Mucky snow, sleet, then sun; Sat. dinner.

• Black bread w. mustard, broiled Gruyere cheese
• Pommes de terre a l'huile from Cuisine of the Sun
• Red snapper fried whole w. onion+wine+vinegar+rosemary sauce. Kremezi The Foods of Greece

Cold morning; we took Luigi to the doggy park at Quiet Waters, only to find it closed due to the light snowfall. We drove on out to the site the much enlarged from early days Key School. Then we returned to park entrance, parked across the street and walked Luigi into the park. We let him off the leash as there was no one around and he had great fun running away from us and coming back. Later, we returned into Annapolis, where I stopped at Hard Bean book store to buy the Sunday Times and some chocolate frosted donuts. At home Nancy made more coffee and we ate out donuts. I had gotten one creme filled donut with chocolate icing - it was about the best of this kind of donut I can ever remember having.

After donuts we went to church at St. Anne's. A guest preacher talked about what kind of world would it be if, instead of posting the ten commandments in courthouses, etc., we posted the Beatitudes? Rather nifty, I thought. We went to lunch at 49 Cafe, then back home for the rest of the day.

My reading group was supposed to meet this afternoon but was cancelled because of the snow.

For dinner last night, I stumbled upon a recipe in E. David's Omelette for black bread slathered with mustard, covered with lots of Gruyere cheese, then broiled until cheese begins to melt. As I had no black bread, I looked for same when I went out to Grauels' for groceries. The closest I could come was pumpernickel bagels. I sliced one in half, then filled the hole with cutouts from the second bagel, then followed with the Dijon mustard, the cheese, and the broiler. Recommended to be drunk with white wine well chilled, I found a bottle of Grove Mill S. Blanc at 42 deg. in the wine store room A delicious combination!

Meanwhile, I had begun a skillet of pommes de terre a l'huile from Cuisine of the Sun. Cut in half 5-6 cloves garlic, crush a bit, then saute in skillet with 6 tbs. of olive oil at medium heat. Cube 3 medium size potatoes (for the two of us, more than enough) and put in the oil. Turn heat down and turn frequently until lightly or more browned all over. As I had lots else to do, the potatoes got to cook for at least 90 min., mostly on low heat, so they browned nicely, slowly, and were just about right when I served dinner. Season with plenty of salt and pepper before serving, and scatter two or three tbs. of chopped parsley (or basil, if summer) over them.

For a main dish I had thawed a 1 1/2 lb. red snapper the night before. I found an interesting sounding recipe in the Kremezi Greek cookbook The Foods of Greece for frying a whole fish and saucing with a onion / wine / vinegar / rosemary sauce. I used this recipe for the red snapper, served up with the potatoes and Nancy made a salad with mixed greens and sliced kumquats and a sliced limequat. This we ate with bottle of red wine - a California 2001 cab. sauv. Very nice meal.

For our light Sunday dinner tonight we finished the fasolada from Friday with croutons of multigrain bread and the rest of the second pumpernickel bagel sauteed in butter and oil with a bit of garlic rolled around in the oil. Finished up with some more of the second bottle of wine from Sat. dinner.

Spent most of the day reading the NY Sunday Times, the Wash. Post, the Annapolis Capital.

Finished edit of Karl's short piece on Konstellation ohne Sterne.

Am working toward working on Larry Bratt's letter.

Bright & Sunny but Cold

A Warming Trend, high near 40! Tonight sleet and snow moving up from the south - SC and GA under several inches of snow already this morning.

We went to see Million Dollar Baby last night at the theaters not at the Mall. It was excellent,
sad, beautifully done...

For dinner we ate the soups I had made yesterday, some with a bit of my catsup.

Cleaned up the kitchen this morning.

Ate fried pasta from the other night, together with the remaining piece of tuna from that evening's dinner, all with a couple of eggs cracked over them. Delicioius.

The dinners I have not recorded have not gone unrecorded fully because of lack of motivation. Sometime over the past couple of weeks I lost track and then, entering one of these entries, it got trashed by the system and an hours work was lost.

Am trying to get back on the stick.

Need to go and change Jamaica tickets to prove I'm on the stick!

Soups on a cold day

It was only 13 degrees F. when we took Luigi to the groomer at 8:30 this morning. Brr...

Tonight we are going out to see Clint Eastwood's new movie about a female prize fighter.

I also completed making some ketsup / catsup that I started yesterday evening.

Made a couple soups from 1 lb. of lima beans, using the sacred pressure cooker.

1. Tomato Catsup mal. So, my first recipe:

• 2 28oz. cans tomatoes
• 1 large onion, diced

• 1 1/2 tsp. whole clove
• 2 stick cinnamon, broken
• 1 tsp. mace
  
• 1 tsp celery seed
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 TB black pepper
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1 - 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp dry mustard
  
• 1/4 tsp each nutmeg, ginger powder

• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  

Chop tomatoes. Saute tomatoes and onions until onions are transparent.
In a separate pan place vnegar, sugar, spices. Simmer "tea" until aromatic, let steep for 30 min. or more.
Cook down tomatoes and onions for 20 min.

