New Favorite Recipe

Some people take lots of pictures as they cook. I don't. But I can still picture this great corn and rice side dish that I made this evening. It was supposed to be quinoa with corn and scallions. But we've been infested by grain/flour beetles since I came home from DC last fall. The quinoa didn't make it. Luckily, I found a bag of shelf stable rice with lime and coconut milk from Trader Joes. To the rescue.

2 ears of corn, cut the kernels off and scrape the cobs for the creamy insides.

1 jalepeno chile, seeded and diced.

Sauté these in a little olive oil. It might have been better to brown the corn a bit more than I did. Maybe it would be good to start with the corn so your eyes don't burn with the browning chile bits.

4-5 scallions, sliced thin up to the deep green. Add to pan.

1 bag of TJ's rice with lime. Add to pan.

I added a little water to scrape the browning bits off the pan and make the rice a little fluffy.

Juice from half a lime. It's what I had.

A little smoked salt, if you have it.

A cup of chopped cilantro. Add at the end. The original recipe calls for mint. Maybe that would have been good. The TJ rice has basil in it. Maybe you could substitute a basil/flat parsley mix. The green looks really good with the yellow corn.

I will be making this as long as there is fresh corn at my farmer's market. Although I imagine you could use frozen corn, that seems soggier to me. The fresh corn has a bite that I like.

Can you picture it? Pretty, hunh?

From the Land of TOO Much Information

When I told Adrian that I was reading a book about traveling to Mars, he said his friends had been talking about the book. It's called Packing for Mars. Anyway, Adrian said his friends don't like the idea of manned flights to Mars. Very understandable because some of them work on the Mars Rover project. They should read this book. People who are thinking about funding a manned mission to Mars should read this book.

Don't get me wrong, this is a great book. Full of information about the human body and how these bodies are affected by space. Full of history about manned (and monkied) space flights. If she didn't have such a wry viewpoint, this could have been very boring. As it was, it just left me wondering why we should pay to send anyone up in space. It was a surprise that she said at the end that we should fund this dream because we wouldn't spend the money we save on anything better. That could be true, we could buy a lot of bridges to nowhere. Or we could fund unmanned flights, learn more and tax the bodies of astronauts and taxpayers less.

Remember I said it was full of information about the human body as it relates to space? Think of a part of your body or a body function. Think of it in space. It's discussed here. Skin, fat, bones, brain, heart, urination, defecation, sex, saliva, everything. Everything. Everything.

This would probably be a better book to read than to listen to. As it was, this was a very good book.

Traveling Music

I traveled from California to Virginia with Eric. Then we drove to Cass in West Virginia to ride a train. Then we took our trip to Maine. We listened to books for much of that time. I did learn something very interesting about Eric while doing that. Yes, he loves his mysteries, but he really likes non-fiction, too. I learned that when we had finished 61 Hours by Lee Child. That was a pretty discouraging book. Not just because it was a bad book, but Lee decided to split his book into two parts. It ended very abruptly in the audible book version. They failed to mention that there would be a second part printed some time in September. Naughty. You should really read the one star reviews on Amazon. HI-larious. And all so true. Funny thing is, I'll still read the one coming out in September.

After that disappointment, we were left with non-fiction, which I love. It seems that Eric is also fond of it. The Big Short was as depressing as Reacher, but for different reasons. This was very well written and ended when it should - when none of us had any more money. It's about the idiots who helped end a world economy as we knew it. It wasn't malicious, honest. Just making a bit of money here folks, nobody was meant to be hurt. Michael Smith does a very good reporting job. I may be tempted to read Liar's poker by him, but, well, depressing.

We also started to listen to Write it When I'm Gone. The full title include "Remarkable off-the-Record conversation with Gerald R. Ford." Remarkable. Really? Remarkable? I didn't make Eric listen to the end. Yikes. Trivial. Really boring. "I had this great access, and I promised him I wouldn't print this detritus until he was dead, and now he's dead, so, I guess, well, I said I'd print it, right?" Think about that time. Nixon resigned, Ford who had been named VP was now named President and surely other stuff was happening in the world. Surely. It would have been wonderful to read all about it. All the secret bits that we never knew as well as the out there bits that we have forgotten. I'd say a remarkable waste of his access and my time.

Better for the sheer joy of listening was The Truth (with Jokes) by Al Franken. This is the third of his books I've read. AND it was read by him. Nothing better than hearing his irony-dripping voice reading his own work. It was written before he actually ran for and won the senate seat from Minnesota. But you can hear him edging to that decision. This is his take on the 2004 election. Man, I loved this book. But I am part of his constituency. Wouldn't like him as President, but I sure like a skeptical person sitting in the Senate. Are my glasses too rosy? Would I see him pandering to special interests like most of Congress if I was in the same room? Would I miss seeing him ... fill in the blank; my mind is too full of the stupid things our politicians do. Golly gee, I think I'm going to take back America, when our politicians were honest. When was that again?

Anyway, I liked that book.

Then there is Nothing to Envy by Los Angeles Times reporter, Barbara Demick. Wowser, this is a mighty fine book. I've linked all these books to their Amazon pages. Almost nobody didn't love this book (although you should read the only one star review.) Hum, speaking of writing - almost nobody didn't? Nearly everybody loved this book. That includes Eric and me. Demick lives in South Korea, but met with many people who have migrated to there from North Korea. This is their story. And what a story to tell because it includes the deterioration of the poor, misguided country. That little troll keeps stirring the pot, we should all know what's going on there. Bravo. Read this book. Please.

He Remembered Me!

I went to the farmer's market this morning. Didn't go last Saturday because I already had too much food in this house. I needed some peaches and berries and grass-fed beef so I had to go this week. There are now little bug nets over all the fruit. I guess while I was gone, the market must have been invaded by fruit flies. So sad. Probably a civic-minded Pasadena damsel trying to make us all safe from dangerous vermin.

The peaches looked wonderful, we still have all berries, the veggies were uncovered (okay, that convinces me that vegetables have less sugar.) The beef man was missing. Either I was too early or he has taken the summer off. We will see next week.

Best thing was seeing the man who sells the Middle Eastern prepared food. He was shocked and pleased to see me. He also remembered that when I left in June, I walked off without all the food he sold me. He said he followed me through the market, but somehow didn't catch up. He seems much more able than that! Anyway, it was fun to be remembered. And he gave me all my stuff for free, since I'd already paid for it.

I choose to think that he was just happy to see me. Imagine having to remember that every Saturday, Now he can forget all about me. Sigh.