L U N A T A L K with Eva Moon

The Bonehead of the Opera

January 31, 2010 on 1:01 am | Join the conversation. You know you want to. | In Arts, Food, Found, General Musing, Music

OK, so in the great if oddly-plotted opera Il Trovatore the gypsy woman, Azucena, attempting to avenge her mother who was burnt at the stake by the count, steals the count’s infant son intending to toss the baby on her mother’s bonfire. But, in a moment of confusion, accidentally throws her own baby on the fire instead. (Work with me here. I’m not making this up!)

Boneheaded move, you say? But even Azucena was not so boneheaded as to drive 30 minutes into Seattle before remembering that the opera tickets were still affixed to the fridge door with a New Brunswick souvenir moose magnet.

The spousal unit was remarkably restrained as I exited the freeway, swung around and headed back home where we canceled dinner reservations, grabbed the tickets and a quick bite and headed out into the night once again. Like Leonora, we arrived at the castle in the nick of time and we didn’t even have to drink poison to get in. But even so, it’s going to take a while to live this one down.

Thanks, S.B., for the terrific suggestion to bring spoons to tap along with the Anvil Chorus. I assure you the people around us found it most charming. It made a lovely accompaniment to the gentle snores of the elderly English gentleman seated to my right.

And for those of you who have not had the pleasure of seeing it, I give you:

LEGO IL TROVATORE!

Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Act 4

The Laying on of Cats

January 11, 2010 on 12:18 pm | 2 people have joined the conversation. We need you too. | In Food, General Musing

A story of the miraculous curative power of cats.

Something went terribly wrong with my trusty Mac Powerbook yesterday. I was attempting to stream live video from an event at a local coffee house when suddenly its ability to see wi-fi dried up. Pfft. I won’t go into all the things I and helpful others attempted to stir it back to life. Suffice it to say heroic measures were taken, but the patient never so much as blinked. The affliction was so pernicious that an attempt to connect via ethernet took down the internet supply to the whole building - a fact I did not give my laptop credit for until later.

When I got home that evening and tried again, the stubborn network still wouldn’t appear. I tried ethernet too and suddenly the router went down and could only be coaxed back to life by disconnecting the laptop, unplugging the router, letting all the bad juju trickle out (or whatever it is electronic devices do while you wait 60 seconds), plugging it back in and powering it up. That is when I started to suspect that the internet going AWOL at the coffee house was not just a weird coincidence.

At this point, I figured I was looking at a new network card at least, filled out a service request form at the local repair shop’s website and went to bed.

This morning I found my cat Pixel was cozily ensconced on the Powerbook keyboard, as it is arguably the warmest spot in the house and cats have world-class Warm Spot Detection (WSD). I shooed her off and Lo! Wi-fi was restored!

Repairs while you sleep! On a Sunday night, even! I plan to offer my cat’s services, at reasonable rates, for all your computer tech support needs.

Payable in catnip. Cat hair thrown in gratis.

Chopping List

January 3, 2010 on 6:12 pm | Join the conversation. You know you want to. | In Food, General Musing

They say to be a successful blogger your blog should have a theme. I’m sure that explains the resounding silence that generally greets my posts. But I do have a number of recurring themes and one of them is soup.

In an effort to beat back the bad habits that always seem to creep in during December like an evil (but tasty!) mildew, I decided to reprise the two-week cleanse diet I did last September. If you’re too stuffed with fruitcake to click on the link, it’s two weeks of low-starch veggies, lean meat, a little fruit and eggs and gallons of cranberry water. A day into it, I remember what was really annoying about it: The incessant chopping. There’s no such thing as slapping together a sandwich. Anything you want to eat requires chopping and lot’s of it. Perhaps that’s the exercise component?

Here’s a very simple soup I made up today for lunch that I’d eat even NOT on the diet. It uses a premade soup as a base:

Eva’s Curried Tomato Pepper Soup

Heat a little olive oil in a sauce pan and saute some garlic, sliced mushrooms, onion and the stems of two large Swiss chard leaves (chop the leaves too, but save them for later on) along with some kind of protein (I used leftover turkey any kind of cooked leftover meat or tofu ‘chicken’ strips or whatever would be fine). You know how I am about measuring anything, but it was probably about 2 cups worth of chopped stuff. It doesn’t matter if your soup is not a clone of my soup. Deal with it. Saute until the onions start to brown.

Add the chopped chard leaves and 2-3 tablespoons of curry powder and saute until the leaves are getting tender. Then pour in a box of Trader Joe’s Organic Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Low Sodium soup. It comes in a quart carton. If you’re not so fortunate as to have a Trader Joe’s nearby, I’m sure you can find something similar.

When the soup is hot, it’s ready to eat.

Thirteen chopping days left!

Sweets to the sweet. Here, have a nut.

