For all of you out there that normally don’t have a hand in preparing what you eat, there is something truly special about making your own food and sharing the meal with others. Being presented with a beautiful meal is in itself an occasion, but there is something about being able to nurture someone else with your own creation that is really powerful.
For about 3 months, I was traveling around the US with two great amazing chicas, Lisa and Rachel. The three of us were a force in the kitchen. Not only did we each have kitchen skills, but three happens to be a magical number in meal preparation. While two people prepare and cook the meal, one person relaxes. Then we would switch. Each role is valuable and switching is the key to the equilibrium. It’s taking turns giving and receiving that makes this arrangement work.
I’ve been in other arrangements where I have been the only cook, and it wasn’t as fulfilling somehow. Maybe in someway I didn’t feel taken care of; there was an imbalance. In Ayurveda, they talk about how the consciousness of the cook is absorbed into the food that they are cooking. It’s a large output of energy, so it’s great to experience both sides: putting out your energy, nurturing someone else, and also being nourished... I need to bow my head down to the ground to mothers (hey, or fathers…but really mothers) who are the sole residents of their own kitchens.
Aside from the nurturing aspect, it's a great experience cooking with another person. You look at the ingredients available, which is itself a fun scavenging process. Then, you decide what the menu is and as you cook, each person adds their own special part to the meal. It’s an instant outlet for creativity. I always love too when you get used to cooking with someone and when you are in the kitchen, everything just flows…it’s another form of working meditation.
So, a few days ago, sitting down to a meal with Lisa and Vanessa, I realized how content I felt. Vanessa and I are visiting Rachel and Lisa, who have both moved down to a small surfing town in Costa Rica. Lisa bought shrimp from the seafood truck as it was delivering food to the restaurant next door. She had the great idea to make a shrimp ceviche, which is actually ridiculously easy.
We soaked the shrimp completely covered, which was fresh fresh fresh, in lime juice for about 20 minutes, then added mango, red onion, cilantro, and avocado….Add a little salt at the end. That’s it! We toasted some tortillas and had a beet and carrot salad to finish it out. (We just grated raw beets and carrots, added a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil) It was amazing. It definitely took a little of preparation, but as we all sat down to eat, we all realized that this activity…what we were doing at that moment, sharing a meal that we prepared together, was close to the top of our lists of favorite things to do.
It’s unfortunate that oftentimes, it’s hard to find the time to cook. Since I’ve had time off, thinking about what I’m going to eat has been a major part of my day. It is sad that when we are working, or in school, thinking about what we eat actually takes up such a small part of our day. One of the things that I want to keep in my life is being able to have the time to dedicate to thinking about what I eat. It is so important, and probably the most important thing you can to do keep yourself healthy, besides also exercising.
So, I’ll keep you posted on other incredible meals….. Go make dinner with someone…and have fun!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Offerings
When you are traveling, it is a constant search for balance. Especially, when you are traveling on the cheap, you have to be ok with where you are sleeping, what you are eating, what you are able to do. It’s a constant challenge, but in the challenge is also the fun. There are a thousand victories every day. Ordering the right thing, scoring a cheap yet awesome place to sleep, finding a dripping apple tree. You have to surrender control, and sometimes you eat what you would otherwise never eat, you do things that you would otherwise never do, and you sometimes just close your eyes and fall asleep.
The thing I love the most about traveling however, is that you find that the world, somehow always manages to take care of you. Someone always offers you a place to sleep, a ride, a meal. It always surprises me how easy it comes to some people. It also makes me feel how selfish I truly am. I don’t know if it has to do with being American, but I have to sometimes remember to be nice. It doesn’t often come naturally to me. I find myself first, thinking of myself and all the crap I have to do, and then thinking, “oh, I should offer to do this for someone, that would be a nice thing to do.”
Throughout all my travels, I’m perpetually amazed at the generosity. For instance when I was in Fortaleza, Brazil in August, someone from Capoeira, who I had only talked with on the phone, came to get me at the airport, and he ended up giving me his room for two weeks while he slept with his two sons in their room.
Or, in San Diego, when the guy who showed us our sublet, ended up bringing over a book of DVD’s, a bike, and then allowed us to crash at his place for two weeks when our sublet ended.
