Sometimes I think about resurrecting this blog. I have thoughts that need to get out of this head and into this wide world. If that's the case, the question is: what to write? I have a variety of interests and hobbies. Is it about a slice into my life? (And the constant fear of Narcisism.) Or is there a greater service I can provide? An observation from my perspective that others may share?
Oh aren't I the Gen-x/y idealist.
I had a girlfriend by last night after watching the movie, Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best. The film is currently playing at Uptown SIFF. I had some groupons I bought just shy of a year ago thinking, "I love SIFF. We can walk there. It'll be no problem using three of these up." Lo and behold, 11 months later I realized I hadn't used them yet. So I emailed a handful of girlfriends and started scheduling movie dates.
Brooklyn Brothers was a sweet film. It has a fairly typical indie vibe, with under-production and quirky characters. It was far from a perfect film. There were cliche montages and the romantic interest was entirely predictable. But it was just off-beat enough to tickle my fancy. And as the girlfriend of a musician in two bands, I could relate quite a bit to watching the struggle between making it and just the need to perform and make music.
I digress. When my girlfriend came over last night, I offered her a hard-boiled egg. We chatted a bit about the best ways to make hard-boiled eggs. If I haven't made them in awhile, I often do a google search and find a reference or two on the tricks to easy peeling. After sharing tips and tricks, I offered to make her my "special" hot cocoa.
I eat some dairy, but I've tried to limit my dairy consumption, specifically milk - and it's been a good one. The obvious alternative in our culture is soy milk, but there are a lot of reasons to avoid any form of soy that isn't fermented. So I've become a huge fan of nut milks - almond milk and coconut milk are my favorited.
The other night I was craving something warm and soothing, so I put some almond milk on the stove and heated it. Then I put it in my vitamix with one date, a scoop of cocoa powder, and a bit of vanilla bean. The vitamix, in it's crazy powerful ways, totally mixes the date and vanilla bean into the mixture. And it ends up frothing it up quite a bit too. Dates are high in sugar, but you get added nutritional benefits, and it's still a much less-processed form of sweetener.
It's not super sweet, and you can adjust each ingredient to taste. She liked it and at some point in my explanations of both the egg peeling and the hot cocoa, she said I should blog about it. Of course, I have a couple blogs I don't actively post on. So why not start with what I already have?
On another note, I'm making kimchi for the first time. I received a HUGE head of green cabbage in my last produce box from Full Circle. After making a big batch of steamed cabbage (3-4 servings) I still had about half of it leftover. So I decided to make a super simple version of kimchi, just to experiment. I added some sriracha sauce, about 6 cloves of garlic, some rice vinegar and fish sauce to my vitamix. And I mixed. I brined my cabbage in salt water. I drianed it and mixed it all together. It's in a glass jar now.
You'll notice I don't give measurements. I'm of a philosophy of that's a blend between being inspired by recipes online, and adding my own twists to things.
I usually find myself in a situation, like, "Damn, that's a lot of cabbage!"
Then I get an idea like, "I should make kimchi!"
I read a bunch of recipes about gourmet kimchi and all of the ingredients I need, but don't have, "Daikon radishes and green onions, eh? But I'm in my pajamas and don't want to go to the store."
So I figure out what I have and make do. "A pinch of that, a squirt of this, as many cloves of garlic as I feel like peeling, cover the cabbage..."
I do not know yet what my kimchi will look like, but it's a fun little project. Worst case scenario is it fails and I waste a half a head of cabbage. That I would have wasted anyway, if I hadn't cooked it.
So yeah. Almond milk hot cocoa, sweetend with date. Movies. And kimchi.
If I decide to keep writing these types of things, I'll be sure to get back into adding photos. I didn't feel like photographing a big pile of cabbage on my cutting board, but I can. You know it.
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