out of practice

Hello hello, my apologies for neglecting to update.

We'll start from the top, which sees me and some good folks on a steady

and beautiful climb in the Oakland hills yesterday. The ride was long and

sunny and picturesque, except for a spill I took when we started our

descent. Lesson learned: braking on turns is all bad. Thankfully, I made it

out with only a few bruises and scrapes, didn't even scuff my handlebar

tape (or my helmet!). One of the teeth on my large chain ring is bent

slightly, as I hit a pole. Anyway, I am sore as anything, but feeling well.

The route (about a 19 mile loop):

After the ride was an amazing dinner at Jesse's (and it's not just the low

blood sugar talking like it was for my post-fall Clif bar), involving

everything we could think of eating: white AND brown rice, roasted spicy

tomatillo-avocado-white peach salsa, homemade tortilla chips (cut tortillas

into 6 chip shaped wedges, fry. for softer chewy chips like I prefer, fry one

side. for crunchy ones, fry two), baked chicken with gouda cheese and

peaches (so damn good), and baked plantain strips with dried figs and

honey, all washed down with plenty of water and a little bit of wine to

kick the headaches. The best part of this huge and eclectic meal was that

somehow, everything tasted good piled on top of everything else, including

the plantain dessert. Jesse gets the credit for this one; I made chips and

salsa and sat down to stare at my bloody elbow while he labored away.

The previous evening saw a small trial batch of wasabi truffles, made with

the last of the TCHO chocolate from Star (on our last excursion to the

dumpster, Jesse and I were sorry to see there was no dumpster. we'll keep

checking back, as truffles are a-calling). Anyway, horseradish and dark

chocolate: not a terrible idea.

Before the truffles, in a horrendous blurring of cultural cuisines, I discovered

the kaffir lime leaf, a must-have from now on.

Miso and kaffir lime soup:

Boil water

add a healthy amount of miso paste

add chopped lemongrass and a few lime leaves

let this simmer for as long as you can stand.

I boiled Japanese sweet potatoes in it, as well as daikon radish and tofu,

which I used in another dish. The tofu picked up the flavors really well.

That's all for now. Will be hitting the drawings again shortly. Tonight's

experiments may or may not involve rice paper baklava, savory cornbread

twinkies, sweet rice fruishi and apricot-glazed baby bok choi.

Stay tuned!