Or, in Buenos Aires, where I’ve been for the last 6 weeks. I emailed this girl Silvina, who I met in passing in Brazil, that I was thinking about coming, and I set off for Argentina with just her address. When I showed up at her house, at 5 in the morning, she put me in a bed, and I stayed with her awesome, amazing family for a week. When I wanted to rent an apartment, she kept insisting that it was not a problem if I stayed for the entire month, and although I decided to rent an apartment in the center of town anyway, she called me practically every day, and has become an amazing friend.
I have a list of other stories such as this, and I’m sure there will be many more along the way.
The question I ask myself is, would I be this quick to befriend a stranger? And the uneasy response, is that it’s not second nature for me to be this way. Now, however, I see the necessity. It’s a hard thing to just cast yourself out there, without strings, unsecured. It felt so amazing that these people reached out, made offers, allowed me to be part of their family.
So, I need to remember to make my own offerings, to as many people I can. I owe the world a lot. I’ve been given a lot of love, and that makes me all the more ready to start giving it back.
The thing I love the most about traveling however, is that you find that the world, somehow always manages to take care of you. Someone always offers you a place to sleep, a ride, a meal. It always surprises me how easy it comes to some people. It also makes me feel how selfish I truly am. I don’t know if it has to do with being American, but I have to sometimes remember to be nice. It doesn’t often come naturally to me. I find myself first, thinking of myself and all the crap I have to do, and then thinking, “oh, I should offer to do this for someone, that would be a nice thing to do.”
Throughout all my travels, I’m perpetually amazed at the generosity. For instance when I was in Fortaleza, Brazil in August, someone from Capoeira, who I had only talked with on the phone, came to get me at the airport, and he ended up giving me his room for two weeks while he slept with his two sons in their room.
Or, in San Diego, when the guy who showed us our sublet, ended up bringing over a book of DVD’s, a bike, and then allowed us to crash at his place for two weeks when our sublet ended.
Or, in Buenos Aires, where I’ve been for the last 6 weeks. I emailed this girl Silvina, who I met in passing in Brazil, that I was thinking about coming, and I set off for Argentina with just her address. When I showed up at her house, at 5 in the morning, she put me in a bed, and I stayed with her awesome, amazing family for a week. When I wanted to rent an apartment, she kept insisting that it was not a problem if I stayed for the entire month, and although I decided to rent an apartment in the center of town anyway, she called me practically every day, and has become an amazing friend.
I have a list of other stories such as this, and I’m sure there will be many more along the way.
The question I ask myself is, would I be this quick to befriend a stranger? And the uneasy response, is that it’s not second nature for me to be this way. Now, however, I see the necessity. It’s a hard thing to just cast yourself out there, without strings, unsecured. It felt so amazing that these people reached out, made offers, allowed me to be part of their family.
So, I need to remember to make my own offerings, to as many people I can. I owe the world a lot. I’ve been given a lot of love, and that makes me all the more ready to start giving it back.
Homeward bound?
I’m on the 3rd flight of the day, heading back to New York City from Buenos Aires. I’ve gotten used to leaving in the middle of the night and spending all day getting from one destination to the next. It still amazes me that we have the technology to move our physical selves through such large spans of land in so little time.
Feeling check. What’s going through my mind right now? Well, people in Argentina kept asking me, where are you going now? Are you going home? It was a difficult question to answer. Because truth being told, I really don’t feel as if I have a home. I’ve been moving around since I was 18, and I haven’t found a place yet that I feel I can label ….home.
It’s almost as hard as the question, “where are you from?” The place where you are from is part of your identity, it’s part of who you are. While Sylvania, Ohio has certainly shaped me, it more helped me to realize who I’m not and where I don’t want to be. Whenever I answer, “Ohio,” I always feel as if it’s not right, that it’s not an adequate answer, but at the same time, it’s true.
It’s also part of the immigrant equation. When my parents decided to live outside of Taiwan, away from their family, they unknowingly created an identity crisis for the next generation. They raised me culturally Taiwanese, in a small American suburb, far away from their own home. Which left me to figure out how much of me was Taiwanese, how much of me was American? More importantly, it left me to question this idea of home. It definitely wasn’t the small Midwestern suburb, where all my friends have since moved, and only my parents reside.
