The 'light snow' forecast turned into a snowstorm on our drive to the Canyon.
When we finally made it up the hill, visibility was 0.4 mile and we couldn't tell if the canyon even existed. Thankfully, the fog disappeared overnight, and the canyon came into view, as breathtaking as promised.
The snow made our planned hike all but impossible. We hiked a short distance on the rim trail that had been cleared of the snow and were rewarded with gorgeous views of the forest on one side and the canyon on the other.
I'd thought seeing the Grand Canyon once would be enough. Now I am already planning our next trip. :)
Roasted butternut squash over Israeli couscous and preserved lemon. From this recipe.
I made minor changes, toasting the couscous and cooking it in just enough vegetable stock. (2.5 cups stock for 2 cups of couscous.) I omitted the onions and used cilantro instead of parsley.
The best part was making my own overnight preserved lemons. I bought a bagful of Meyer lemons from the grocery store and juiced half of them. The other lemons were quartered, packed with salt and lemon juice in a freezer bag, and placed in the freezer overnight. Thaw them in the morning and voila! Perfect preserved lemons. Great added to grain salads and pilafs.
The dish was a hit at the potluck for Movies and Mental Illness. We saw The Bucket List, and everybody was asked about their bucket list (we like cliches in this department). Mine was going back to college for a lit degree and backpacking through Europe. What's on yours?
Born of an illicit affair between a randy tomatillo and a particularly wild berry. Each glowing voluptuous body sheathed in a gossamer cape, begging to be unwrapped and devoured.
Um. Okay. I'll just post the pictures.
Hangaku Gozen has tagged me to write about 7 weird things about myself. What can I say..I'm the kind of girl who yells when she finds cape gooseberries in the grocery store, and scares little kids buying candied ginger in the next aisle.
Is that not weird enough? You need six more?
2. I don't like drip coffee.
3. I think plants have feelings. I say a quick sorry when I have to uproot a plant.
4. I don't get sarcasm. Like, not at all. Not even elementary school level sarcasm.
5. My longest online friendship is now 10 years old.
6. I eat snow. And hailstones. I also drink rainwater sometimes.
7. Can't think of one. My online-friend of ten years can't think of one either. Neither can my husband. I'll leave this one for my neighbors, then. Tell me what's weird about me. Then tag yourself.
The first time I ate Ethiopian food was at The Blue Nile in Detroit. What struck me instantly was the similarity with Indian food..the symbiotically fermented flatbread (much like the Indian dosai), the lentils (cooked exactly like dal) and the curried vegetables. The nitter kebeh or spiced claried butter is just like the Indian ghee with added spices. Yet it was different enough to hold my interest, and utterly delicious. Since then I've been looking for teff, the nutritious grain used to make injera, and finally found it at the local Healthy Life Market.
Next came the recipe hunt. I found several recipes for injera, rating from all-wheat-flour recipes to 100% teff recipes which required a starter, which meant 'feeding the starter' several times a day, for several days.
Um. No. I kept looking, and finally found this recipe. I modified it a little bit, not using the yeast and only fermenting it overnight. I used some fenugreek seeds to aid the fermentation. While cooking the injera, I added 1/4 tsp of baking soda to the batter to get a spongier crepe.
I love everything about injera..the rich chocolate color, the incredible flavor, the fluffy lightness. We served it with Ethiopian lentil stew, or mesir wat, which is just like the Indian masoor dal. Masoor-mesir...makes me wonder if they have a common origin.
Ethiopian mesir wat/Indian masoor dal
Ingredients:
1 cup split pink lentils (masoor dal, easily found in Indian groceries)
1 tbsp clarified butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, smashed and chopped
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
1 tbsp cumin
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tbsp berbere powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
1 tbsp ginger-green chilli paste
- Wash and soak the lentils in 2 cups water for about 15 minutes.
- Heat the butter in a soup pot. Add the cumin, turmeric, berbere powder, onion. Cook until the onions are softened and changing color. Add the garlic. Saute for a minute, then add the tomatoes, ginger green chilli paste. Cook for another few minutes.
- Add the dal and the soaking liquid. Bring to a boil, the lower the heat, cover and simmer. Cook for about ten-fifteen minutes, until the dal is well-cooked but retains its shape. ( I make it in the pressure cooker. Much faster.)
