Inspired Baking

Quick Breadsticks (& Crackers)

1/2 c	flax meal
1/2 c	garbanzo bean flour
1/4 c	gluten
3/4 c	whole wheat flour
1 t	salt
2 t	baking powder
3/4 c	warm water
1/4 c	EVOO
1/8 c	EVOO for brushing
var.	toppings: shredded nori, kosher salt, etc.

Measure all dry ingredients into bowl and stir together.

Heat water in microwave to warm, then add 1/4 c. oil. Pour, all at once, into the dry ingredients.  Allow to rest for a minute.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400ºF. Line baking sheets with silicone liners or parchment.

Mix the liquids into the dry ingredients thoroughly, forming a ball. Divide batter ball in two.

On a lightly floured surface, knead, then roll out each half of the batter ball to about 1/16” thickness (thinner batter produces a crispier breadstick/cracker).

Place on cookie sheets, leaving just a little space between them (will not need to leave much space at all). Brush with remaining 1/8 c. oil, and sprinkle liberally with toppings.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the tops take on a light brown color and you can hear the breadsticks/crackers sizzle when you open the oven door.

Place baking sheets on cooling racks, and allow breadsticks/crackers to cool to room temperature before packing into airtight baggies or boxes. Great for snacking on the run.

I was feeling inspired tonight after coming home from Sprouts Farmers' Market.  I wanted to use the garbanzo bean flour I'd bought, and was in the mood for something savory.  These fit the bill, using nori and kosher salt for toppings.

Woe of a Single Parent

Last week, I contacted the San Diego Department of Child Support Services.  I am trying (once again) to increase the amount which Mark contributes to Kat's care.  Her expenses are going up, and my Disability stipend is not cutting it.  It never has.  It is really only by frugality, along with gifts, monetary and otherwise, from many people in my life, that I am able to cobble together a functioning household in which Kat can grow into adulthood (at least young adulthood).

The Mira Mesa High School Band will be marching in the 2016 Tournament of Roses Parade.  This is a big deal.  They've begun their fundraising activities already, as there will be NO public school funds in any way, shape, or form allocated to the Band for participation.  At present, pupils must already purchase those portions of their uniforms that are not school-owned and passed down from one generation of pupils to the next, and the funds for the buses to take them places (including the trip to Pasadena next Winter) must be raised through sales of stuff and various other fundraisers.  I, for one, am pretty sick of fundraising catalogs from which the school receives a very small portion of the proceeds, and the fundraising company makes a boatload.

There is one fundraising project, however, that is reasonable because it does not carry a premium.  It is the purchase of gift cards for various retail outlets, catalogues, and grocery stores through the school.  The price one pays is the same as purchasing the gift card at the store, and the school gets a percentage of the proceeds.  That makes some sense, and it shows good will on the part of the businesses who participate.  I like that.

Well, anyway, back to my woes as a relatively destitute single parent.  In order for the court-ordered support to be enforced, the state to which Mark recently moved (I think he enjoys being a moving target as much as I find it frustrating) has to decide to enforce a court order from his previous state of residence.  Which, in short, means that I get zero financial support from him until his current state of residence decides it'll honor the support order from his previous state of residence, which was New Jersey.  I asked the woman at the Department of Child Support Services here in San Diego if I might find out which state that is, and she said that they can't give that information out.  So I don't even know where the f*cker lives now.  It's not that I really care.  What I care about is that he lives up to his responsibility of providing support, financial and otherwise, to Kat (at least until she reaches her majority in the eyes of the law).

The woman I talked to on the phone (her name is Linda) phoned to inform me that changing support orders is a long and arduous process, and can take months.  First, the state of residence (his state), has to agree to enforce the current order at all.  I believe most, if not all, states honor domestic court orders from other states.  It would be just too easy for a state to become the haven for deadbeat dads. That state would have to be willing to be known for this feature by other states, and it will soon become a pariah in this nation that claims to care for its future.

In the meantime, arrears would be accumulating and, if the court in whichever state he's living in decides to enforce the standing support order, he'll owe several months' payments, which he will be ordered to pay, if not all at once, then over some fixed period of time, during which he's also supposed to make regular support payments.  He'll beg off, of course, claiming that he, himself, is financially strapped.

In my opinion, his girlfriend, Zeynep, with whom he's been living, with their son, for several years now, can definitely afford to pay, since she's taking care of him financially, anyway.  If she cannot or will not afford it, then she can go to bankruptcy court.  I don't really care about their internal affairs. That'll be something she needs to decide, then.  Does she keep the loser father of her child and pay his child support to another woman (me), or does she tell him to hit the road?  I know what I'd do, but I'm a cold bitch, aren't I?

Reminders

Today is Kat's 14th birthday.  Officially, she became 14 years old at 2:20 this morning, or, really, 11:20 Pacific, since we're in California now and she was born in Virginia.  I asked Kat if she will go to see her father, Mark, this Christmas, since she had not seen him this summer, and I don't think she went last Christmas, either, so it will have been over a year since she's been to the East Coast for visitation.

I asked because, during the course of speaking with Peter, who is currently in London, the topic of potential travel during the latter half of December (and possibly into the beginning of January) came up, with Peter asking if I had plans for this coming Christmastime.  We agreed that it would only really be possible for us to travel together, out of the country, if Kat goes to her father, because then she'll have her trip, and we will have ours.  At any rate, she has not been to see her father in quite some months, and she's supposed to see him twice per year. according to our visitation settlement.