For some people, home is not a question. It’s a given. It’s where your family is, it’s where your friends are, it’s where you were born and where your father and his father were born. But once a generation moves, home becomes something much more fluid. It becomes where you feel comfortable, which in itself can mean so many different things.
For the past few years, I’ve been trying to decide what that means, to feel comfortable.
I moved out of New York, because something about living there was definitely UNcomfortable. I was tired of all the running around, of all the extra steps that you have to think through before you leave the house, or becoming SO guarded about my time and energy. I had an amazing group of friends, an amazing Capoeira group…but, I just wanted a break. So I moved….to North Carolina, a place where I had some roots from college and was definitely a place, for sure, more physically comfortable.
In Durham, I had space, I had time, I had comfort. It was beautiful, there were trees everywhere, and I felt a strong physical connection to the beauty and lifestyle of North Carolina. But, I didn’t have my support system. I didn’t have a possibility to really train capoeira with my own vision. In the two years that I spent there, I didn’t really find the community in which I felt….at home.
So, I left. There were, still are, definite doubts in my head; did I give NC enough time? Will I ever truly be content in one place? What is it that I want in a location? These are questions that run in and out of my mind as I go through my travels this year, and I haven’t necessarily gotten closer to an answer.
I suppose an important thing to keep in mind, is that there is NO perfect place. I have to prioritize what is most important to me and run with that. I keep writing down pros and cons of each place I visit. Really, though, I have a feeling, that in the end, it’s going to come down to some chance that presents itself, some opportunity that I can’t see yet. So, come on opportunity…I’m waiting!
Feeling check. What’s going through my mind right now? Well, people in Argentina kept asking me, where are you going now? Are you going home? It was a difficult question to answer. Because truth being told, I really don’t feel as if I have a home. I’ve been moving around since I was 18, and I haven’t found a place yet that I feel I can label ….home.
It’s almost as hard as the question, “where are you from?” The place where you are from is part of your identity, it’s part of who you are. While Sylvania, Ohio has certainly shaped me, it more helped me to realize who I’m not and where I don’t want to be. Whenever I answer, “Ohio,” I always feel as if it’s not right, that it’s not an adequate answer, but at the same time, it’s true.
It’s also part of the immigrant equation. When my parents decided to live outside of Taiwan, away from their family, they unknowingly created an identity crisis for the next generation. They raised me culturally Taiwanese, in a small American suburb, far away from their own home. Which left me to figure out how much of me was Taiwanese, how much of me was American? More importantly, it left me to question this idea of home. It definitely wasn’t the small Midwestern suburb, where all my friends have since moved, and only my parents reside.
For some people, home is not a question. It’s a given. It’s where your family is, it’s where your friends are, it’s where you were born and where your father and his father were born. But once a generation moves, home becomes something much more fluid. It becomes where you feel comfortable, which in itself can mean so many different things.
For the past few years, I’ve been trying to decide what that means, to feel comfortable.
I moved out of New York, because something about living there was definitely UNcomfortable. I was tired of all the running around, of all the extra steps that you have to think through before you leave the house, or becoming SO guarded about my time and energy. I had an amazing group of friends, an amazing Capoeira group…but, I just wanted a break. So I moved….to North Carolina, a place where I had some roots from college and was definitely a place, for sure, more physically comfortable.
In Durham, I had space, I had time, I had comfort. It was beautiful, there were trees everywhere, and I felt a strong physical connection to the beauty and lifestyle of North Carolina. But, I didn’t have my support system. I didn’t have a possibility to really train capoeira with my own vision. In the two years that I spent there, I didn’t really find the community in which I felt….at home.
So, I left. There were, still are, definite doubts in my head; did I give NC enough time? Will I ever truly be content in one place? What is it that I want in a location? These are questions that run in and out of my mind as I go through my travels this year, and I haven’t necessarily gotten closer to an answer.
I suppose an important thing to keep in mind, is that there is NO perfect place. I have to prioritize what is most important to me and run with that. I keep writing down pros and cons of each place I visit. Really, though, I have a feeling, that in the end, it’s going to come down to some chance that presents itself, some opportunity that I can’t see yet. So, come on opportunity…I’m waiting!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Yumminess
Ok, over the past months of traveling, there have been a few things that I have been eating, with the help of friends of course, that you really have to try.
