On May 8, I left Boston to visit my sister in South Africa. On May 11, I arrived at Johannesburg OR Tambo International Airport. The airport was renamed in 2006 to honor Nelson Mandela’s long-time friend, law partner, and one-time secretary general and president of the ANC. [Read more →]
Tags: airlines · single-serving friend · south africa · strange places and foreign planets · transport · vacation2 Comments
Tonight: first produce of the season: a ‘French breakfast’ radish!
The ones in the back garden have been attacked by slugs; this specimin was container-grown.
Tags: garden · locavoraciousNo Comments.
I wish I had taken a picture. Last night after observing the Vernal Equinox with a vigorous hike at the Middlesex Fells, I felt obligated to cook something light and summery. I had thai bird chiles and brown beech mushrooms in my fridge, so I wanted to do something Thai. It worked out well, so I’m posting it here.
The recipe is very nearly vegan. You’d have to omit the fish sauce, but it would still be tasty. If you don’t have access to a thai grocery you may not find bird chiles or brown beech mushrooms, but that’s okay. You can use any other small hot pepper, and any other culinary mushroom. I imagine shiitake would work well.
Tags: recipe · summer · vegan · vegetarianNo Comments.
A few notes:
1) I had a conversation with my landlady yesterday about how we might not have any more conflict about the garden. We agreed that I can plant anywhere that I want to, so long as a) I put a border around my garden, and b) I do not use the fence as a trellis again this year.
2) The hops are budding aggressively, so I am now thinking about what sort of trellis they might like this year. I have a few weeks before I have to decide.
3) Today I planted mustard greens and sage around the hops, as well as a few perennial wildflowers.
Tags: garden · locavoracious · process oriented · things that are shinyNo Comments.
Though recipes aren’t subject to copyright, I will mention that I got this from The Vegan Cook’s Bible, and what is listed here has only minor modifications. Meatatarians can probably substitute chicken breast for the tofu with good results.
This may also be the meal that sealed the deal on my three-month vegan experiment. Recipe below the jump.
Total prep time: about an hour.
[Read more →]
Tags: recipe · things that are shiny · vegan · vegetarianNo Comments.
Forget the can of enchilada sauce and the complicated recipes you find online — this is easy!
Ingredients:
1 28-ounce can of plum (Italian) tomatoes or tomato puree, or 1.5 pounds fresh tomatoes.
1 can tomato paste (optional)
3 chipotles in adobo sauce
Salt
Ground Cumin
Garlic (4-6 cloves, smashed or minced)
Method:
If using whole tomatoes, put in blender with 1/2 can tomato paste and chipotles and blend until smooth. If using puree, consider pureeing the chipotles, or mince and skip to the next step.
Set tomato puree and paste to boil in an open pan. Be prepared to wipe down your range later. Do not cover–you need the evaporative thickening here!
After a while, whenever you feel like it, add the garlic.
Add a bit of salt, say 1/4 tsp. But really, don’t bother measuring.
Add cumin continuously until it tastes right.
Tags: recipe · vegan · vegetarianNo Comments.
Grain Bill:
4 lbs 2-row base malt
5.6 lbs flaked wheat
8 oz Münchenmalz
7 oz CaraMünchenmalz
1 oz Chocolate malt
Hops: 3.2% Saaz, 2 oz
Yeast: White Labs WLP302 American Hefeweizen liquid yeast tube
Equipment:
50 quart mash tun, of my own fabrication (with the aid of Zymeco Kewler Kitz, and a lot of screwing up along the way)
21 quart water bath canner/lobster pot, which transfers heat to the fluid remarkably well
12 quart aluminium stock pot, which leaks at the top and doesn’t do nearly as well (so it’s more like a 10 quart pot, functionally)
1L Erlenmeyer flask
5 gallon carboy
6.5 gallon food-grade plastic brew bucket, with grommeted hole in the lid
3 airlocks and 2 bungs
Protocol:
Cleaned and sanitized carboy, bucket and flask
Cleaned all other equipment
In large stock pot, brought 20 quarts H20 to 45ºC. Meanwhile in small stock pot, brought ~8 quarts H20 to 100ºC.
Mixed all grains together in mash tun
Stuck mash with 20 quarts @45ºC (should have been 10 quarts!)
After 20 minutes, added 8 quarts @100ºC (this was too much heat–it got the mash temperature up to 75ºC, at which point desirable enzymes begin to denature.) Beteween the screwups in the above two steps I ended up with a much weaker brew than I wanted.
Left lid open and added ice cubes to reduce heat to 65ºC
Closed lid and mashed at 65º for 1 hour
Noted only insignificant dripping from imperfect pipe fittings in mash tun bulkhead
Lautered first runnings at 1.044 OG (1.0636 adjusted for temperature)
Added 3 gallons sparge water at 70ºC, allowed to dissolve sugars for 15 minutes
Lautered second runnings into separate vessel at 1.025 Og (1.047 adjusted for temp)
Boiled first runnings with 1.0 ounce of hops for 60 minutes, adding 0.5 ounces at 30 minutees
Boiled second runnings with 0.5 ounce of hops, 60 minutes
Diverted 800 mL of boiled second runnings to Erlenmeyer flask, and pitched 1/10 of yeast tube, affixed airlock
At 60 minutes, chilled both boils to ~26ºC. Due to ambient temperature, was unable to achieve further immersion chilling (maybe next time will run cold water line through an ice bath!)
Decanted first runnings (with some second runnings added, for an OG of 1.033) to bucket. Pitched remaining yeast affixed lid and airlock.
Decanted second runnings to carboy, affixed airlock
Day 2:
Bucket not fermenting well. Added 1 Tbsp di-ammonium phosphate (yeast nutrient) to bucket, re-aerated
Pitched starter in flask to carboy, added 2 tsp of DAP, re-affixed airlock
Picked 6 pounds blueberries
Both carboys fermenting vigorously by evening.
Tags: brewlogNo Comments.
I had a lot of time to think about this during the ten mile stretch of my Friday Commute that took place on city roads and secondary highways.
A lot of time to think, because I just kept getting honked at.
I’m an experienced road cyclist. I ride on the right, as close to the fog line as safe and reasonable; I signal my turns and stops, and generally crank a straight line. I do not ride with an iPod or anything else in my ears. So I don’t think the honk is meant as scolding, unless it’s scolding for daring to be a cyclist. In which case, the sound of your horn, while unpleasant, will not cause me to stop cycling, or stop cycling on the road. [Read more →]
Tags: cycling · looking for america · things that are not shiny · trafficrant1 Comment