I've been to England with Peter once before, earlier this year, when he attended a conference in Barcelona.  I accompanied him to Barcelona (which is a beautifully laid-out city) for one week, then we traveled to England, where I met two of his brothers (the third lives and works in Asia), his sister, their partners, and Peter's mum, who lives outside of Newcastle.

The idea of seeing his family again (as well as a couple friends, whom I'd met last summer) is exciting.  However, there needs to be much planned if we are to make the trip, for Peter needs to finalize his travel itinerary for the remainder of this year since he'll be returning to London at least once (in October) and then traveling to China (I think Beijing) for a week or two (also work-related).

Since Peter spends so much time traveling, I find myself, not quite pining, but certainly missing his company when he's away.  His work takes him to London, on average, one week every month, and he travels to other locations as well to meet with their customers.  Living on the West Coast of the United States actually ends up working pretty well, for he is very near one of their major customers here in San Diego, and he can easily make day trips up to the Bay area, or spend a few days in Seattle, where some other large customers have their headquarters.

Thankfully, modern technology allows us to keep in fairly close touch when he's away:  we talk on the telephone and occasionally use FaceTime (Apple's equivalent of Skype).  Even with these methods of communication, I miss his corporeal, intellectual, and emotional presence.

I suppose something that has persisted, perhaps because we don't often get to spend large blocks of time together, is the "honeymoon period" of our relationship.  But honestly, I don't think the honeymoon will end, at least not for a long, long time (at least while he's still working and traveling as much as he does).  We've found in each other someone who, while not agreeing on all issues, at least understands our positions and respects them, which apparently, from what I've been told and observed, is not often the case, at least not in generations past  Perhaps that makes us a product of our generation, that we're not "settling" anymore.  I can honestly say that my life has been all but perfect. Those things that are not perfect appear, at least to me, to be circumstantial, and are therefore not an inherent fault in the relationship itself.

I find myself as happy a person as I've ever been.  I've been in love before:  twice, in my twenties (once at twenty-one, once at twenty-nine).  Both times, I'd been very idealistic and dreamy, as I suppose most young adults are.  Most of my happiness then was from future prospects.  Now that I am older (though I suspect not too much wiser, if at all), I've become more appreciative of the present.  After all, nobody can predict the future.  This is not to say that we ought not prepare ourselves for foreseeable future events.  For instance, I am, in the small way I am capable, preparing for Kat to graduate high school and eventually leave home - leave me.  Although I got a relatively late start in preparing for her to attend college or whatever further education she pursues, I'm doing something, and that makes me feel better.

A Few Images from the People's Climate March San DIego

Roasted Garlic Cloves and Thoughts on Cession

Take one large head garlic, preferably with several large cloves, and remove all paper/skin.  Trim root end of cloves and place in garlic roaster (Le Creuset sells a cute enameled cast iron one that will fit into a toaster oven with the rack removed) or in a small bowl/cup formed from aluminum foil.  If making a cup or bowl out of foil, make sure there is enough excess at the top of the bowl or cup so that it can be gathered over the garlic completely, leaving a little headspace.  Drizzle olive oil (extra virgin preferably, but regular olive oil will work, as well) over the garlic, and cover.  Place in oven/toaster oven and bake at 350 (standard baking temperature, it seems) for 30-35 minutes until it's soft enough to mash easily with a fork.  Use as ingredient in recipes calling for roasted garlic, or mix with butter and a sprinkle of each salt and pepper and spread on toast over a dab of tomato paste for a very tasty treat.  The acidity and sweetness of the tomato paste goes well with the umami sweetness of the garlic.  Eat it as part of a full, delicious breakfast with eggs or tofu scrambled with green onion/scallion, red, orange, or yellow sweet pepper, and mushrooms, accompanied by a hot beverage. Tea seems more appropriate than coffee, as it is more subtle (at least the way I make coffee, as I tend towards dark roasts, like French or Italian, & espresso [actually, cappuccino for me, because I'm a coffee wimp]).

I listened to some of the BBC coverage of the Scottish independence vote, and am relieved that the Scots decided to remain part of Great Britain, if for no other reason that there is enough political turmoil in the world, and though it sounds like it'd be a peaceful transition, it would encumber travelers as well as residents with requirements while traveling between Scotland and England, which appears to happen with some frequency.

One political region that has been listening closely to this news is Catalonia, which has been trying to cede from Spain, with Barcelona as its capital, for a long, long time.  I think that if Scotland had ceded from Great Britain, Catalans may have found greater support for cession.  As far as economics, I'd think that Catalonia has a better chance to succeed in ceding from Spain than Scotland from Great Britain, if only because I've been to Barcelona and found it to be a thriving city which can potentially support the region economically.  Other than tourism, I'm not aware of what kind of industry Scotland would engage to become economically independent, if that's at all possible.

Another political group that definitely has a stake in the Scottish vote to remain in Great Britain is made up of English citizens, whose politics include Scots in decisions regarding English issues, whereas the English had their rights to vote on Scottish issues "given up" as an incentive to Scotland to remain.  We'll find out, probably in the near future, if at any time, if there is a renewed English subgroup that might demand that their "rights" be restored.

I just took the garlic out of the toaster oven, added cold butter, a sprinkle of salt and freshly ground white pepper, and mixed it up.  The cold butter combines with the olive oil to form a nice medium for the garlic.  The salt and pepper enhanced the garlic.  I'm waiting for it to cool a bit.  I wish I had something to spread it on, like bread!  Maybe I have time to bake some this morning...

And Now For Something Completely Different...