December 11, 2009 on 8:51 am | 4 people have joined the conversation. We need you too. | In Food, General Musing

Kudos to Bonefish Grill

My sister, Pam, is one of those peanut allergy people you read about in the newspaper - the ones who are responsible for depriving you of the small, salty joy of a thimbleful of peanuts on a long plane flight. But for any goobers who are itching to know the meat of this issue, peanut allergy (the most common food allergy in the US) exists on a molecular level. For some, there is no such thing as “just a little.” There is none and there is dead.

Pam had an experience the other day that gives me a chance to both do a little education and give credit where it’s due:

Bonefish Grill has long been one of our favorite restaurants. Recently I decided to try something new instead of one my usual favorites. I am severely allergic to peanuts. So much so, that I carry an epinephrine syringe, albuterol inhalers, and other allergy medications with me wherever I go. I asked the server about the ingredients in the sauce, and was given a tasty sounding list that did not include peanuts. So I was more than a little surprised when I realized I was having an allergic reaction. It turned out that oh yes, the sauce did, indeed, contain peanuts, but “not very much.” Fortunately I was able to get to my medications quickly.

What’s most striking about this incident is not that I was accidentally fed something that’s poison to me; that’s happened before and will no doubt happen again. What’s worth noting is the reaction of the restaurant, and most especially, the corporate offices.

The manager and staff at the restaurant were sincerely concerned and apologetic over the incident, clearly willing to do whatever was necessary to ensure my health. The manager spent quite some time with me and listened attentively while we explained about peanut allergy and the need for staff education. That was more or less expected. What was less expected was the reaction I got to a letter I wrote to the corporate offices letting them know about the incident. It wasn’t an angry letter. I just wanted to educate them and suggest measures they could take to avoid such incidents in the future. I’ve written such letters in the past, and been uniformly ignored. My guess is that lawyers advise companies not to say anything for fear of admitting guilt.

Not so with Bonefish Grill. Today I got a personal phone call from their Director of Operations. Not only did he want to check and make sure I was ok, he also wanted to let me know what actions they were taking to ensure this never happens again. He told me he and the president of the company had read my letter several times and were taking my suggestions very seriously. He’d just gotten off the phone from a conference call with all his store managers about the incident and they were instituting new staff education policies as a result. They are producing a big chart listing menu items with nuts, and the restaurants are being given one week to get the chart printed, laminated, and posted where the servers can reference it. The chart will be updated with each change to the menu. The staff is to be educated on allergies and menu ingredients immediately. In addition, they are looking into making changes to the print menu to make it easier for patrons with allergies to identify which items contain peanuts. Oh, and we get a free meal next time.

I was amazed just to get the phone call. When he started telling me the measures they were taking, I was blown out of the water. I’ve never had such a positive response from a large corporation in my life. They listened. They cared. They didn’t try to dodge responsibility. It’s nice to know that some companies do things right. And I will be eating at Bonefish grill regularly as a result.

Pam East
www.pameast.net

There’s a Bonefish Grill just 10 miles from me. I may have to go check and see if they have their chart laminated.

The Magi had it easy…

December 6, 2009 on 4:41 pm | 4 people have joined the conversation. We need you too. | In Food, General Musing

They may have trekked hundreds of miles through trackless deserts, but didn’t try to find phyllo dough in Redmond.

It’s not that there isn’t any. Actually, there’s quite a bit - they had it at six of the seven stores I went to. But it’s gone through a transformation that echoes the current economic recession: It’s been downsized.

Phyllo dough, if you don’t know, is tissue paper-thin sheets of dough which I have layered with butter, nuts, cinnamon and sugar to make baklava every December for the past twenty years at least. My great-grandmother used to make her own phyllo, but as soon as machine-made dough became available, boy did that stop. So now, unless you’re some kind of baking survivalist Luddite, you buy it in the freezer section of the supermarket. It comes in a box of 12″x18″ sheets - the ideal size and quantity in one box to make one pan of baklava. A little trim to the stack of sheets and it’s a perfect fit in a standard 11″x17″ pan.

Until this year.

For some inexplicable but surely evil reason, phyllo dough sheets have shrunk to 9″x14″ while my pans have stubbornly clung to their former dimensions. The phyllo has to fit the pan. You can’t have a stack of sheets in the middle of a pan and a syrup moat. Trust me on this or go look at the recipe for yourself.

I went to six markets: Safeway, QFC, Fred Meyer, Target, Trader Joe’s and Top Food. Five of them had phyllo - all in the cute new useless miniature size. I considered stopping by Office Depot for a quire of tabloid-size sheets of tissue paper. Enough butter and sugar and who would know? In the aisle of Top Food, I caved: Enough already! I’ll buy smaller pans!

