Dirty Dan Dan Noodles

Noodles. I love them. When I get them fresh, I get a craving for salty, nutty, and spicy, making my immediate go to Dan Dan noodles. But I'm no purist, I throw other things in like little bell peppers and spinach. I like a well rounded, one pot meal as much as the next home cook. Less to clean for G anyway!

Let's get to it.

Scallops on a Monday

Seared scallops in a pesto reduction on mashed chive and miso potatoes, with a tomato mugwort confit.

Got my Asian Veggie haul this weekend and felt like spicing up my Monday with something a little fancier than usual.

Summer is Stir Fry Season

I don't what it is man, even during muggy Brooklyn summers I crave a stir-fry. Is it weird? Or is it just the abundance of farmer's market produce I've been hauling home?

Yes that means firing up the wok and standing over a hot stove for a couple minutes, but it's worth it to have that saucy, spicy, fresh crunch of veggies over a perfect spoonful of sticky white rice. You sweat it out, then you go for ice cream.

The only secret to nailing a stir fry is knowing the order in which each vegetable needs to go into to cook properly. Not too long or it will wilt and lose nutritional value, not too short or you miss out on that melt-in-your-mouth sweet spot that delivers maximum flavor.

I usually send in the aromatics first; onions to soften in oil for a few minutes, then the minced garlic and ginger, and whatever paste I'm using (gochugang, doubanjiang, chu hou, etc) so it fries a little. If I'm using a little ground pork (never more than 1/4lb) I throw that in too and let it brown a little, then deglaze with sake or shaoxing wine.

Then you add your vegetables in order of cooking time. Eggplant, carrots, or yams always first, especially when in chunks. Zucchini, peppers, mushrooms, the ones you want to retain a little bite or crunch, those go next. And then last you add your leafy greens, just a minute or so before adding cornstarch, soy sauce or oyster sauce (or both) mixed with a little water/stock and turning off the heat. Sprinkle some MSG if you dare.

It's the same recipe each time, just a rotating cast of different vegetables, all eager to perform their role. Served over rice, this dish comes together in 30 minutes and is easily modifiable for vegans.

Muskoka - the perfect last days of summer

I'm sitting here on the dock overlooking one of the many (many!) bays of Muskoka Lake, Ontario, comfy in a lemon yellow Adirondack chair, the sun warming my already toasted shoulders. My normally pale legs are a brown they've never been before thanks to several days of fishing for smallmouth bass in my kayak. 

I'm eating a sandwich I've made of equally wonderful parts: wholewheat bread G's mother baked last night, dill pickles his brother and girlfriend jarred a month ago, and produce all bought from the local farmer market twenty-five minutes away by car. The fizzy tart drink I'm sipping on is a mixed berry sour from Grist Iron, a spacious brewery G and I stopped at on our way up to Canada that was perched on a valley overlooking Seneca Lake. We caught the sunset there and the sky faded to layers of rich loamy blues I feel like you only ever see around upstate hills. 

A coworker kindly covered one of G's shifts last minute so we've gained two extra days up here, meaning I'll be able to spend the last few days of summer doing some more fishing, mushrooming, reading, and swimming in the lake before returning to our busy lives in the city. I miss it, but not as much as I'm enjoying being out here, feeling like an innocent kid on summer break again. 

G and his brothers all get back from a run and I watch them jump into the clear and cool water together. The dogs leap in after them, their little furry heads bobbing like otters as they paddle furiously to catch up. I take a bite of my sandwich and luxuriate.

Moka's always got her eyes on the prize

New Orleans - Solo Trip!

First book I saw in NOLA.

Well! I finally made it to the Big Easy, and I was (mostly) alone. Would I go again? With friends, for next time I think.

Don't get me wrong, I experienced really beautiful moments there by myself, but also some scary moments of...well, being femme, alone, in a wild ass city where drinking is the main attraction for most. Did I watch someone crack open a whiteclaw at 10am on a weekday while walking their dog? Was I followed around at night by some shady characters until I dipped into a shop or bar? The unfortunate answer to both is yes. 