(Apologies to John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, Terry Jones, and Graham Chapman)

I baked something tonight, which I kind of made up after realizing I didn't have time to make real grissini.  I call them "quick-grissini":

Rosemary-Garlic Crackers/Breadsticks (or "quick-grissini," if you like)

You will need:

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon flax meal
• 1 tablespoon wheat germ
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 5 teaspoons dried rosemary, crushed
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme, crushed
• 7 goodly-sized garlic cloves, mashed
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup olive oil, plus more for brushing
• 1/4 cup a-p flour, plus more for rolling
• toppings of your choice - I used black sesame seeds, nutritional yeast, and Japanese rice seasoning [that's what it's called on the label of the bottle in English]

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Grease two baking sheets with cooking spray (or line with silicone mat or parchment) and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, baking powder, salt, flax meal, and herbs.
• In a separate bowl mix together the water, mashed garlic, and olive oil; add it to the flour mixture.
• Stir it all together until you get a smooth dough. Cut the dough in half.
• Roll out batter into a thin sheet, then cut into strips/rectangles. Do the same with the other dough ball.  You should get two (residential oven-sized) baking sheets, depending on how thin you roll the batter.  Don't be afraid to roll the batter really thin if you want them crispy.
• Brush with olive oil and sprinkle generously with toppings.
• Bake 12 to 14 minutes.
• Cool 10 minutes.  Eat!  Or store in an airtight container for as long as you can make them last - mine are gone in a matter of a few days, even with just the two of us in my household!  They're addictive for snacking...

I want to try to make these with garbanzo bean flour sometime.  That'll eliminate some carbs and add protein.

But for now, it's sufficient...

Worrisome News

The methane that had for a very long, long time (think millennia) underneath the near-frozen Arctic Ocean has begun to be released as the Arctic Ocean has warmed due to warmer flow from the Atlantic Ocean to the south.  Gas bubbles have been observed to be escaping from the suboceanic permafrost at depths of 150m-500m along a continental gradient, and some of those gas bubbles are making it to the atmosphere.

The BBC article about it can be found here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8205864.stm

This release of methane is troubling (in terms of the human species' survival) because methane is about an order of magnitude (think 10x) more effective as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, meaning that it only takes one tenth as much methane to cause the same amount of warming in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, or that the same amount causes ten times the heat-trapping capacity of the atmosphere.  We're already at 401 ppm CO2, past the symbolic 400 ppm about which we'd been warned over a year ago.  We've increased the percentage of carbon dioxide by that much in only the past year and a half, and it doesn't look like humans have even begun to stop pumping the stuff out.

We are still living our daily existence, paying attention to more the more immediate concerns of making a living (for wage earners), raising families (for parents), and taking care of our own physical well-being (all of us, in general).  It is not for many people that the Earth's chemical balance presents an immediate emergency.  We are so wrong and short-sighted.

There really is no other environmental issue that is as pressing as controlling the level of pollution we are spewing into the atmosphere, dumping into the oceans and burying in the ground.

Some people, like the brothers Koch (I pronounce it rhyming with "notch," whereas Peter pronounces it as "cock", which does seem more fitting, as they are really f*cking the world over in a big, big way), aren't concerned with future generations because once they are dead, the world ceases to exist for them, so it may as well be on its way to ceasing to exist for all humans.

Again, I want to plug the People's Climate March that is taking place in New York City (and in other cities around the US), with which we (at least those who care enough to get off our duffs) are showing international leaders and representatives from all the countries of the United Nations that Climate Change is an issue that must be addressed on an international level.  We have a president who actually recognizes and wants to deal with climate change.  I hope he and his supporters (along with Congressional lawmakers and international leaders) are able to do at least something to mitigate our fast-approaching doom.

TWC Still Sucks (but I was able to downgrade my service after 4 phone calls...) and Retail Decency

Why is every supposed "customer service representative" just an aggressively-sales-oriented go-getter, who doesn't know what serving the customer really means?

I feel another rant coming on.  This one will be about the disappearance of "common decency" and, generally, morality.  I'm not defining morality in terms of biblical "morality," such as it is called, because those don't define morality at all.  They are merely the club rules by which one must play in order to fit into a particular god's "house."

People used to be polite.  I don't mean this as in not burping, farting, or saying, even to the consternation of listeners, "Well, f*ck that sh*t," when it comes to the organized lunacy whose sects propagate more violence than any intellectual ideas ever introduced.  [Jesus freaks and god-botherers of all stripes say shite like "evolution is just a theory," but I'd like for them to explain the difference between evolution and gravity, then, because gravity is, after all, just a theory.  I'd like for them to disprove gravity by using their own corporeal bodies as trajectories running off the edge of one of San Diego's myriad canyons.  My curiosity asks:  Will they pause, in midair, a la Wile E Coyote, look down, and realize there's no ground beneath them, before plunging into the canyon?]  I mean polite as in actually doing the jobs for which they should be hired, or have all employers just become large corporations, who, just like a snake oil salesman, out for a quick buck before skipping town?

What am I thinking?  Most corporations are just out to make as much money as quickly as possible, of course, because they believe that as long as they can provide the cheapest product for the lowest price (even though the price might be outrageous for the crap they're actually selling, a la Wal-mart), the price going in is low enough so that some people will, thinking in the short term, rationalize that when it breaks down (and it will, sooner rather than later, of course), they'll just have to get another anyway.  It's the development of the disposable society that irks me the most.