At Bed, Bath & Beyond, they had 9×12″ pans, but only nonstick. The thing about nonstick pans: One knife slice and zip, they’re ruined. To a nonstick pan, baklava is “death by a thousand cuts.”

The BB&B clerk commiserated. “There’s not a plain baking pan anywhere in the northwest outside a restaurant supply store. It’s all nonstick. Everything. Maybe you could bake cookies? The nonstick pans are great for cookies.”

I stomped out, muttering.

“One more store. I’m going to one more store and that’s it. The end of an era. We might as well get a plastic tree and a blow-up Chilly Willy yard decoration because it won’t really be Christmas anyway.”

But lo! A star rose in the frozen food aisle! Whole Foods had 12×18″ phyllo sheets! Organic too. Pah-rum-pah-pum-pum. I am saved!

And you are too! The first two people not already on the ‘get some’ list who reply to this blog post will get a box of my baklava in the mail.

How the Web Saved the Day

October 11, 2009 on 3:24 pm | 2 people have joined the conversation. We need you too. | In Food, General Musing, In the news, Travel

What did we ever do without the Interwebs? A promise of fine autumn weather and a very rare unprogrammed Sunday drew us out of the bat cave. We settled on a drive to Mount Rainier National Park and a hike along the Naches Peak Loop Trail - about four miles of surprisingly level walking with spectacular views of the mountain. However, a quick web check for Washington State travel alerts turned up a mudslide which had just buried SR 410 - DOT en route! - just 10 miles from the park. A disappointment to be sure, but nothing compared to the inconvenience of driving eighty miles first. (To say nothing of the inconvenience to the people whose homes were destroyed by the mud slide.)

Back to the web to draw on the collective wisdom of Facebook. Lot’s of great suggestions within minutes. We settled on the Washington Arboretum. A place not 20 minutes drive from home that we NEVER go to. (Well once. Twelve years ago. We drive through it on occasion on the way to Nishino - the best sushi.) A few clicks later we had an arboretum trail map in our hands and off we went.

Was the arboretum a satisfactory substitute for the majesty of Rainier? Well, no, but it definitely wasn’t a wasted day. I don’t have time to write twelve thousand words. The sun is still shining.

Day 15: Which Way to the Egress?

October 6, 2009 on 8:00 am | Join the conversation. You know you want to. | In Food, General Musing

My two-week liver cleanse is over… I think.

I feel good. The little nagging problems that led me to the program in the first place while not “cured” are relieved to a noticeable extent. I lost six pounds and am now three pounds below my scream number.

If I die tomorrow they’ll have to beat my liver to death with a stick.

I learned a lot:

There’s a difference between habit and hunger
There’s a difference between want and need
Less can still be enough
I have a shred self-control
Have a backup plan for when self-control wears thin*
Read labels
Swiss chard is good stuff

What I haven’t figured out is my exit strategy. How do I keep that five pounds from pouncing the moment I turn my back? I can feel them lurking in the shadows. Snickering. Plotting. Their weapons? Bread… pasta… cheese… potatoes… wine… chocolate. They loom like a Samoan tsunami, threatening to sweep me out to a carbohydrate sea.

Michael Pollan’s guideline is: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Who could argue with the cheerful simplicity and sense of it? One could choose to classify brownies, crusty loaves, ice cream, marmalade and champagne as plants, but I don’t think that’s what he had in mind. I really never thought I could do it. Now I know I can. And when I do eat a brownie (as I surely will), it will be a treat.

*Blogging served me well. I couldn’t let down my imaginary readers. Regular programming will now resume. Thank you for your patience.

Day 13: Juice of Affliction, Chili of Salvation

October 5, 2009 on 8:00 am | 1 person has joined the conversation. We need you too. | In Food, General Musing

In the end days of my two-week liver cleanse I finally have the right juice. 100% cranberry and nothing but. Despite my anger at Oceanspray’s highly misleading labeling, I am now officially relieved I served most of my sentence in blissful ignorance. Actual cranberry juice is not just tart, it’s violently astringent. I poured a scant two inches in the bottom of my 32-ounce bottle and filled the rest with water. The juice is so concentrated the color did not change. The cleanse instructions were to dilute it until it’s ‘pale.’ I’ve emptied half the bottle and refilled with water three times and the color has progressed from ‘gore’ to ‘ruby,’ but it is still not anything approaching ‘pale.’ And the taste. Dear God. Every orifice puckered.

On the plus side, it’s only 70 calories a cup and a quart jar should last me until retirement.

In pleasanter news, I came up with a terrific new recipe to keep the wolves of desperation at bay. Definitely a keeper.

Eva’s Hang In There Chili

Cut meat into bite size pieces. I used about 2 lbs of boneless chicken breast because there was a good sale at Safeway, but I bet it would be great with pork loin.

