You Better Think, Let Your Mind Go, Let Yourself Be Free

Superbowl Sunday

 You never know what you're going to be served up in life.  I took the day off and woke up with a building migraine that grew after sampling my baked goods for breakfast.  Seemed like a good idea at the time. We were inviting friends and considering asking more.  I get a bad message that my sister had an accident the night before and was in the hospital.  Party mode stopped.  I get all the details, migraine goes full blown and I take shelter in bed for an hour to let the storm pass.

 You can't truly celebrate after you know someone you care for is in pain. She was being cared for, but surgery was planned.  I cancel plans.  Most everything was prepped and ready to go, so snacks were brought out sort of half heartedly throughout the day.

 Roasted spicy chick peas. Let them get crunchy, they are better than nuts.  Greek nachos on melba toast. A hummus layer on bottom with cucumber, tomato, red onion and feta with lots of lemon and parsley on top.

 White bean dip with crudite platter and not pictured, black olive pate.

This was my fun and one decadent idea. Pan pizza with a crust made out of roasted polenta! I premade the polenta the night before, pushed it flat in a pan and let it set in fridge overnight.  Then put in oven to get a little crispy before adding sauce, sausage, mushrooms, onions and black olives, with Mozz and Parm of course and fresh oregano.  A favorite combo of toppings.  This was special.  

 
We ate this right before halftime. I cleaned up and was ready to just sort of jelly, daydream and consider my sister, let me head calm it's ass down. The color explosion that was Coldplay was about what I expected. They're a band I don't not like but certainly would never listen to an album.  I'm tortured with their songs all week at my job thanks to Pandora Radio.  Thank goodness Bruno Mars came to bring some much needed life and he's such a great entertainer.  Everything hits me late though.  What's with all the colors and flowers?  P tells me, SF, Gay Pride...oh, got it.  Huh.

 But then before I could decide if all the flowers were too weird as a nod to gay pride, .....Beyonce!  It was less than 3 minutes I believe but she comes from the school of Michael Jackson 'bringing it', doesn't she?  All present. All purpose that gal.  And again, it hit me slower the Black Panther motif. I hadn't heard her single yet, so I was trying to hear the lyrics.  Seemed powerful. Although after checking online I heard half the lyrics wrong.  And her dancing! Dang.  

Immediate outrage ensues.  But for an artistic performance like this, I hope that is the goal, to provoke and engage conversation over important issues.  She did just that although how people could be so offended to me is a little over the top.  The average person doesn't even know enough about the Black Panthers.  The anti-cop accusation, I don't see it.  With that thinking then why isn't Coldplay's performance seen as anti-straight?  Her song, as far as I can tell, is partially about coming from nothing and possibly becoming the next Bill Gates.  That's empowerment.  She was in SF.  It is the 50th Anniversary of the BPP's formation.  Mario Woods. Black Lives Matter. It's Black History Month.  Beyonce, um is a 'Uge black celebrity,  has a new single that ties into her performance, and all of this present history.  Everyone with a conscious should be joining in the protest of police brutality and racial profiling, even the good cops.   I thought this was a positive, strength building artistic performance and the good side of bullshit pop music.  She is a pop star by the way, so why are we shunning growth in this area?  Would we like her better as a cheerleader, assuming no responsibility, no respect for the times we're living in?  Does anyone remember Katy Perry's performance?  Is that what you want?  Let's put this into perspective people.  Sure I would have personally loved to see Metallica, a direct tie in to SF, maybe even an old rocker guest star like Carlos Santana.  But why shouldn't music lead some of the change in this revolution we keep talking about but not having? And what better place than the biggest national sports event? I say good on her, it was a brave move given the unique position she is in.

You Better Think

You know how when you're browsing through women's magazines they always feature quick and easy pasta recipes with like two ingredients. And they look really good and you think...I should make that!