I don't want to sound like an old nag (because I'm not old, not because I don't complain or nag, because I realize I do my share of both), but I remember appliances that had 30-year warranties that actually never had to be called upon because those appliances lasted for the entire duration of the collective childhoods within any given household that bought said appliance.  I'm talking about the old household-common names like Whirlpool, Maytag, and General Electric.  Of these three, the only one left, really, is GE, and they just sold their appliance division to Electrolux because they've decided that consumer appliances are not where they can best place their resources to make the highest profits.  Of course, they can no longer make a go of things by making appliances - it's not an industry with large profit margins, at least not any more, unless one is either SubZero (fridges/freezers)/Wolf or another "boutique" high-end brand name that commands high retail and "contractor" pricing.

But I digress.  What I mean to address is the loss of store personnel who actually help customers achieve their goal of obtaining the best product, even if at the cost of their own business.  One place where I (not too recently) received this treatment was when I'd gone to Saks Fifth Avenue, in the Westfield Fashion Valley shopping center, to shop for a new swimsuit.  I was not looking for a "bathing" suit, just a utilitarian swimsuit which I could wear when I swam for exercise at my local community college pool.  The saleswoman who helped me (and I didn't get her name, but if I had, I'd have written a note to their management to praise her for her professionalism), after listening to my description of what I wanted, actually pointed me in the direction of another store that specialized in sporting equipment and therefore would be more likely to have the swimsuit I sought.  She was right to do so.  I thanked her, and then left the store to find the correct retail outlet to find what I sought.  She was being a real human being, not just an automaton purely focused on selling me something even if it were not what I wanted or needed, or else being no help at all.

That's the kind of decency that is lacking in today's (retail) environment.  I despair at this loss of humane treatment among humans, if for nothing else but for the loss of lasting satisfaction (on the parts of both parties) and gratitude.  I would like to think that if I return to that particular Saks Fifth store, that the same saleswoman might still be working there (for I'd hate to think that the management would have laid off such a good, honest person, though one never knows), and that I'd be able to thank her personally, even though she might have forgotten the exchange by now.

I think it's a generational shift.  The new(er) generation of consumers is more self-reliant and self-service-oriented, whereas I'm still accustomed to receiving assistance when I need it.

A retailer who almost gets it right is Home Depot.  They seem to have enough employees, but their availability is spotty.  It's nice, though, to enter and not only be greeted, but also directed to the relevant department.  At Costco, there are greeters, as well, but they usually just greet and do not seem to be there to guide customers to a relevant department, probably because when most folks go to a place like Costco, they're shopping for multiple things and so would be covering most of the store's areas, anyway.  I don't want to judge Costco unfairly, though, because I've never gone into a Costco looking for a single department.  I'm usually there to browse a bit, since I don't usually shop in bulk, being that I have practically no storage space for anything in my flat.  I usually go to just check it out, seeing if there any any large impulse purchases that I can make and still live with myself.  I feel comfortable shopping at Costco, though, because it pays its employees fair wages and provides benefits.  It's a good employer, unlike the sibling of Wal-mart, which seemingly has no human motivation besides pure greed.

What I really lament is the rise of greed, which appears to be eclipsing all other human traits.  How do people manage to raise decent families in this environment?  I'm trying;  are parents the only humans left who experience desires other than materialistic and selfish greed?

All Internet Service Providers SUCK and CHARGE TOO MUCH!

I just got off the phone with someone from Time Warner, my ISP (and cable TV provider, though I don't watch TV).  My Internet service was part of one of their "bundles" which end up costing less on the whole, than if I were to have an Internet-only service.  Ridiculous.  Now it's jumped up to over $70/month, and I'm considering returning to DSL with AT&T, even though that itself is fraught with problems and frustrations.  Is there no ISP that ONLY handles Internet service without having to connect it to either the telephone (like AT&T) or cable TV (like Time Warner, Cox, etc.).

I just looked online, and saw that, while NONE of the telephone representatives mentioned it, Time Warner DOES offer Internet-only service for $15/mo.!  Yes, I am pissed at having wasted hundreds of dollars on the fucking "bundle" that's really what the agents told me were the best price available!  What complete and utter assholes!  I understand they're trained to be useless and to minimize the information they provide to customers, but this is really asking these poor idiots to be EVIL!

I'll be phoning Time Warner to change my plan to minimize it completely, and to have one of their techs come and rip out the useless (and unused) cable television cables and such...

I'm relieved, now, that I have the time tomorrow morning to phone (they open at either 8 or 9, so I'll try first at 8, then at 9 if they're not open yet).  At least I can look forward to, NOT SAVING, but rather NOT WASTING money every month on services that I never use!

However this turns out, I'll write an epilogue to this entry to warn other people about Time Warner, at least...

Seized!

Ugh!  I don't know how it happened, but when I tried to make ganache last night, the chocolate seized!  Horrid!  So I had to look for an alternate use for it, as I was not about to waste that much chocolate.  I found a recipe for shortbread, so I decided to adjust it:

3/4 c.	butter, softened
1/2 c.	sugar
1 1/2 c.	flour
1/2 c.	bittersweet chocolate, melted (see remainder of entry below for adjustment)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300°. Line 8x10" pan with foil, overlapping at edges.

Cream butter, melted chocolate, and sugar together.

Add flour and mix til texture is like wet sand.

Press batter into lined pan.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes.

Cut into squares or bars while warm.

Leave in pan to cool thoroughly. (Shortbread will not be crisp until cool.)

It smells good in the kitchen just now, with the shortbread in the oven (I'm writing this while I wait for them to come out).

