My 2003 Blackout Story

Photo: Sarah Glidden, minicloud on flickr.com

Photo: Sarah Glidden, minicloud on flickr.com

Photo: Sarah Glidden, minicloud on flickr.com

Photo: Sarah Glidden, minicloud on flickr.com

I was working at an ad agency in Tribeca, the power went out and everyone was feeling a little nervous / giddy when the computers went down and the lights went off. We walked down the (I forget how many, not too many) flights of stairs down to the street level and more and more people started to exit their buildings.

Once we realized it was not another attack on the city, we all left and headed home. I walked across the Williamsburg bridge. The Hassidic Jews on the Brooklyn side were handing water out to everyone (forgot about this until I saw the photos!).

I checked in with my friend Joey who invited me over to eat steaks she had in the freezer and we fired up the grill. I think we found a bar afterward that was unloading their beers for free while the kegs were still cold -- not hard to find. We passed people shopping in bodegas by flashlight, regular people controlling traffic in major intersections. Everyone was acting how I wish they would more often, we were all in this together.

What's your story?

Let an Asian American Person Explain Why The KTVU Prank Is Racist

After reading numerous comments from the Internet ignorami, I felt compelled to say something. And that is:

America, please stop trying to whitesplain away the racism.

Do you have fat friends? Do you call them Fatty McFattersons? Do you have black friends? Do you call them Jiggaboo Jeffersons?

Yes, I can appreciate the humor. It IS a funny play on words. But if any of my friends came up to me and said, "Hey Ho Chi Minh, what's going on?" I'd probably be like, WTF is your problem? (And then break out some karate moves, because obviously I'm a black belt.)

Why this is not "just like Bart Simpson calling the bar to ask for Seymour Butts." 

Because it serves to perpetuate the "foreignness" of Asian culture. It goes back to the those jokes about how does a Chinese person name their child? They throw a stick at a can. Haha, those Chinese people. Their language is so weird, a real American could NEVER understand it.

Well those Chinese people ARE Americans, and until white America fully embraces Asian cultures as one of their own, jokes like this are pretty much not okay.

And what about the children?!

I can just imagine all the childhood bullies taking this as justification to torment the Asian kids with (or without) funny names in the schoolyard. Can't say I haven't been there.

Make my own jerky

With this skill, I'm officially ready for any apocalyptic event to strike, for example the peak-oil crisis, maybe you've heard of it? I realize it may also put me in the same category as people who build out bomb shelters or try to survive on only foods they forage from the city park or something. But hey, these are all going to be textbook life skills in about 20 years.

All you need for this is a very low wattage heat source (100-watt bulb did the trick), a container that is vented above and below so that hot air rising from the heat source will push out at the top and suck cool air in at the bottom (cardboard box), skewers, and Google, because it never hurts to read forty-seven different articles on the risks of salmonella and e. coli. I made turkey jerky from pastured turkey meat and beef jerky from questionable supermarket meat. Neither made me sick. Neither also ever made me want to make jerky again.
 
Not because of taste. They tasted like the real deal. But because I don't need that hassle. I did a bare amount of seasoning, but I suggest marinating the meat in your favorite seasonings overnight. Freeze briefly for easier slicing. Slice as thin as you can manage. String them on bamboo skewers and hang inside the box. Close lid, turn on the light. My jerkey took maybe 18 hours to make. I think you can also do this in the oven, if you have one that goes down to 150º.

Good luck, let me know how it goes!

Weird Recipe of the Week

I was craving fish. And I'm trying to (literally) downsize the fish I consume by eating fish lower on the food chain (and giving large fish a chance to recover their populations). So I got sardines from that fish market on Metropolitan and Leonard which I hadn't been to in several years because I once got some bad salmon there. (The sardines were fine, fresh and wild caught.) And I had all my CSA ingredients.

So this is Grilled Sardines with a Corn Peach Papalo "Salsa."
Better I think side-by-side, not together.

"Salsa"
fresh-off-the-cob raw corn
ripe peaches and/or nectarines, cubed
papolo (or cilantro or mint), finely sliced
juice of one lime or apple cider vinegar
olive oil
salt

Toss all ingredients together.

Sardines
Brush butter on whole cleaned sardines. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on hot grill. This is one fish that tastes better when it's actually cooked through so test for doneness after about 3 minutes on each side. But keep cooking until fish is flaky.

Environmental Side Note
I bet some folks are thinking I could possibly serve the fish population even more by skipping out on fish altogether. But fish are essential for a healthy brain and reduce risk of death due to coronary disease—outweighing even the risks of mercury and PCBs.