1) Nori wraps. This is really all Rachel Gerber. If you don’t know her, I’ll introduce you, she’s awesome. Basically, go to any Asian store and buy the big Nori sushi wraps. (You could get them at Whole Foods probably, but they are always more pricy) Then, you can really put anything into them, wrap them up and eat them like a burrito. Seaweed has an amazing amount of minerals, here’s a link if you are interested.
http://www.greenfootsteps.com/seaweed-health.html
But here are some combinations that were amazing... Feel free to add any if you try some more!
a. brown rice, sauteed green veggies (any kind! But I love
kale, beet greens, collards, broccoli...whatever), fried egg.
b. Salmon, rice noodles, green veggies.
c. Quinoa, green veggies, sardines.
*Make sure you wrap them in the nori RIGHT before eating, the nori gets soggy if you let it sit for about 30 seconds!
2) Coconut flakes (or any coconut product really). Coconut is another amazing super food. I’ve been using coconut flakes in EVERYTHING. It all started with watching Jamie, one of Rachel’s friends in Minneapolis, cook kale with coconut flakes. I had already been using coconut oil to cook kale (it leaves an amazing coconut flavor), but Jamie added some soy sauce and coconut flakes and it takes the dish to another level. Pretty soon, I started adding coconut flakes to everything. Soups, veggie stir-fries, oatmeal (Molly Lee showed me that one actually). It adds a really nice texture and kind of meatiness.
3) Delicata Squash and kale with coconut milk.
This is seriously the bomb. You can eat Delicata Squash with the skin on (they are smallish, yellow with green stripes). So cut up the squash and steam it first in a large pot until you can poke through it easily with a fork. In a sauce pan on the side, sauteed some kale with a little bit of garlic and salt. Mix them both together, add a little bit of coconut milk to taste and of course, coconut flakes! Hm.... it’s super yummy comfort food and really incredibly easy to make.
4) Fish tacos
San Diego is the haven for fish tacos, but they are ridiculously easy to make at home and you can make them way more delicious. All you need is tortillas, a fish filet (I’ve made these with frozen Dover Sole from trader joe’s, just tried to look up and see if it’s on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s list of acceptable fish…. Apparently wild caught pacific is ok, but not atlantic caught …I’ll have to check it again next time I’m there…), tomatoes, avocado, lime, cilantro…whatever else you want to add. I find that it’s super easy to just pan fry fish, I prefer using a lot of butter and when it flakes, it’s done. Put all the fixings in a warmed up tortilla (again, I like to use a pan, I’ve read a few things that are against using microwaves, so I generally stay away from them), and eat. Really quick and easy to make for friends to share.
What have you been eating lately that is super yummy and you can make it at home? Leave a comment and share it with the rest of us!
1) Nori wraps. This is really all Rachel Gerber. If you don’t know her, I’ll introduce you, she’s awesome. Basically, go to any Asian store and buy the big Nori sushi wraps. (You could get them at Whole Foods probably, but they are always more pricy) Then, you can really put anything into them, wrap them up and eat them like a burrito. Seaweed has an amazing amount of minerals, here’s a link if you are interested.
http://www.greenfootsteps.com/seaweed-health.html
But here are some combinations that were amazing... Feel free to add any if you try some more!
a. brown rice, sauteed green veggies (any kind! But I love
kale, beet greens, collards, broccoli...whatever), fried egg.
b. Salmon, rice noodles, green veggies.
c. Quinoa, green veggies, sardines.
*Make sure you wrap them in the nori RIGHT before eating, the nori gets soggy if you let it sit for about 30 seconds!
2) Coconut flakes (or any coconut product really). Coconut is another amazing super food. I’ve been using coconut flakes in EVERYTHING. It all started with watching Jamie, one of Rachel’s friends in Minneapolis, cook kale with coconut flakes. I had already been using coconut oil to cook kale (it leaves an amazing coconut flavor), but Jamie added some soy sauce and coconut flakes and it takes the dish to another level. Pretty soon, I started adding coconut flakes to everything. Soups, veggie stir-fries, oatmeal (Molly Lee showed me that one actually). It adds a really nice texture and kind of meatiness.