But did I also witness the legendary Kermit Ruffins play trumpet after I had just seen Kendrick Lamar perform an hour earlier? Hell yes I did. I made some new friends too, and they kindly let me tag along at night so I wasn't just out at bars, a drunk wallflower obsessively people-watching from the corner.

And then there's the food!!!

Austin pt.5

Besides certain stores with AC, we learned there is little "chill" in Austin.

This recounting of Austin is getting pretty epic so I'll try to be more concise: The next day we got heatstroke. I kid you not, G hands down almost passed out in the street.

Salade Lyonnaise, the perfect Summer salad

Nothing says summer is here like the NYC heat hanging low and hot while mosquitos buzz past your ears as you try to sleep at night. Everything is sticky and everything is in bloom and my plants outside wilt faster than I can remember to water them. Yesterday we took a lunch time walk to the park and I collected the wilting buds of day-lilies drooping from their receptacles along the way. These flowers have already bloomed and the sun has done most of the preserving work; when you pick them shriveled, the plant can redirect its energy to future blooms and we get to jar a bunch of their old flowers for clay pot rice in the Winter. It's a win-win for both nature and human. 

Austin pt.4

It goes without saying, G and I were of course hungover the day after the wedding.  Crawling out of bed well after noon, we remedied this with more tacos from Mi Madre, because they were reliable, filling, and of course, dirt cheap. Sitting there in the midday heat, marinating in the grip of our steady but thankfully dull migraines, we watched the great-tailed grackles swoop and dive tables for scraps.

Claire told us to meet her at Barton Springs and even though all we wanted to do was crawl back into the loft and sleep, we put on our swimsuits under our clothes and Ubered to South Austin. As our car drove over the bridge that overlooks the creek my mouth fell open at the sight outside my window. What looked like thousands of people were playing in and around the water. It's not the size of the crowd that amazed me, it was the fact that people were playing in the actual water. All eleven years of my NYC-acquired instincts fired off and I gripped G's arm and pointed out towards the horde. We're swimming in that?

The Hudson River comes to mind. Bergen Basin comes to mind. The freakin' Gowanus Canal comes to mind! I can visualize the sheen of oil visible from the 9th St bridge at this very moment. You do not go swimming in bodies of water around a city because there is literal waste in them, not to mention heavy metals and toxic sludge. The Health Department will actually text you if there's feces at your beach in NYC if you ask them to. 

As we walked up to the gate I looked for signs of trench foot, of gangrene, of necrotizing fasciitis on anyone leaving with wet hair or damp bathing suit. All I saw were smiles and tan lines. 

My apprehension abated once we paid admission to enter. We had walked a while to find the entrance because the whole place was fenced off. There was a long line for the kiosk and a few signs posted detailing prohibited items: No food, no pets, no smoking. No coolers, no frisbees, no open containers. No blasting music from speakers. I felt a sense of seriousness here, it wasn't just a watering hole but a place with rules. Surely you wouldn't pay to swim in toxic water. I mean, they don't bother fencing off any of the water in NYC because you just know not to get in. 

Inside, we found Claire and Andrew as well as a couple of her girlfriends sunbathing on the grass. There were just as many people doing the same thing here as there were people by the waterside. When we walked down to the shore I discovered this part of the spring was built like a pool; concrete walls, ladders and all. However from where I was standing you could see downstream, beyond the area where we were fenced in. A separate throng of people waded or floated in the water, prohibited items and animals in tow. They were hanging out on the natural river bank of Barton Springs, I wondered if they refused to pay but still thought to respect the same rules. Maybe they left wrappers, plastic bottles and bags of dog shit instead.

The water was almost cold and felt refreshing in the heat. Little bits of algae and leaves floated around us as we swam. I was surprised that when sunk to the bottom, my toes touched mud and stone. Devin, one of the women with us, later told me the water comes from the Edwards Aquifer and flows directly into this spring. The waters are monitored rigorously in order to assess the effect of development on the natural springs. The preservation efforts also play an important role in protecting the eponymous salamander, which is an endangered species. While she was surprised they didn't enforce reef-safe sunscreen, I was in awe anyone in the business of developing Austin had the foresight to protect the natural resource against all the inevitabilities of a growing city, ie. sewage and pollution. 

