I'm working from home all day tomorrow in order to supervise my cooking class final project - a very promising-looking sourdough loaf.

Life is good!

My sourdough starter version 2.0 (Japan starter was the OG) has breathed what life it can into this project. I think we all know that San Francisco wild yeast kicks Japan yeast ASS (sourdough pretty much unheard of in Japan), so here's hoping. I will come up with a nickname for this starter, contingent upon edible outcome.

My menu planning project is also taking shape - mayhaps I'll post my final menu after it's done?

Earth Day

Okay I don't even know when the hell Earth Day is...but every day is Earth Day as far as I'M concerned! I just wanted to vent because I got yet another asinine Earth-Day-related e-mail, from American Apparel this time, that reads something like:

Blah blah blah we are a pretty green company we have solar panels we recycle we use organic cotton sometimes. BUY OUR SHIRTS AND THINGS AND DO YOUR PART ON EARTH DAY!

So anyway, I really hate green-washed consumerist crap. If you really want to do your part on Earth Day, remember our tried-and-true childhood aphorism:

REDUCE - Don't buy more shit! It will, most likely, end up in a landfill or in the big garbage raft in the sea. And for god's sake, if you DO buy more shit, buy quality.

REUSE - Repurpose something you already have, or buy something used if you have to buy something at all. (Trees? Getting a bit thin on the ground. Used books? A STEAL!)

RECYCLE - Try to inventory everything you throw in the trash (and thereby directly into the earth) for one day. Recycle all those pieces of paper (despite how suspect your local recycling program may be, you might as well try), and give away your tchotchkes on Freecycle.

Argh! Okay. Getting off my damn soapbox now.

Just kids in the eye of the storm

My favorite song of the moment: "Daniel" by Bat for Lashes. I have a total lady boner for Natasha Khan - her face and voice make my heart hurt.

And can you guess which Daniel this song's about? Iconic image at the end of the crazy video.




(Sweep the leg.)

meat, books, and blows to the head

Having had a concussion this past weekend, am I exempt from St. Patty's day nonsense today? I think so. I'm now contemplating the virtues of getting a helmet vs. the pitfalls of severe helmet hair and bobble-headedness. And how often does some douche just blindside you from the left at a 90-degree angle? Probably too often, in snowboarding.

Anyway, tonight is the moist heat meat cookery lab (as opposed to the dry heat lab), where we're making one of my all-time favorite dishes, rogan josh, with meat from the little lamb we butchered last week. Yum! But I still feel a bit mentally foggy, so let's hope I don't lose any fingers. I also put together the grocery order for this lab, so let's hope I didn't miss anything important.

I just finished re-reading Ender's Game after starting the audiobook on my weekend Tahoe trip. I'd forgotten how good it is, but damn, it's good! It's far more about group psychology, adolescence and mental warfare than space battle, which is why I love it. I might have to finally pick up the rest of the books in the series.

I also grabbed Scott Pilgrim #5, which will no doubt be hilarious and offbeat like all the previous books. Scott Pilgrim, a funny, cheeky, slightly self-deprecating band musician, has to fight off the 10 evil ex-boyfriends of his awesome girlfriend Ramona (in mortal combat). The feel of the book falls somewhere between manga and webcomic. Love!

Um, I'm also about to start Heat by Bill Buford, the latest in my series of food-/culinary-related books from off the library shelves. I just finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which is worth a read if only for the absolutely hilarious description of turkey sex that serves as the grand finale to the author's one-year experiment of living off the land. Otherwise, it's a great guide on how to eat seasonally and locally, especially if you have to wonder, on a farm, what could you possibly eat in January?

So, I think I heard that coffee is a bad idea when you're concussed, but I can't give up this fantastic blend I got from a local roaster. I like my coffee with hot milk, and this stuff is KILLER with milk. Makes a part of me bliss out and float away every morning. Also, dig the pseudo-scientific naming scheme - although I'm skeptical about the 30s lifetime (half-life?), I appreciate where they were going with that. Anyway, to be honest, Barefoot has some of the worst in-cafe ambiance but truly the best beans.

Arrgggg so it's been a while. I've been busy! Here's what's been happening since my last post, in cop-out list form:

1. TWO hummingbird chicklets enter the world!!! So. Freakin'. Cute.
2. Possible job offer on the horizon? Keep your fingers crossed.
3. Hawaii trip planned for spring break (hopefully aforementioned possible job offer will not interfere).
4. I hacked up a spring lamb and a half pig today.
5. I am stuck with a real shit-for-brains group for a big group project. Sigh - this always happens.

Going to Tahoe for the weekend. <3 More updates when I return. Maybe.