Splash a blorp of olive oil into a big pot and saute the meat with garlic. Add lot’s of the tough sort of veggies - the kind that can take some abuse without falling apart. Here’s what I used, but don’t let it squelch your creative urges: Onions, mushrooms, carrot, red bell pepper, anaheim chilies (seeded. I used three.) all chunked.

Saute for a few minutes and then dump in two cans of diced tomatoes, oregano (plenty), chili powder (Lots. For Pete’s sake, it’s chili. Don’t skimp on the chili powder. There should be enough to thicken the juice.) Cover and simmer for about a half hour. Uncover and simmer some more until liquid thickens up.

Add the wimpy veggies: sliced zucchini and yellow crookneck squash and cook a little more. Adjust seasonings to taste. Add some cayenne if the anaheims didn’t spice it up enough.

This is a handy weapon indeed to have at hand when the hungry beast is on the prowl.

(Pro Garnish Tip: Diced avocado is an excellent thing to sprinkle on gazpacho too, when croutons are off the list.)

Day 11: The Wall

October 4, 2009 on 8:08 am | Join the conversation. You know you want to. | In Food, General Musing

Coming into the home stretch of the two-week liver cleanse and things were going so well. I was feeling sassy, rested, energized, smug. But today… I hit the wall. The cranberry juice scandal has me snarling, the scale has been stuck at SN -.5 for the past few days despite being perfectly submissive the diet’s cruel whims. I’m feeling pitiful and whiny… and hungry.

When you’re eating mostly plants it can be a challenge to keep the larder stocked. I’m shopping several times a week, but it seems like the fridge is reduced to lettuce, celery, parsley and an onion in minutes. I should have just put my ass in the car today and groced. Instead I tried to keep working despite a growing sense of starvation. Not just hunger, but a kind of deep, desperate depletion.

It is the height of absurdity to even suggest that I, a prosperous middle-class American woman, has the least tiny shred of an idea what starvation is like. I have only to glance in a mirror to know I’m not actually depleted. But I prowled the kitchen like some ravening, hollow-eyed predator delirious for dinner to stray from the safety of its oven-cave already so I could pounce and rend it leaf from leaf. My husband kept his distance and I note he was never without a defensive spatula in his hand. Just in case.

An hour later, the tiger was temporarily mollified. I’ll make it. It’s only a few more days.

But come Monday… the beast will feed.

Week 2: A Keeper Recipe

October 3, 2009 on 8:00 am | Join the conversation. You know you want to. | In Food, General Musing

It’s the start of week two of my two-week liver cleanse and I feel like feel like I’m developing a close personal relationship with my liver. I name her “Livinia.” I’ve survived the weekend and emerged victorious. Weigh in: SN -1! (My scream number minus 1) I’ve lost four pounds in a week. One week to go and I’m definitely on a roll. (Well probably not a roll.)

I’m even starting to notice some of those other non-weight-related health benefits that were promised. I’m sleeping well, I feel good, systems that were balky have started to perk up. Some of the cravings have started to fade a little. I really want to drink something besides cranberry water. And while I’ve learned I can tolerate no salt, a little would be nice. But I feel less resentful this week.

The biggest headache is that it’s a pain to eat anything. I spend more time chopping than eating.

Eva’s On-Plan Chicken and Cabbage Paprikash

Chicken, cut into bite size pieces (I used 6 skinless thighs, but use whatever you like)
3-5 garlic cloves, minced
1 large onion, big dice
1/2 pound mushrooms, quartered
1/2 head cabbage, chunked
1 can diced tomatoes
Sweet AND hot paprika - lots
Herbs of your choice
a splash of lemon juice or vinegar

Saute the garlic and chicken in some olive oil and then add the onions and mushrooms and saute those too. When everything is good and sizzly on the edges, add the cabbage and the paprika. Don’t skimp on the paprika. Go buy a tin of good Hungarian sweet paprika and hot paprika. Use at least several tablespoons of each. I don’t measure, of course, but the dish is seriously red. If you really want to treat yourself get some smoked paprika too but don’t use too much as it will easily dominate the other flavors. Stir up the pan and then toss in the tomatoes, herbs and lemon juice. You don’t need much lemon juice. It’s there to balance the sweetness of the cabbage. Stir, cover and simmer. Check it every now and then. I didn’t find that more liquid was necessary. In fact, partway through I took the lid off so that the juice would cook down and get really thick.

If you’re not an insane liver cleanser like me, add a little salt and serve over rice. But it was seriously scrumptious all by itself. This is definitely a keeper.

Livinia is a happy little camper. I almost hate to burden her with the crap I used to eat after this week. But hey, no one gets to stay on vacation forever.

L U N A T A L K with Eva Moon

The Bonehead of the Opera

The Laying on of Cats

A story of the miraculous curative power of cats.