In the meantime, I've been watching my hits, and something that kind of surprised me, though Peter said that it's a not unpopular subject, is that of nudity, and the differences there still are in our present society between female nudity and male nudity.  

Nude females are seen as harmless sexual objects, whereas a nude male body is read as aggressive.  Why is this?  As Betty White has famously said, a penis is a weak and sensitive thing, whereas a vagina is something that, I think she said, can really take a beating, so to speak.

Male sexual organs, at least among more commonly-known, domesticated mammals, are often exposed, risking injury, whereas vaginas are hidden, contained within the body, so that they're protected, secure places.  Is that why the nature of (male) aggression, metaphorically, is to penetrate? Sounds like the most common metaphor for (male) aggression is just that.  Acts of war and invasion (which, in itself, implies forced entry into an unwilling/unwitting/unaware victim) are often couched in "male" terms.  Is warfare an inherently male action?  Hmmm...

The shortbread is out of the oven and cut into bars.  I've tasted one, and it's sweet and dry, just as shortbread ought to be, but not terribly chocolaty, so I think next time, I might go ahead and use a full cup of chocolate.  These taste pretty good, though, so I'll keep them around, at least so that Kat can try them after the football game tonight. 

An Alternative to Grissini

If you don't have the time to devote to making grissini, which requires waiting for yeast to do its thing, these are a nice, relatively fast, substitute.  I adapted this recipe from a dieting website.  It does  make me wonder, however, how breadsticks and crackers (being such high-carb snacks) appear on a dieting website!
The original recipe was written by a young mother, who shared them with her toddler, who also enjoyed oinking out on them.  I'd recommend doubling the recipe if you've got some time on your hands.

Rosemary-Garlic Crackers/Breadsticks

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon flax meal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 to 4 teaspoons dried rosemary (I used 5, measured prior to crushing)
• 7 goodly-sized garlic cloves, mashed into a paste
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup a-p flour, plus more for rolling batter

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400.
• Grease two baking sheets with cooking spray and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl combine the flours, baking powder, salt, flax meal, and rosemary.
• In a measuring cup, mix together the water, mashed garlic, and olive oil; add it to the flour mixture.
• Fold it all together until you get a smooth dough. Cut the dough in half for ease of handling.
• Roll out batter into a thin sheet, then cut into strips/rectangles. Do the same with the other batter ball.  Each ball makes approximately enough for a half-sheet-sized baking sheet.  You can put two in the oven at the same time to save electric/gas.
• Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, depending on your oven.
• Cool for 10 minutes, if you can wait that long.  They're quite decorative as twisted breadsticks on a tall glass.
• Enjoy!

Goat's Milk Ice Cream and Chocolate Truffles

Recipes first:

Goat's Milk Ice Cream
1 c.     sugar
3/4 c.   goat milk
1 pint   sour cream

grated zest of 1/2 lime
1 T. fresh lime juice


Combine sugar and goat milk in small saucepan and simmer until sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat, and whisk in sour cream.  Refrigerate until cold, then transfer mixture to ice cream machine and follow machine directions.


Classic Chocolate Truffles - Simple
12 oz.   unsweetened chocolate, broken into small pieces
1/3 c.   heavy cream
4 t.      liqueur, like Grand Marnier or Creme de Menthe (for flavour), or milk
3 T.     ground orange zest (if using Grand Marnier only)
unsweetened cocoa and/or confectioners' sugar, for dusting the truffles

Combine heavy cream and chocolate in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and cook, stirring, over medium-low heat, until chocolate melts and blends with cream.
Remove from heat, and add liqueur (and orange zest, if using).  
Pour ganache (that's the name for the mixture of heavy cream and chocolate) into a wide dish (like a pie pan) so that you end up with plenty of surface area so that it cools quickly.
Alternatively, you can line a square buttered baking dish lined with buttered parchment paper and pour the ganache into that to make squares.  
Cool in fridge for 1.5-2 hours, until it sets.
Using a melon-baller or other sphere-shaped spoon, scrape the surface of the ganache to form small, roughly sphere-shaped balls, placing them on a waxed paper-covered surface.  You need to work quickly, as the ganache will soften too much if you allow it to warm up.  Alternately, if you go the cut route, you can cut the truffles from the 8x8 slab into whatever shape pleases you, with cookie cutters.  If you're making them for the first time, it's easiest to just cut squares.
Place the unsweetened cocoa or confectioners' sugar into a shallow bowl.
After shaping the truffles, place them individually into the unsweetened cocoa or confectioners' sugar and move them around to coat them.  Place them into a waxed paper-lined airtight container and refrigerate until ready to eat or gift.

A more sophisticated recipe, which I watched on "Good Eats" (with Alton Brown) has you melting more chocolate and coating the truffles with that before dusting them with cocoa or confectioners' sugar.  He also offers crushed nuts as an alternative coating, which, when presented with the cocoa- and sugar-coated truffles, make for a very nice presentation.

This recipe for "simple" truffles is adapted from one I found online at the Better Homes & Gardens website.  I'd love to hear how the recipe works for anyone who ventures to make them before I do.  Right now, I've still got a backup of recipes to prepare, including pecan pie, cookies (I have a pantry full of cookie add-ins waiting to be used), and something with collards, as I have a bunch in the fridge (we received them the most recent share from Be Wise, along with a pound of heirloom tomatoes.  I also have a recipe I made up for veggie burgers that I want to try out, but I'll hold off on that until we eat enough of our refrigerator's contents so that I won't feel too badly about going to the grocery store and buying more tofu, which will form the base for the burgers.  If the recipe works out, I'll put it in a future post.