3) Delicata Squash and kale with coconut milk.
This is seriously the bomb. You can eat Delicata Squash with the skin on (they are smallish, yellow with green stripes). So cut up the squash and steam it first in a large pot until you can poke through it easily with a fork. In a sauce pan on the side, sauteed some kale with a little bit of garlic and salt. Mix them both together, add a little bit of coconut milk to taste and of course, coconut flakes! Hm.... it’s super yummy comfort food and really incredibly easy to make.
4) Fish tacos
San Diego is the haven for fish tacos, but they are ridiculously easy to make at home and you can make them way more delicious. All you need is tortillas, a fish filet (I’ve made these with frozen Dover Sole from trader joe’s, just tried to look up and see if it’s on the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s list of acceptable fish…. Apparently wild caught pacific is ok, but not atlantic caught …I’ll have to check it again next time I’m there…), tomatoes, avocado, lime, cilantro…whatever else you want to add. I find that it’s super easy to just pan fry fish, I prefer using a lot of butter and when it flakes, it’s done. Put all the fixings in a warmed up tortilla (again, I like to use a pan, I’ve read a few things that are against using microwaves, so I generally stay away from them), and eat. Really quick and easy to make for friends to share.
What have you been eating lately that is super yummy and you can make it at home? Leave a comment and share it with the rest of us!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Argentina! Beef?
Normally, I don’t eat a lot of steak. If you haven’t read Omnivore’s Dilemma, then you need to do so RIGHT NOW. It gives a great overview about the entire US cattle industry. You learn how cows, who are supposed to be fed on grass, are instead fed corn while packed into feedlots. The corn causes their stomachs to basically have ulcers (because of course they can’t digest corn), which can lead to a whole host of problems. To combat this, we pump them full of antibiotics so that they’ll stay nice and healthy, which in turn creates super bacteria which could one day take us all down… Eating grass fed beef tastes a lot better, has more “good fats,” and you won’t be ingesting all the antibiotics and hormones that tend to be absorbed into the fat.
SO. When I’m in the States, I try to only eat beef that is grass fed. (Except, I have to admit I have a weakness for taco stands.) But it is definitely pricey, so I don’t end up eating a lot of it. Thus, I was excited to come down to Argentina, where they eat the most steak per capita over any other country. And supposedly, it’s all grass fed and the meat is the best in the world. Which is actually what everyone was telling me when I arrived.
I was ready to go to the grocery store and pick up a random package of beef, and feel safe that it came from a farm where the cow had time to graze and be content. However, at the supermarket, I was overwhelmed with the variety of cuts, and just didn’t know all the names in Castellano….so I delayed. And I’m glad I did…for since beef is such the national food, there are a million articles concerning beef in the paper every day. (Which on a side note, I am also finding out that the inflation here is CRAZY. One woman told me that a year ago one kilo of Milanesa, which is a thin slice of beef, cost 10 pesos, and now costs 35 pesos.) With beef being such a central topic, there have inevitably been articles about the beef industry and the changing tides of production.
I first listened to a link to an NPR story that came out in September, 2009.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112767649
And was instantly bummed to hear that the practice of squeezing hundreds of animals into a small space and feeding them grain was spreading to a place where the practices really were pure and idyllic. According to the report, a third of the beef produced in Argentina is now from feedlots. They even use the English word, “feedlot.” They start their cows grazing on grass, and for adult cows ( > 18 months), the last 2 months of their lives are spent confined in feedlots, where hormones and antibiotics are used along with grain feed. It is simply more profitable to finish cattle with grain, and with the economy being what it is, the practice is sure to grow in coming years.
There is of course, debate surrounding this issue. I read an opinion article the other day calling for people to ask at restaurants where their meat was coming from, the pasture or a feedlot. And of course traditionalists are against the homogenization of the product, saying that the flavor is also lacking.
It’s simply sad to learn that a country which had it so right, is quietly, going the other way. With the price of beef being the first concern on everybody’s mind, why wouldn’t they be quick to buy a cheaper beef?
It is also a realization that Argentines as well have to start asking, “where does their food come from?” and “what did they actually put in there?” It’s unfair that anyone has to do this much research to understand what they are putting in their bodies.
