P I C N I C

Last night I sauteed some mustard greens with mustard seeds, brown crystal sugar, peanuts, and vegetable oil. They were really good, the sugar made a kind of bitter/sweet thing that worked out well.

Today I’m reading a clipping from the New York Times that my parents sent me, from January 6th. It’s about various chemical properties of food, one of which is an old wives tale of adding sugar to vegetables to “…preserve the bright green of the greens.” But the author thought it was hooey and called Harold McGee and asked his opinion. “A fraction of a teaspoon is a homeopathic dose…. if I had been in your apartment I would have said, ‘let’s do an experiment’.”

I’m not sure if the sugar I added preserved the green color, (it almost seemed to become a deeper, richer green) but maybe I should do some experiments myself?

For months I’ve been worried that the old steel frame from 1972 is just not sturdy enough to haul around the food cart. After building the new design, a 13 foot tall, 17 foot long house, I’ve gotten a very real sense of it’s heft. And to haul that around on a trailer with a single axel, it’s just not done. Unfortunately I’ll need to dismantle what’s been built so far, then rebuild it on a new and sturdier trailer.

It’s so cold outside and I’d hate for the squirrelies to go hungry. I leave nuts out for them on a perch high enough up a tree that the cats can’t bother them. I’ve gotten pretty good at differentiating them. This is Bertha because she’s chubby, has not very much brown, and has a thin little tail.

I think Jen is having a little fun setting me to tasks. In the recipe she sent me she forgot to mention how much water is needed. Based on how the batter cooked I think I needed a lot more then I used. Also, they are very difficult to make. These are not crepes or pancakes, chickpeas have very little cohesiveness, unlike wheat flour which hardens to something similar to wood when baked. It was necessary to turn the heat up as high as possible and keep a close watch. 

They were delicious. The crispiness tasted like chicken skin, Chris thought. There is a sense of turmeric in chickpeas, a kind of gaseous Indian aroma. Kate used to eat something called dosas when she was in India. They are very large chickpea crepes, similar to these. Inside is a spiced potato mash. It would come with any number of chutneys, relishes, and sauces. The next step is to figure out a few variations.