According to a study published by the Harvard School of Health "For infants and young children, the authors found that omega-3 fatty acids from seafood likely improve early brain development; children could obtain that benefit from pregnant or nursing mothers who consumed fish." And implies that it could offset depression or other behavioral problems.

So all my cranky friends, may I suggest more fish? Especially sardines, anchovies, catfish, lobster, mussels, and oysters—all of which are the least endangered and have the lowest environmental impact.

Worm Food

Ahhh, just finally harvested my first batch of vermipost. This tub was almost spilling over, but look how much room we have now! (With a good 3~5 lbs of fresh compost left over waiting to feed my plants.)

I started this bin about 4 months ago. And these guys (about one pound of red wigglers and their friends) have been steadily monching through all my veggie and coffee waste since—I'd estimate it to be about 3 lbs. a week. I haven't had any trouble with odor, a bit with flying insects...but mostly localized. And have kept it under my kitchen table just fine, even with my normally overly curious dog. Want to start your own? It's easy.

Materials
plastic bin (mine measures 12" x 16" x 9" deep)
1 lb red wigglers (available at these places)
old B/W newspapers, torn in strips (color inks are more toxic)
vegetable scraps, used coffee grounds, tea bags, etc. (avoid any fats, dairy, or meat)
soil

Instructions
Drill enough air holes all around the top and through the lid so the worms can breathe but can't crawl out (click on the second photo above to get a better view).

Toss in a couple handfuls of soil (just get some from your local park or backyard), then the worms. Cover with about 4 pages worth of newspaper strips. Dampen paper unless the soil is especially muddy.

Now whenever you have extra veg scraps, uncover the newspaper, throw in the scraps, then cover back with the newspaper. Even better, age the scraps for a week before adding to make it more readily digestible by the worms (instead of the flies).

Other species
After a while you may notice some other critters crawling around. Tiny (less than 1/8 inch long) white pot worms, little hard shiny brown mites, roly polies, fruit flies, and soldier flies. They all prove beneficial, feeding on different stages of the plant decay. You can use common remedies to catch the flies if they're a nuisance, but if not, they'll help speed up the composting.

You should also start to notice tiny yellowish, translucent pods. These are the worm babies, so yay, they're reproducing! A healthy colony of worms can double their population every two weeks.


Some common problems and remedies

• Mold/mildew: feed less
• Too liquid: drain, add more newspaper, air out by leaving lid ajar, or drill more holes to increase aeration
• Ants: Set bin on a tray of water to prevent access

Turn sour milk into delicious yogurt in just 8 hours!

I'm not sure where I picked it up, but as a child, I remember hearing that you could cook with sour milk. Once I got to cooking age, that no longer seemed to apply, and friends would be unsympathetic when I would tell them about drinking milk past its expiration date because it didn't taste sour—but was definitely past its prime as evidenced by my discomfort.

Well, finally, I get to say I told you so. Turns out sour milk is perfectly drinkable, albeit in its raw, unpasteurized form. (And it should go without saying, from a healthy pastured animal.)

In fact, leaving milk out to sour was a common way to preserve the milk before pasteurization became the order of the day. Soured raw milk actually tastes sour because of the increased amounts of acid—not an unpleasant taste, especially if you're accustomed to and enjoy the tanginess in sour cream, yogurt or goat's milk. But unlike pasteurized milk, where the sterility opens the floodgates for any number of harmful bacterias to proliferate, raw milk never spoils. It sours, then curdles and separates, but even then, it contains many beneficial nutrients and bacteria.

Which meant my week-old souring milk was just ripe for making yogurt.

Recipe for raw milk yogurt.

1. Heat the milk just before the point it's too hot to touch (you should be able to swirl your finger in it without discomfort), which is around 100˚ Fahrenheit.
2. Pour into a clean mason jar.
   
3. Add 1/4 cup of yogurt (I used Hawthorne Valley).
   
4. Cover and set it in the oven with the oven light (and pilot light) on. It needs to be maintained at about 95˚ for 8 hours. Or put it in a cooler with some hot water bottles.
   
5. Cool it in the refrigerator.
6. Mix in some fruit and honey for a delicious breakfast treat or enjoy plain.
   

And yes, raw milk is illegal to sell in New York. But you can join in a cow-share, or buy direct from a farm. Find more info at realmilk.com.

Trial and Error
I think I overheated the milk slightly and it came out a little chewy...more like a cottage cheese. But it's still pleasantly tangy and yummy.

hot dog salad