Dolmas and Protests for the Human Species

Right now, the kitchen smells wonderful...

I have a batch of dolmas bubbling away on the stove.  This is my first time making them, so it's a bit of an experiment.  It took me a long time to roll them up (I filled one jar's worth of grape leaves), so I'm hoping they taste as good as they smell...

The People's Climate March is coming up.  It will occur on 21 September 2014 in various cities around the country.  The big one is in New York City (Manhattan), but there is another in Philadelphia, and there will be one in San Diego, which I will attend.  It's really about getting politicians to get off their duffs and cooperate with one another to pass laws in their respective nations to control the release of greenhouse gases.  The United States was "led" by a nincompoop whom I call "the Shrub Part Two" (I think people expected him to be something like his father, who, although he was a conservative fool, was at least somewhat intelligent) for the period during which the United States failed to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol, thus giving every other nation an excuse to ignore it as well, much to our species' detriment...

It's not a matter of saving the Earth.  The Earth will continue, as a less species-rich place, as we're amidst the Sixth Mass Extinction.  Other species will need to adapt and evolve so that they can survive the unstable world humans will have wrought.  It will take several decades for the Earth's atmosphere (and, therefore, climate) to reach a new equilibrium, but it'll happen.

It's simply amazing to me that for some people, material wealth means more than the survival of our species.  Things are not perfect, but that doesn't mean we ought to scrap the whole enterprise of human civilization, does it?  Perhaps that is the wish of the Koches (I pronounce that name so that it rhymes with "blotch" because Ed Koch, one of New York's previous mayors, pronounced it that way) that since they're nearing the end of their lives (and I, personally, am looking forward to that event with fervent hopes that it occurs sooner rather than later), they don't give a flying fuck whether there is a world after they're dead.  They've nothing invested that they are not trying to consume themselves.  If their own existence will cease, what is the point, to them, of anyone else's survival?  It's an extreme take on the (Asian) Indian practice of the widow throwing herself onto her husband's funeral pyre.  If they're dying, why not take everyone else with them?  They've nothing to lose!

Here is the information for the People's Climate March in San Diego:

The March

12:30 Gather at City Hall / Civic Center – live music, signs, chants

1:00 March welcome and kick off! Todd Gloria, President of the San Diego City Council, will talk about the importance of a strong Climate Action Plan for the City

1:40 At American Plaza / Santa Fe Station, TBD will talk about transportation choices including transit, biking, carpooling and more

2:00 March arrives at the County Administration Park – more live music

The Rally

2:15 Rally begins! Speakers include: Richard Barrera, Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO and Board Member, San Diego Unified School District, Monique Lopez, Policy Advocate, Environmental Health Coalition, and Kevin Beiser, President, San Diego Unified School District.

3:30 Rally wraps up, more music

I hope many can make it.  I encourage everyone to take transit, or at least carpool, to their event.

CSA's

I returned to my gym regimen today.  That works well because I'll have the weekend off, during which Kat, Peter, and I will go to the 3R's on Saturday (sponsored by the San Diego Council of Divers).  I'll continue my exercise regimen Monday morning.  Yesterday, I renewed my Compass (transit) pass for thirty days, so I'm set for taking the bus to Westfield UTC, where my regular gym is located.

I was careful not to buy too much at North Park Produce this week because we received our share from the Be Wise CSA, and it always has really great stuff.

I highly recommend joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  They are subscription programs in which consumers share the farmer's cost of production, and in return receive installments of that which is produced.  It's direct and keeps money in the local economy.  The consumer often pays less than what they would have spent at a traditional big box grocery store, and the farmer makes more than if they were a supermarket supplier.

Essentially, it's a very nice way to stay connected to the earth and to one's locale, as CSA's tend to be local.  My last CSA membership was with another local farm that primarily focused on vegetables.  My current CSA, Be Wise, located in Escondido, in northern San Diego County, grows a great variety of fruits along with healthy vegetables.  I appreciate that it's all grown organically, but not because I'm a food snob.  I realize that the nutritional difference between organically grown produce and conventionally grown produce is negligible.  I do, however, appreciate the "alternative" growing methods and pest controls used in lieu of fossil-fuel-based fertilizers and pesticides which leave a chemical residue on the produce.  The farmers and the consumers both win when CSA's thrive.  If not with Be Wise (if you live in San Diego), I recommend joining one of (if there's more than one, as there are in San Diego) one's local CSA('s), especially if you live in a growing area as rich as the one I live in.  I understand that not everyone lives in San Diego, where produce is grown year-round, but in almost every region (of the United States), there are a growing seasons for various produce.

My final word is this:  If not planting your own garden, engage a local farmer by joining their CSA, which will support the farmer and to allow you to share in that farm's bounty.

SDNA&A Mixer and Drysuits

This morning, I came home around 9:30 am because my friend, Liz, was scheduled to come over at eleven so that we could start the process of making dough for grassini before an appointment she had from one to two.  First, we needed to decide how much to make, and settled on a half-recipe, which produced about four and a quarter pounds of dough.  Let me tell you that that amount of dough makes a LOT o breadsticks, especially as narrow as Liz was cutting them.  The first ones were taller than they were wide, then they evened into something more like a rounded square in section.  For the last sheet, I asked her to cut them pretty wide, something between three-eighths and a half inch wide.  She complied.  I'm experimenting with using nutritional yeast as added flavor, and I'm waiting to find out how they came out.  The ones we made with grated Parmesan, with sesame seeds (though these keep falling off, much to my disappointment), with the Korean mushroom seasoning I'd found at the market on the border between Kearny Mesa and Claremont, with just kosher salt, and without anything (just the rosemary-tainted extra virgin olive oil) all came out pretty tasty.  I'm waiting for the ones with nutritional yeast to cool enough to try one.