After a couple hours of lying around in the sun G and I split off with another couple in order to check BBQ off our Austin to-do list. I've never had southern BBQ and hoped the hype around it wouldn't pale in comparison to the real thing. We stopped at a place not too far away from the springs called Terry Black's, which I had flagged on my Google Maps (♑️). The air was heavily perfumed with mesquite and the line snaked in ribbons around the building, giving us a long time to look at the workings around the pit. We got some beers from a vendor with a cooler and settled in. 

A worker stoking the pit

When we finally got inside, about 45 minutes later, it was clear they had a solid system in place. It was near the end of the day so they were out of popular items like the brisket and ribs but I didn't mind. I was a vegetarian for almost fifteen years until the pandemic, any and all meat is novel and equally delicious to me, especially when expertly handled. We ordered our sides, selected our protein by weight, then sat outside with our spoils. Honestly? My favorites were the pinto beans, mac and cheese and the green beans. 

Our hangovers weighing heavier in the evening heat and our tummies very full, we didn't have the energy to even get a drink afterwards. We just ubered home with our leftovers and called it night.

Austin pt.3

The Queenbeak

The next morning we quashed our burgeoning hangovers with coffee from Thunderbird and chicken sandos from Bird Bird Biscuit on Manor Rd, which was thankfully just a 12 minute walk from the Airbnb. These people were not concerned with manageable portion sizes or exceeding our daily carb intake. I ordered the Queen Beak and wished they offered some kind of sour slaw or pickles to cut the richness of butter biscuit, crunchy fried chicken, and spicy mayo. G got the Firebird, which had pickles but the sweet kind, which I've never been a fan of. Maybe it's the Szechuan in me, but spicy and salty absolutely need sour and bitter, not just sweetness for counterbalance. Give me kimchi, give me black vinegar, give me zha cai to cut the fat, please!

Austin pt.2

The next few days in Austin passed quickly and were filled with good company, good drinks, and dare I say, greater food. It was the end of May and to quote the band America, "the heat was hot". Thankfully it was a dry heat, at least to someone used to swimming around NYC streets in 96% humidity. The sun being hot as hell makes absolute sense, but the air? Not so much. 

Austin, Texas pt.1

I wanted to jot down some notes about our visit to Austin before I forget. We were just there two weeks ago for a friend's wedding. While G has been many times, to play SXSW and to visit family in the state in general, I'd never been to Texas nor had I ever been to a friend's wedding. (Does Florida count as The South? If not, then it was my first time in the South too.) Many firsts for me in one trip!

accidental chocolate cake

I was craving chocolate after dinner. Story of my life, though I have fewer cravings these days. I never bake, it's just not how I like to cook (which is to say, with precision) so I threw together some things from the fridge and pantry while hoping for the best. I only have a shallow pan for gratin or lasagna so that's what I poured the batter into. Somehow the coconut came through without overpowering the chocolate powder, but also made the cake SO SOFT. This was fucking delicious the next morning with coffee. For cake it seems pretty healthy too?

2 oz soft unsalted butter

4 oz coconut oil thick

1 cup granulated sugar

1/3 demara sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. table salt

7-1/4 oz. (1-1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for the pan

2-1/2 oz. (1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup) unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1 cups good-quality brewed coffee

1/2 cup rhum

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Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of the 9x13 pan with a square of parchment.

If mixing by hand, put the softened butter and sugar in a medium bowl.

Using a silicon spoon, cream them until smooth, about 1 minute. Switch to a whisk and blend in the eggs one at a time. Stir for another 30 seconds, until the batter is smooth and the sugar begins to dissolve.

Mix in the vanilla and salt.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and baking powder directly onto the batter.

Pour in the coffee. Gently whisk the ingredients until the mixture is smooth and mostly free of lumps.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly with a rubber spatula. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with only moist crumbs clinging to it, 40 to 43 minutes.

Set the pan on a rack to cool for 20 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edges of the pan, invert the cake onto the rack, and remove the pan. Invert again onto another rack and let cool right side up until just warm.