Don't Tell 'Em What's In It!

I once when to a dinner party, where they simmered onions and tomatoes for 40 minutes; longer for what most people consider decent. Salt, pepper. Stir in your fettucini al dente and then take it off the heat and mash a ripe avocado into it. It will turn into a very creamy and light avocado sauce. Squeeze half a sweet lemon, and toss.

The result is absolutely wonderful non-italian, cheeze free pasta; simple, intellectual, satisfying.

This bowl above is a little different. I browned a handfull of ground beef, threw in a serrano pepper and a little sliced garlic. Add onion. Stir in hot rotini, al dente. Turn off heat, mash the avocado into a sauce, squeeze half a lemon and give it a good stir and serve it while it's hot.

It's better than you think.


what's in it!

Mashed Avocado

Guacamole is good. In Mexico, we never had American-style guacamole with a lot of spicy ingredients. Instead, we had a avocados mashed completely smooth with a pinch of salt and some lime juice. I like to throw in some hot peppers. Spread it on a tostada. That's all. It should taste like avocado.

Today I went with some other teachers to visit S, who had a tumorous section of her jaw removed and replaced with some of her hip bone. She's doing well; she should start taking liquids orally this Sunday. She'll have to have radiation treatment to stop lymphoma from spreading.

The parents brought lunch to the faculty today. They call it "Gratia" and it's a whole bunch of salads and a dessert or two. One thing about working at an uppity mostly-white school is that the parents bring good food. At that other school, we got a grocery plate of cold cuts.

My Dinner

Here's a shot of my dinner last night. It was fried fish (the filet with skin is shown here) with eggplant and tomatoes, and steamed rice. I made this plate actually just for the picture, not to eat, so that's why there's so much. I ended up eating a good chunk of it, though.

The eggplants were the Italian kind; I think they were called "nichole." I roasted them in the oven for 50 minutes with salt and pepper flakes. Then I put them into a container and snipped at them with some kitchen shears, mixed them up until it was a chunky mash. A little salt and some cubed tomatoes, and that's it.

Pritong Isda

I fried fish with flour, salt, pepper, and corn meal; I used canola oil. I forgot what kind of fish it was. Had some Italian name. the fish lady sold it to me.

When I went into Mutual Fish today, it was totally filipino day. Everyone was speaking tagalog; the people who didn't speak tagalog were not speaking. I asked what was good; she pointed at this fish. It looked good. I asked her, how should I cook it, just prito it? She said yah! and then whispered to me in tagalog that it's better than bangus; no little bones.

Well, it's a kind of milk fish, like bangus, and it's fine. A little expensive for me, but good. Next time I will ask for a salt water fish. Hell, next time, I'll get shellfish.

Yesterday and today was our sophomore retreat, an urban plunge. We gathered, prayed, played some games, gave them a couple of training sessions, made hundreds of burritos, and then took them to agencies around the city. Then we brought them back, debriefed a little, had a mass, and then simulated a homeless shelter. They slept on the cafeteria floor.

We woke them up this morning, had a quick blessing, and then sent them off to different service agencies. Me and B spent most of the day driving around, taking pictures of students working. When we were finishing up at St. Francis House, we noticed an elderly filipina leaving with a wheeled shopping basket, stuffed to the top; a vacuum cleaner; a microwave. B asked, how are you taking all this home? She said, oh, I'm walking. With a microwave? Then I'll take the bus. With a microwave? Never mind, we'll take you.

She might have lived about 7 blocks away, up hill, but there was no way she was making it without us. I asked her in tagalog, where are you from? what is your name? but I think she was deaf in one ear, because she just went on amiably about how her house was coming up.

When we got to her house, she asked us to put the microwave and vacuum cleaner on the curb. No, Auntie, we'll take it up to your house! So she lead us to her house, a secret house behind the house we thought it was.

Later, I tried to remember the word for deaf. Telek? I called mama in Vegas; it's 'dingi.' What's telek, then? That's pangasinan! Oh.

Anyway, at the end of the day we gathered the kids again, had a quick debrief and sent them home. It wasn't bad.

Tomorrow I have a meeting from 3 to 6. We work hard.

Spaghetti Improvvizati

Oh no! It's "Movie Night In Canada," and CBC is showing The Empire Strikes Back! Yes, I own the DVD, so what? For those of you who don't know, "Movie Night In Canada" is the sad replacement of "Hockey Night In Canada" now that the NHL is on strike. Ha.

So I melted some butter with some olive oil, cracked some pepper into it, dumped in a little can of chopped california olives, squirted some tomato & vegetable paste into it and sauteed it all around. Then I dumped in a can of italian-style stewed tomatoes and crushed into the sauce with my wooden spoon. Simmer until the pasta's done, and then toss it all together over a medium flame. Some pinched mozzarella went on top. And when I say mozzarella, I mean string cheese.

Look's like meat, duddn't it.

You can serve this to your vegetarian friends, or as an unfussy primo piatto. Besides, spaghetti's not supposed to be an entree; it's supposed to be an entree. When I was in Italy, my host family asked me what Americans had for dinner; my American room mate said, "sometimes I have spaghetti." The Italians said, "Yah. . . . And . . . ?" And he said. "That's it!"

It took a while for them to wrap their heads around a concept of spaghetti as a meal. For them, it's the little plate you start with before getting to the meat and vegetables. Then comes salad, and after that, dessert, and then fruit. By then I was drunk and went straight to bed.

And the best part is, when I was in Italy, stuffing myself, I lost weight. Was it the walking? or was it the fresh organic food? Maybe it was meals at regular times, including breakfast, everyday for two months. Non si sa.

Insane Meatloaf Surprise

Here, my friends, is an under-lit tight shot of my Insane Meatloaf surprise. It's not a filipino recipe, but involves several filipino principles.

First, boil some eggs. Break a raw egg into a bowl and scramble it with a lot of soy sauce, black pepper, diced sweet onion, leftover cooked rice, and finally ground beef.

Form into a loaf or loaves. With your thumb, create a trough. Put peeled, boiled eggs into the well and close it up carefully so that there's no air bubbles. Cover your loaf with strips of bacon, bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for an hour or less. Serve with steamed rice and diced tomatoes.

Here's what it looks like on a plate.

Still Not Grading

I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of my dinner, but it was delicious.

First, I sweated some garlic with black pepper and italian herbs in some butter and olive oil. Then I put in a teaspoon of flour and cooked it a little on low. Then I stirred in the liquid of a can of clams and brought it to a simmer. When my spaghetti was al dente, I tossed it into my sauce. I served it with some fresh tomatoes and a sprinke of that 'cave aged gruyere' I talked about earlier.

That's it! I tried to make pa amb tomaquet, but it doesn't work with Japanese square bread. You need a hard country loaf.

Roasted vegetables:
1 package snacky snack veggie sticks
(baby carrots, celery sticks, broccoli, radish, zucchini, whatever)
1 package mushrooms
2 handfulls baby red potatoes, quartered
1/2 big sweet onion, sliced into wedges
splash olive oil
splash chicken stock
salt and pepper

chop everything small.
toss in oil and stock.
season with salt and pepper.
spread in a shallow layer in a roasting pan.
roast under broiler, low setting.
stir occasionally to brown evenly
dish is done when potatoes are soft and chicken stock has reduced to a sauce.