- Sprinkle with garam masala and serve.
You can serve this as mesir wat with an Ethiopian meal, or replace the berbere with coriander powder and serve it as Indian dal with rice or rotis. Or thin it out with water/stock and serve it as a warm lentil soup for snowy winter days..delicious.
What else would you crave on a cold rainy day?
What you need:
1 8oz package button/baby bella mushrooms, sliced thick
1/4 cup dried shiitakes
1/4 cup dried porcini
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 cup full cream milk
salt and pepper to taste
a few drops truffle oil for garnish
- Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for twenty minutes. Squeeze and remove them, and chop into coarse pieces. Discard stems. Filter the soaking liquid. (It is usually gritty.)
- Heat the butter in a saute pan and add the sliced mushrooms and thyme. Saute until the mushrooms soften and release their liquid. Add the chopped soaked shrooms and the soaking liquid. Add about a cup of water or more. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for fifteen minutes.
- Take a hand blender to the soup. When you get the desired consistency, add the milk, salt and pepper. Turn off the heat. Ladle into bowls and add a drizzle of truffle oil to each serving.
- Serve with crusty bread.
This is good. There are no onions, no garlic, no celery, no carrots, Just mushrooms. If you're a mushroom lover, this soup is for you. Let me know when you make it and I will be right over.
Earlier in the day, I'd noticed folks twittering about something called Engage With Grace. Being in clinic, I didn't pay much attention. Back home, I found out about the Mumbai attacks. Terrorists launched an unprecedented attack at multiple places in Mumbai, India, killing and wounding several and taking hostages. The news shook me, and this post hit home.
We hardly ever plan to die. Or even fall sick. Sickness and death happen, sometimes when you least expect them to. When I was on consult service, we were regularly consulted for End of LIfe issues. Take an example. A 50 year old man was in the hospital and appointed his son the Medical Power of Attorney. He then went to live with his daughter instead, and told her he wanted to die peacefully at home. When he was on his death bed, five years later, his daughter and son disagreed on the plan and the son's wishes had to be followed, resulting in a course of treatment (and suffering) the patient probably had not wanted.
This happens ALL the time. And it is completely preventable. Consider this.
- 73% of Americans would prefer to die at home, but anywhere between 20-50% of Americans die in hospital settings.
- More than 80% of Californians say their loved ones “know exactly” or have a “good idea” of what their wishes would be if they were in a persistent coma, but only 50% say they've talked to them about their preferences.
- Eight out of ten people say it is “very” or “somewhat” important to write down EOL wishes, but only 36% actually have written instructions.
Our conversation can make a difference. This Thanksgiving, talk to your loved ones about this.
- Commit 2 minutes to present The One Slide at your next company meeting
- Share the slide with loved ones over dinner
- Be able to answer the questions for yourself and for your loved ones
- Answer the five questions on this site
- Encourage others to do the same
Download the slide here.
For more information, go to www.engagewithgrace.org
Create your free online advanced directives here.
An east-west fusion Thanksgiving dessert for lazy souls.
Take 1/4 cup pumpkin butter. You can also use pumpkin pie mix or pureed pumpkin and add spices and sugar to that. Nuke together with 1 cup water and 1/2 cup milk. In a small skillet, heat 1 tbsp of butter and add 1/4 cup semolina/cream of wheat. Stir it around on low heat until the semolina is toasted. (Alternatively, you can do this in the microwave on full power for two minutes, stirring every 30 seconds or so.) Now add the semolina to the pumpkin mix, throw in a spoonful of chopped nuts and a cardamom or two, nuke for another two minutes and voila! You have an easier-than-pie warm dessert for winter nights.
As a kid, my favorite thing in summer holidays was to bury myself in the coolest room in our house, reading and re-reading my dad's stash of old Reader's Digests. There was even a hindi version of Reader's Digest for a while, optimistically titled 'Sarvottam', 'the best'.
Sarvottam used a delightful blend of formal Hindi grammar and American humor, and I instantly fell in love. Reader's Digest was where I read about Christian. Christian was a lion cub purchased by John Rendall and Anthony Bourke from Harrods of London in 1969 and ultimately reintroduced to the wild.
Fancy finding him on You Tube, twenty years later.
