a fully-functional bathroom. This is a huge luxury after weeks of having to pee under a ladder (in the mid-painted bathroom, not outside) and showering in the basement's farmer's shower. The end product is quite lovely. It is a space that feels clean and simple. It is pretty hard to capture the room well -- it is small and bare which doesn't necessarily lend itself to photography. However, here are some before and after pics:

Wall and light fixtures: Old = stripey wallpaper and globe lamp



Old, pearlized sink with coppery faucet; new, brighter and simpler fixture and sink top.



The final product: