“I like it when a flower or a little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete. It’s so fuckin’ heroic.” George Carlin
When will the state-sanctioned killing of black people in this country stop? What is it in the DNA of white people born in the U.S. that allows them to cast their eye away from the senseless killing of our neighbors, our friends? How can we keep looking away from this injustice, this extermination of black people?
We are headed towards revolution, and I know which side I am on. It scares the shit out of me to think on it, but I would die if it meant equality and justice for black people. If one of us isn’t free, then none of us are free.
I, Too
I, too, sing America.
I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.
Tomorrow,
I’ll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody’ll dare
Say to me,
“Eat in the kitchen,”
Then.
Besides,
They’ll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed—
Goddamnit. I can’t post this week’s links without talking about George Floyd and Breanna Taylor. The death of George Floyd is now under investigation by the FBI, but we all know how that will most likely play out, even with a horrific video being widely circulated by the media. And as for the latter? Many Kentucky papers are shifting the focus to Taylor’s boyfriend, most likely to ease themselves out of the spotlight for killing Breanna Taylor.
In 2015, 104 unarmed black people were killed by police in the U.S., and only four of those cases resulted in convictions of the officers involved (at the time of the picture above, the officer who killed Walter Scott was still on trial. Michael Slager, the officer who shot Walter Scott, was convicted and given 20 years in prison – two years later.).
The United States must stop killing black people.White people must take action and join in the fight. If you are silent, you are complacent. NONE OF US IS FREE UNTIL ALL OF US ARE FREE.
Regular links below. If it feels wrong to keep reading, I am totally fine with that. Do what you need to do – if the links below help, take what you need.
So since we’ve rolled through baking sourdough bread and moved on to cookies, I propose we venture forth into biscotti territory. Last week, I made this biscotti recipe of mine using white chocolate chips, but the original deconstructed Nutella biscotti is, if I may say, fucking delicious. It is impossible to screw up and can be made in a variety of flavors. It only gets better as the days go by, but it never lasts long enough for me to see how long it lasts. Go make some. Pro tip: if you don’t have almond flour, make your own in a high-speed blender or food processor. This recipe does not require a fine almond flour.
Since it’s your business, check out this New York Times article on Tabitha Brown, the vegan TikTok star with a soothing voice and delicious food. You won’t really understand the hype without hearing the voice, so check her out on Instagram and TikTok – vegan or no, she is v comforting in these times.
Next, I have been trying to figure out ways to completely break up with Amazon. They are no good for anyone, and we all know it, BUT THEY’RE SO DAMN CONVENIENT. And then I read this: “The Max Borges Agency polled 1,108 people from the ages of 18 to 34 who’d bought tech products on Amazon in the last year. An astounding 44 percent said they’d rather give up sex than quit Amazon for a year, and 77 percent would choose Amazon over alcohol for a year.” Yikes. It’s really, really time to limit or eliminate purchasing on Amazon. See the full article here.
And finally, by the time you read this, a vaccination for COVID-19 may be heading to human trials, potentially ready by the fall. If this is true, it is the fastest a vaccination has ever been prepared in the history of such things. The next challenge becomes preparing billions of doses for all of humanity, and the inevitable cash grab by various pharmaceutical companies looking to profit. Isn’t saving millions of lives payment enough?
That’s it for this week. Perhaps as we turn the calendar to June (!!) we are turning a corner with coronavirus, quarantine, and humanity. I suppose we’ll see.
Be kind to each other. Wash your hands. Wear a mask.
As we all navigate what might turn out to be a brand-new world, it helps to go to the water, our place of origin, and to just listen to it meet the shore.
I don’t like to “interpret” a poem, as I feel there is more value in a person coming to it whole, without preconceptions. Please enjoy.
The Adjustments
When coffee first arrived in Europe,
It was referred to as “Arabian wine.”
In turn-of-the-century San Francisco,
The Bank of America began as the Bank of Italy.
When Cortés arrived at Tenochtitlán on November 8, 1519,
Moctezuma II greeted him warmly, and kissed his hand.
All of that. We are amazed by the smallest of things
Coming before us, the facts that seem so strange to us now
As we live in their opposite rooms.
In 1935, reports say, when Isaac Bashevis Singer
Arrived in New York, he was thirty years old
And could speak only three words in English:
“Take a chair.”
But then he learned other words. It helped.
We’re gonna go ahead and start this party with a little bit of shirtless Prince at his live birthday show in Detroit in 1986. If I am honest, as I always try to be, I will say that I was not the rabid Prince fan that many of my friends were. HOWEVER. You cannot argue that this man was incredibly talented and his loss left a gaping hole. Plus, his shows are fun to watch. So enjoy.