So much for my low-carb diet.

Peter is diving tonight.  I think tomorrow he might take his drysuit to the DUI (Diving Unlimited International) manufactory to see about repairs.  The price for the repairs, including replacement of the zipper, will run something like $600, compared to $2000 for a new drysuit, so Peter's going to keep using the one he has.  The fabric is worn thin.  In many places, light shows through pinholes which he then patches with a blob of Aquaseal.

My dive knife is still missing, as it's not at DUI and it's not at the dive shop where I brought it in for the new neck seal.  That reminds me that my wrist seals, which I've only dove with maybe a dozen times, appear to be deteriorating (at least one of them).  They are latex, which breaks down if exposed to sunlight or extreme heat, like being left in a parked car.  I don't think I've been exposing the suit to extreme conditions, so I suspect that the seals might just not be of very good quality.  I'm considering the idea of replacing the current seals with silicone ones as well.  I'll have them priced out before deciding, as there's still some life left in the latex ones.  My drysuit itself is in excellent condition.  It's made of a very durable fabric, thicker than Peter's.  I suspect that might be due to its relative "newness" and that it may not have been worn very many times by its previous owner.  And it had been very well-maintained.

Last night, Peter, Kat, and I attended the SDNA&A "Getting to Know You" mixer at Kous Kous, a Moroccan restaurant in Hillcrest.  I saw some people whom I'd met previously, and met a few new members.  Some of my friends are also longtime members of SDNA&A and were in attendance.

I talked one new member, Neil, into attending the sushi dinner I'll be hosting in about a week and a half.  I did not talk with him for very long.  He was friendly, and I look forward to seeing him again and getting to know him better.

A young man whom I met last night goes by the name Kyle.  He told me his "story," which started with the worst headache of his life and finished with him graduating college after having had two brain surgeries and radiation therapy to rid him of cancer.  He let me feel the scar hidden by his hair on the top of his head.

Betsy, a member we've known for years, and Kyle came to Tapas Picasso, a Spanish restaurant, to have dinner with Peter, Kat, and me.  We ordered all sorts of tapas to share, and the food was excellent.  I wrote a review for TripAdvisor.

Nudity, Public Knowledge, and the Self

I recently read a blurb of an online magazine article about nudity and that "posing nude is (one of) the greatest feminist act(s)."  I thought about this.  The author wrote about having posed nude twice for photographers (at her own behest, of course):  once when she was in her 20's, and once again now (presumably at a much later age).  She spoke of feeling powerful in her ownership of her body, and that it was important to feel that ownership.

I have been a nudist for the better part of my life.  My body was/is not (often) an issue.  My attitude has always been this:  here I am, whether you like it or not, it's me.  I was never so ashamed or embarrassed that I felt it necessary to hide my physical self from others.  As far as privacy, my mind is what nobody can enter or claim without permission.  And that permission is only granted if I even care.  I never had an "image" I had to protect, so I suppose I am lucky, as a private citizen, to not be in the public eye.

I understand that developing the body is important to maintaining one's mental and psychological sense of self and sell-being.  This is true.  When I exercise (when I can be bothered to hold myself to a regimen), it does improve the way I feel, and I believe it helps the way I think, as well.

However, I never felt my sense of Self to be so attached to my corporeal presence that my body meant very much.  I concentrated on my Self as a person who acts and worked to gain respect and regard from people through my actions.  As I said to one of the guidance counselors about socially "fitting in" when Kat was in Middle School, I said of other kids:  If they don't like it, fuck 'em. I don't think I'm inordinately proud; my self-confidence is a quiet one, and comes with the premise of "what's the worst that can happen?"  I was never a rape victim, so I don't know the fear and insecurity that comes with feeling personally physically threatened.  I never saw myself as a target, so I never behaved like a victim.  Perhaps that nonchalance was enough to ward off any potential attackers.

Granted, I've played it safe with my surroundings:  I don't walk down dark alleys by myself in unknown (or known) cities, though much of the time, I'm not alone and therefore am too busy conversing to take too much notice if there were any threat.  When I did travel more by myself, I limited my activity to places with high traffic or light (ie, daytime) so that I could always see.

I don't understand why people engage any religion that makes them feel shame for that reason (among others).  Most organized, male-dominated religions (at least the ones I've come into contact with) force women to hide themselves "for their own safety"!  If the world were a muslim one, yes, women would be threatened because all the men they're dealing with (or not dealing with, as the case may be) would be muslims who seem to have nothing on their minds but sex, and not just sex, but forcible sex.  Religion's preoccupation with sex is disgusting and wasteful at best, and sickening and terribly destructive at worst.

That brings me to the continuing conflict over muslims and the rest of the world (so it appears).  Other religions have aged to the point where they've either become complacent or (at best) irrelevant.  The worst ones (and they all seem to be concentrated in the United States) still practice the direct subjugation of women, like mormonism and the worst of christian fundamentalism.  All Abrahamic religions have at least this in common.

I can only address that with which I feel most familiar:  Why do christian and muslim men, almost universally, feel the need to keep women subjugated?  What is it that is so threatening that they lash out at those whom they believe to be inherently weaker?

