I seem to have fallen behind this past week. Thanks to Sam and Seoyhung
for an awesome visit, and for posing for me on my day off from the MOMA.


Work at the museum is going swimmingly, and I am now opening the
cafe by myself a few times a week. The cafe is in the indoor part of the
rooftop sculpture garden, shared with a Calder mobile, Louise Bourgeois'
spiders, and some Tony Cragg stalagmites. Through the glass wall I can
see a ton of other pieces, including 2 more Calders and a massive Ellsworth
Kelly. A pretty choice locale for a cafe. Lunch breaks are short, but I bring
paper just in case.



Things at home are going well too. Jesse has been riding up a storm,
completing a 300k a few weekends ago, and planning for a 400k in the
near future. Somehow he still found an hour or so of downtime to sit
still for me, as he read Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder,
a story-like biography of Paul Farmer, one of the founders of Partners
in Health. (Also, thanks to mom for the shipment of neckers! We love
them.) This was after going out for a screening of Queen of the Sun,
a flick about beekeeping. It was more inspiring than informative, but
that's all we were looking for. The backyard was miraculously weeded
this morning by handyman Jose, and as it's sunny and 70 outside, it's
about time to start our garden.


The farmers markets have kicked back into gear too! It's been a long time
since I've been inspired by something other than bread, cheese or root
vegetables. Now the tables are stocked with asparagus, strawberries, and
the first sweet peas of the year!


Today's lunch: Asparagus Citrus Salad

-1/4 bunch raw asparagus. I like the moderately thin ones, which I think
are better raw. Make sure to break the bottom part of the stems off, otherwise
your salad will be tough and stringy.

-1 cara cara orange

-1 clove garlic, minced

-1 garlic-clove-sized chunk of ginger, minced

-5-6 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

-salt

-olive oil

-sweet balsamic vinegar to taste

Toss everything together in a bowl, and dig in.

Happy spring!

cornbread, oh cornbread

This marks batch number 4 in as many days, which I think makes it a
successful recipe. Today's variation was vegan, replacing 1 c yogurt
with 1 c applesauce. I also added chopped dried figs and some rosemary
pilfered from a yard on 17th Street.

Note: I haven't done enough experimenting, but I think using applesauce
as a yogurt replacement will work perfectly as long as there is flax in the
recipe. If there isn't, the end result will be less moist with applesauce
than with yogurt. Will verify with a cookie recipe!

Gluten Free Cornbread

3/4 c tapioca starch
3/4 c white cornmeal (or blue!)
1/4 c sweet white rice flour
3/4 t xanthan gum
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t salt

1/2 c canola oil
1/4 c maple syrup
2 T flax seed meal in 3 T water
1 c yogurt

bake at 350 for 16 minutes as muffins, or about 35 as a large flat round.
when the top is sufficiently browned, it should be ready. if you pull it
out before it has browned, it will be fully cooked but gummier inside.

In homage to Nate Marsh, who popped up on Tuesday just to say hello
before running back to the East coast, and with thanks to Jolie who
brought home such lovely overripe bananas from her job at Whole Foods.

Gluten Free and Vegan Peanut Butter and Banana Cookies

1 c brown rice flour
1/4 c garfava flour
1 t xanthan gum
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 T flax seed meal
1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 c peanut butter
1 ripe banana, mashed
3/4 c brown sugar
3 T water
1 t vanilla

add all ingredients together until incorporated. add chocolate chips
if you so desire them, otherwise roll through a plate of salt and sugar
before baking at 325 for 16 minutes.

I don't start work until noon today, but it's raining so hard outside
I just wish I were there. I put on all my running clothes and promptly
took them off, I went to the cafe next door and didn't want to be
looking out the streaking windows, and now I am sitting comfortably
atop our space heater stalling until it's time to hop a train. In the
meantime, I've been practicing my blind contour drawing, and coming
up with some rather frightful self-portraits. Happy Friday.

i forgot to wear green, again.

Day off #2.

I'm playing music too loudly trying to drown out the erratic bass line
coming from the upstairs neighbors' repairman's radio, and getting
myself worked up about earthquake preparation. This morning I put
away the ceramics from up on the mantel, and used a blade to fix the
latches on the cabinet doors which were painted open. Unfortunately
the door edges are painted so thickly that they still won't close. Balls.

Gluten Free and Vegan Irish Soda Muffins
(thanks to Elsa for reminding me about soda bread!)

bowl 1:

1 c tapioca starch
3/4 c white rice flour
1/4 c sorghum flour
1/2 t xanthan gum
2 T brown sugar
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 T caraway seeds
2 T canola oil
1/2 c (heaping) chopped dried figs


bowl 2:

3/4 c rice milk with 1 T apple cider vinegar, let sit before adding the other ingredients
1 T ground flax seed in 3 T water, let sit for a few minutes before using
1/2 t baking soda

add the contents of bowl 2 to the bowl 1 mix, and spoon into muffin trays.
bake at 350 for 16 minutes. enjoy!

Looks like a day off

It's 1 30 and I am having my second cup of coffee for the day.
It's Saturday for me, after 5 days of working between the
MOMA cafe and Readers.

This morning I had my exit interview with the Friends of the
SF Public Library. While I was waiting for my interviewer, I
wrote up a list of things to do for the day, which quickly turned
into the list of things to do for the year, or maybe more. But
while I ponder it, I think I'll have more cookies.

Gluten-free and Vegan Halva Cookies

1 c brown rice flour
1/4 c garfava flour
1 t xanthan gum
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 T ground flax seeds
1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 c tahini
3/4 c brown sugar
4 T water
1 t vanilla

1/4 c sesame seeds for coating the cookie dough

bake at 325 for 20 minutes. let cool before serving. makes 10 cookies.

I snatched some of my favorite filters after my last day at readers.
thanks to all the awesome staff over there, it's been a wonderful
place to work!

muffins for pi day!

Or more accurately, Vegan and Gluten Free Cornbreadscones



3/4 c tapioca starch
3/4 c white rice flour
1/4 c sweet white rice flour
1/4 c white cornmeal
3/4 t xanthan gum
1/2 t salt
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
cinnamon
cayenne pepper

1/2 c coconut oil
1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 c coconut milk
2 t dark balsamic vinegar

once your dry ingredients are mixed, cream coconut oil with sugar.
add coconut milk until incorporated.
add vinegar, and combine wet and dry ingredients.
spoon into greased muffin tray and sprinkle tops with salt and brown sugar.
bake at 375 for 18-20 minutes.

serve warm, and happy pi day!

la this time around

thanks to jesse, marv and chuckie for an excellent scrabble match.