This isn’t to say that I haven’t enjoyed my share of steak here. I have a 2/3 chance of getting grass fed, right? I have also enjoyed the tiny dent that ordering a steak in a restaurant makes in my wallet. You can get a good size steak for under $10, in many
cases around $5. However, I feel guilty. It’s the hidden costs that will ultimately bite us all in the behind. It’s the struggle that I always have around food after learning something about where my food comes from. Like learning not to eat bananas because where in the states do we grow bananas? If anyone knows, please tell me! It’s a step by step process…and I’m sure one day, when I have a larger hand in producing what I eat, it won’t be so hard.
If this topic interests you, here are some links where you can find out a little more about the topic in Argentina…they are in Spanish, though, so have your dictionary close by!
This is actually an organization in favor of feedlots in Argentina
http://www.feedlot.com.ar/index.php
Article that is somewhat objective, but seems to favor more traditional methods.
http://www.zoetecnocampo.com/Documentos/termcorr.htm
SO. When I’m in the States, I try to only eat beef that is grass fed. (Except, I have to admit I have a weakness for taco stands.) But it is definitely pricey, so I don’t end up eating a lot of it. Thus, I was excited to come down to Argentina, where they eat the most steak per capita over any other country. And supposedly, it’s all grass fed and the meat is the best in the world. Which is actually what everyone was telling me when I arrived.
I was ready to go to the grocery store and pick up a random package of beef, and feel safe that it came from a farm where the cow had time to graze and be content. However, at the supermarket, I was overwhelmed with the variety of cuts, and just didn’t know all the names in Castellano….so I delayed. And I’m glad I did…for since beef is such the national food, there are a million articles concerning beef in the paper every day. (Which on a side note, I am also finding out that the inflation here is CRAZY. One woman told me that a year ago one kilo of Milanesa, which is a thin slice of beef, cost 10 pesos, and now costs 35 pesos.) With beef being such a central topic, there have inevitably been articles about the beef industry and the changing tides of production.
I first listened to a link to an NPR story that came out in September, 2009.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112767649
And was instantly bummed to hear that the practice of squeezing hundreds of animals into a small space and feeding them grain was spreading to a place where the practices really were pure and idyllic. According to the report, a third of the beef produced in Argentina is now from feedlots. They even use the English word, “feedlot.” They start their cows grazing on grass, and for adult cows ( > 18 months), the last 2 months of their lives are spent confined in feedlots, where hormones and antibiotics are used along with grain feed. It is simply more profitable to finish cattle with grain, and with the economy being what it is, the practice is sure to grow in coming years.
There is of course, debate surrounding this issue. I read an opinion article the other day calling for people to ask at restaurants where their meat was coming from, the pasture or a feedlot. And of course traditionalists are against the homogenization of the product, saying that the flavor is also lacking.
It’s simply sad to learn that a country which had it so right, is quietly, going the other way. With the price of beef being the first concern on everybody’s mind, why wouldn’t they be quick to buy a cheaper beef?
It is also a realization that Argentines as well have to start asking, “where does their food come from?” and “what did they actually put in there?” It’s unfair that anyone has to do this much research to understand what they are putting in their bodies.
This isn’t to say that I haven’t enjoyed my share of steak here. I have a 2/3 chance of getting grass fed, right? I have also enjoyed the tiny dent that ordering a steak in a restaurant makes in my wallet. You can get a good size steak for under $10, in many
cases around $5. However, I feel guilty. It’s the hidden costs that will ultimately bite us all in the behind. It’s the struggle that I always have around food after learning something about where my food comes from. Like learning not to eat bananas because where in the states do we grow bananas? If anyone knows, please tell me! It’s a step by step process…and I’m sure one day, when I have a larger hand in producing what I eat, it won’t be so hard.
If this topic interests you, here are some links where you can find out a little more about the topic in Argentina…they are in Spanish, though, so have your dictionary close by!
This is actually an organization in favor of feedlots in Argentina
http://www.feedlot.com.ar/index.php
Article that is somewhat objective, but seems to favor more traditional methods.
http://www.zoetecnocampo.com/Documentos/termcorr.htm
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