A Great Day, Plus More Thoughts

Though I was originally fairly tired when I awoke this morning, I got up, made a pot of tea, and then started cutting up vegetables for breakfast.  I sliced green onions, chopped a red bell pepper, and sliced a few white mushrooms after brushing off the soil that clung to them from the package.  I brought tea in to Peter, who was still dozing, then came back out to the kitchen and continued the breakfast preparation.  I heated my "egg" pan (8" diameter heavy-bottomed nonstick), poured in avocado oil, and started the mushrooms first.  I added the bell pepper and allowed them to cook for several seconds.  Next came the egg, and with that, the green onion was sprinkled on top.  I tossed these ingredients for several seconds, then grated some Manchego on top.  When Peter emerged, he looked tired, but awake.  Kat was on her iPad at the time, but cleared the table as I left the mixture to cook on low heat on the stovetop.  We had more tea as we sat down to breakfast, which was, in actuality, quite tasty and nutritious (I realize I'm nowhere near vegan at this point).

Peter and I got our dive gear together (what wasn't already in the car, which we'd packed the night before), and headed down to La Jolla Shores, where we lucked into a totally sweet parking space across the street from the park.  We unpacked the car, then went to the low wall between the walkway and the beach to watch the surf for a while to plan our entry.

The surf was gentle for the most part, with waves coming in sets of three or four, with lulls between.  We geared up and walked into the waves.  I "cheated" and used my regulator to breathe as I donned my fins.  Once I got them on, Peter told me to start kicking out, and he met me several seconds later after donning his own fins.  We descended in about forty feet of water.  

On our way to Vallecitos Point, we saw a few small crabs on a stalk of kelp, chestnut cowries, and a school of fish whose name I don't remember (I thought they were senorita fish, but Peter told me later that they're another species, though they look a lot like senoritas).  We saw a fat navanax and a few octopuses, one of whom I followed across the sand for a little distance, much to its dismay, I'm sure.

We finished the dive by swimming slowly along the bottom until we were at about a depth of twenty feet, at which point we made our three-minute safety stop, then surfaced and kicked back to the beach.  We'd drifted northwards during the dive, so we came out through a tiny bit more surf than where we'd entered the water.

After taking off our gear and drysuits, we strolled to The Shore Thing Cafe, a small eatery that serves sandwiches, coffee, pastries, and, today, lentil soup.  Peter got a Nutella cookie which we shared.  We sat with our coffees for a good while talking (about this, that, and the other) before walking back to the park.  There, we saw Jackie, who told us about "yelling" at some other divers who were carelessly kicking up a lot of sand at the canyon's edge.  She asked us about our trip to Micronesia, and told us briefly about her trip to Galapagos.

When we were putting our gear back into the back of my car, several cars stopped, the drivers asking us if we were leaving.  In the back of my mind, I always think to tell people, "No, we're not going anywhere, we're just teasing passing drivers."  

Peter answered the first query of "Are you leaving?" with "Yes, but it's going to take us several minutes" to get everything into the car.  When we finally left, we saw a familiar sight:  there was a woman holding a corrugated cardboard sign at the intersection of Torrey Pines Road and La Jolla Shores Drive.  It's not an uncommon scene, that there are people there asking for handouts at street corners where, hopefully, well-heeled people drive past.  Someone in a car ahead of us gave her a sandwich in a plastic box.  "I bet you she's not going to eat that," I said.  I surmised that she must be taking in quite a cash haul today from the holiday visitors to La Jolla.

I don't give handouts.  I never did when I was a cash-strapped student, and I don't now. 

I'm not opposed to people asking for and receiving public assistance.  It is the government's role to care for its citizens.  Some people asking for assistance are financially better off than the likes of people like me.  I choose to live frugally and within my means without complaint.  I'm opposed to living extravagantly when, by doing so, one ends up in the poorhouse by one's own actions.  I hate it when people defraud others (the government or private citizens) by begging for money when they don't need it.

I understand that there are individuals who are mentally or physically incapable of helping themselves.  People are allowed by our society to fall through the cracks between government rules created to reduce fraud.  But fraud is still rampant.  

I read an article a while back in which the author sees a woman sitting with a small "sleeping" child with a hat (or something) in front of them for people to toss money into.  The child, the author learned, is likely to be drugged, and may not even be hers.  The beggar may not get the cash gifts people bestow upon her.  There are hustlers who use these poor people for their own financial gain.  It's often impossible to tell whether someone is truly in dire straights or just defrauding the public at large.

I've heard it said that beggars are "selling" something to those who give them money.  The do-gooders are buying a positive self-image.  Seen in that light, people who beg without need are salespeople, selling that positive self-image to the do-gooders.  Are they not operating under false pretense, though?  Is it up to the do-gooders to ask pertinent questions to make sure they are not being duped?

I try not to be a mindless gift-giver.  I cannot afford to be.  I give to individuals whom I care about directly.  I've started monitoring my nonprofit organizations.  Some organizations are run by CEOs who grant themselves ginormous salaries.  Other organizations are run on shoestring budgets.  These latter organizations are the ones I want to support.  The big, corporate nonprofits can take care of themselves, in my none-too-humble opinion...

Wow, I've really gone far from the beginning of today's entry, haven't I?  Writing about something personal led me to more general issues that, hopefully, mean something to others as well as to myself.  I just hope anyone reading these entries gets something positive from them.  I get something positive out of writing them.

Well, I'll close for now.  I'll try to get in a recipe or two in the near future.