Well I had the tri-pasta and the fresh baby spinach and delicious roasted turkey meat all ready to go so I made that. It was super fast and super easy. I cooked the pasta in chicken broth and garlic cloves to give it flavor, left a bit of the starch water, added in the fresh baby spinach to wilt in, then added my roasted turkey meat to heat through. I added just a bit of soy sauce and sesame oil and pepper flakes. And for a bit of decadence, some Parmesan shavings on top. Straightforward clear taste. Watching the new cooking show Bite lately, I'm more conscious of trying to make each ingredient heard and relevant. Why add stuff if it doesn't make sense or is important to the flavor? It is a simple lesson but one that is key I think. I know in the past I have been guilty of heavy handed seasoning at times or adding spices that I just like but maybe are not essential to the dish. Something to think about.

Chain of Fools

Monday brings a brand new week.... so I'm shifting my misery. I have a sparkly new manager that is hot off the prick press, reciting handbook jargon. And he's straight to boot. There is no god in retail.
He'll be much harder to control than the last one. This one has a bigger brain and tons of misguided vision. But just like the former, major ADD. Sometimes that comes in handy, just direct them to the shiny new handles and they're off like a special needs butterfly. He's also demanding we all open up our availability to nights and weekends..and weekend nights. In one swipe of his boney tattooed arm he's changed my whole world.

To deal with this I had only one choice but to march over to Not-Ray's Pizza and pick up two regular slices, lots of pepper flakes.

If You Wanna a Do Right All Days Woman....

I like to enjoy my mate. And let me tell ya, sometimes he don't make it so easy even when he's 'right'. I definitely don't enjoy him when he's hungover. He likes to go out and have fun sometimes. Nothing wrong with that. So I have to send him with the best fighting chance to come home in descent condition. It's a gift to myself. Who wants to hang around with a grouchy sick hungover guy? You have to come up with solutions. Create your own reality. Why not? I've done it for years.

I pack enough in P's stomach to absorb a good percentage of the alcohol. People joke about amateur drinkers but you'd be surprised how many times P, who I consider a high level professional beer drinker at this point, had gone off without a full belly, thirsty and tired. You get a little older, you learn a little bit. Not a lot, but maybe enough to sometimes save yourself some misery.

This time I sent him off stuffed with a ginormous cheap steak. I marinated it in my tomatillo sauce, garlic and lemons. A nice piece of sweet corn on the cob and snow peas with a huge glass of cold milk and a wheat roll.

She Blinded Me With Science

Mole is the calculus of cooking. And I sir am no Isaac Newton so I leave that sauce to the professionals. But one late night Rick Bayless episode and I'm thinking at least I can attempt a decent version albeit semi-homemade. A pack of turkey wings and legs-for-days were the inspiration for this weeks project.

Since I'd been braising all these chicken thighs, why not turkey? Seemed better than any other method. Turkey parts browned then braised in beer, cumin seed, garlic, onions and stock.

After about 3 hours, the meat was calling me to just eat it as is. So moist and fall off the bone. But I had to experience the mole. I refrigerated the meat overnight and then used the braising liquid with the mole paste the next day to make the sauce. Good idea monkey! I think that may have put this over the top.

Mole is made with a gazillion spices and peppers. You'd have to be a mad scientist to try to make this from scratch, although there are good condensed recipes on the web now. I have to wonder though if they could be half as rich. The thing is Dona Maria has a great jarred paste. And Rick says the pastes are used in Mexico regularly. You go to the market and they scoop it up out of these huge mounds. But the bigger mystery is how the hell did my mom make this from scratch? Okay, again, Midwest, the 60's and 70's. There wasn't real dried peppers to buy, certainly not 6 varieties..and certainly not at the Kroger's on South Anthony where we got our groceries. The only international items were Chef Boy R Dee and Chung King. She didn't have star anise or any exotic spices that I knew of. I know she did bring out that Mexican chocolate like it was gold. I always had to taste it because I wouldn't believe it wasn't sweet, like she told me about hundred times. But how did she do it? My moms mole was deep and rich in flavors. The color was intense. I liken it to listening to Aretha Franklin as a child. I knew it was damn good but I wasn't quite able to grasp it and it scared me a little.