I know – I am supposed to write some intriguing words about each of the links, but this one doesn’t need it. It’s a simple little story about a Korean author ordering noodles from a local shop in New York. Touching and beautiful and hopeful all at once. Also, it may have influenced me in making the customizable noodle bowls pictured above. The recipe is from Nadiya Hussein’s somewhat saccharine but nevertheless charming Netflix show.
Sigh. Following up on that is arguably the dumbest argument happening on the internet, and that’s saying a lot. There is some backlash about the trend of long stories prior to recipes online. If you have read any of the recipes on this blog, you can pretty much guess where I land on this non-controversy. But what do you think? Do you like a long, personal story before the recipe, or do you prefer a simple headnote and then the recipe?
And ending on a low note, which I don’t like to do but sometimes it BEES that way, here’s a depressing AF article about how many small farms are going under by the end of 2020. Our food system is sick, and small farmers are taking a huge hit. Dan Barber, chef at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in New York discusses why this is and what we might do to muddle through.
All that to say, for now, STAY THE FUCK HOME. Cases are slowing because IT’S WORKING. If we can not be toddlers about this, maybe we can actually prevent some illness and death. Is that shirt you’re fingering on the rack worth your grandma’s life? How about that cocktail on a rooftop deck?
Presenting the Tipsy Forager. Props to KWeeks for the name.
So you may have noticed very little (any?) food content here on this blog lately, a so-called food blog that has been o’er taken by poems and links from other people and merely passable iPhone pictures of the woods and the water.
Sometimes it’s all I can do these days to put my feet on the floor before I begin to feel ALL OF THE FEELINGS. It’s my watery Pisces nature, friends. I cannot shut it out, and sometimes feelings just get in the way of other things.
But I have been writing and painting and (sort of) working on a website re-design and teaching myself how to draw and either going for a long walk or doing yoga (and sometimes both) every day.
I have also been in the kitchen doing a variety of things. First, creating recipes for the incredible human behind Full Moon Acupuncture for her seasonal Renewal that will launch sometime in September. I will post individual recipes in the fall, in support of her work and to just share what is going to be a delicious group of ten dinners and five lunches (plus some bonus sauces/dressings). But recipe development is not always the most exciting blog topic.
I have been making cookies out of the freezer – big, glorious, crunchy/chewy chocolate chip cookies that I eat (at least) three at a time. These are lifesavers, especially since I am dedicated to staying out of stores and only pick up groceries through PeaPod once every ten days or so.
And because I am technically still writing and illustrating a book on foraging that may or may not be a go in 2021, I am wandering fields and forests and gathering food. Sunday’s expedition was to Cromwell Valley Park, for a bonanza of blue spruce tips.
Blue spruce tips are exactly what they sound like: the vibrantly green new growth that occurs at the very end of pine branches in the spring. Each pine has its own specific flavor, some of which are a bit too resinous and astringent for eating straight out of hand. Blue spruce tips, especially when young, have a bright citrus-y flavor with endnotes of pine – it is astringent and perhaps not a taste that everyone will love but still milder than many others.
Medicinally, blue spruce tips are high in vitamin C, potassium, and magnesium. They are used for coughs and sore throats and help to transport oxygen to the cells (which speeds healing).
For my little foraging haul, I made a cough syrup that won’t be ready until October, and a big batch of blue spruce tip simple syrup. I have a few ideas of how I will use it, but our first stop is cocktails.
Kudos to KWeeks for his adroit naming of this. I never know how cocktails will hit my system – some days I can have three and feel nothing; others I have one and feel a little loopy. It just took one of these for me, so the name is apt.
The Tipsy Forager
This cocktail is light, with a fragrant, botanical taste and bouquet that comes from the gin and the simple syrup. To taste more of the blue spruce simple syrup, use a cleaner, less complicated gin. I used Bluecoat because it’s what I had, and the resulting cocktail was dangerous. Refreshing and not too heavy, perfect for warmer weather.
Ingredients
2 ounces of your favorite gin
.5 ounce (or more, to taste) spruce tip simple syrup (see Recipe Notes)
Seltzer
Lemon for garnish
Method
Pack a rocks glass with artisanal ice of your choice (just kidding. Plain old cubes are fine. Let’s not get precious.). Add gin and blue spruce simple syrup and stir to get very cold. Top with seltzer and garnish with lemon.
Recipe Notes
To make blue spruce tip simple syrup, dissolve one cup of sugar in one cup of water. Add one and a half packed cups of blue spruce tips (more’s the better), cover, and remove from heat. Let blue spruce tips steep overnight, then strain and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice. Makes almost two cups of blue spruce tip simple syrup.