Strain tea into tomato and onions. Simmer untill thick. Puree.

As it was not thick enough, I needed to heat it gently until thickend sufficiently. I did this by putting the catsup in a wide pan and sitting it in a 225 degree oven for several hours - close to 5!

Bottle. Tricky to do because it was now too thick. I had to push it through the stem of a funnel using a chopstick. It would be more efficient to use a pastry bag - I need to get one!


2. Lima Bean Soup
From COOKS.COM

---

1 lb. dry lima beans, washed / used only 1/2 of cooked beans.

Salt as needed

1 lg. can or package sauerkraut, drained and rinsed

Few diced potatoes, optional

GRAVY:

2 tbsp. butter, melted

Several Tbsp. flour

Wash beans and cover generously with water. Bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let set overnight. The next day, using the same liquid, bring soup to a boil again and boil for at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Test for softness. Salt soup as desired.

If desired, add diced potatoes and boil. Add sauerkraut to beans and add enough water to cover. Bring to boil then simmer.

To make gravy: combine melted butter and flour in skillet and brown slowly, until slightly brown. Turn off heat and cool before adding 1 to 2 cups water. Stir to thicken. Add to soup. Strain into broth if necessary.

NOTE: Chopped cabbage may be used in place of sauerkraut.

2. From The Foods of Greece, Aglaia Kremezi and the www.

Fassolada - Greek Lima Bean Soup

Notes in italics are from web recipes or are my added comments.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb dry lima beans; soak overnight or use quick-soak method and then cook for 20 min. in pressure cooker.
  
• 2 stalks chopped celery w. leaves
  
• 2 carrots sliced
  
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1-3 chopped onions
• 2 green bell peppers, diced
  
• 1 small hot pepper, minced (or dash of tobasco sauce)
• 3 tbs tomato paste
  
• 1 tbs dry mustard
  
• juice of 1/2 lemon or more
  
• Add'l recommendations from internet recipes:
  
• 1/2 teaspoon of oregano
• 3-4 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• Note that I did not use these the first time
  

Directions:

Using 3 quarts of cold water, boil the mixed beans. Cook gently until skins barely slip but the beans are still firm. Drain. Cover with fresh water.

Saute the rest of the ingredients separately, except for the tomato paste and mustard, until the onions are transparent: about 3 min. Combine vegetables and beans and add the mustard and tomato paste. Simmer until all ingredients are tender. Puree 1 - 1 1/2 c. either in blender or with handheld blender. Serve with bread and red wine. I think it is best to wait a day to eat the soup, because the flavor is better.

Rain and Cold

Tasks

• Weather today:
  
• warm early with rain; clearing to very cold later
• tide quite high, possibly due to wind from the east
  
• Walk Luigi optimism
  
• Record last two days: DONE
  
• Breakfast: DONE
• Asana
• Lunch at Touchstones: On my way; DONE
  
• Send note out for schedule of KKAH Program Committee meeting; DONE
  
• Work on OEC narrative; DONE and sent to Nancy V.S. for review
• Attend Study Circle meeting Wed. evening, the 12th: DONE

Discussion

• Walk Luigi optimism: It may not happen as the weather and my availability will both limit our possible times.
  
• Record last two days
• Wed.
  
• Attend Study Circle meeting this evening: DONE
• Six people present: Claudia Boynton, Judy Cabral, Leonard Blackshear, Alan Hay, myself; coming in about 7:30 or 7:45, Sheila Murdoch, friend of Pat Schenck and member of AnnapolisFriends Meeting.
  
• We discussed some of the Program preparations and Fund Raising possibilities. It turned out to be a fairly good, productive meeting.
• Low turnout partly determined by very unfriendly, foggy weather, as well as knowing some people could not attend, e.g. Pat S. had told us last week she would be away.
• Decided to hold next meeting next Tuesday, not Wed., which works out OK for me.
• I agreed to get Program Committee together before next week, to hold a meeting between now and then. I need to send out a schedule with my meeting availability so that others can respond and we have a meeting. Must do before noon, today.
  
• Prep dinner: DONE but... Thursday
  
• Made pumpkin soup / Soupe de courges au Curry per curry powder from P. Wells The Paris Cookbook and from M. Johnson's Cuisine of the Sun but did not eat it, as we got a call from Brian Cahalan, proprietor of Cafe 49 West about the appearance that night at his place of the classic folk performer Carolyn Hester.
  
• Thursday
• MCIJ
• Letter for Larry Bratt
• Walking Luigi: His 2nd Birthday. We walked at the Naval Academy for about 1 1/2 hours. The sun was shining, puffy and skittering clouds and wind, the temperature in the low 60's, a most special and glorious afternoon for dog walking and dog birthday. We met lot's of mids running around the Academy. Taught Luigi to ascend and descend the parade ground risers around Worden Field. He pranced along the sea wall along the Severn facing into the bracing wind. Then we rock-hopped along the big boulders of riprap along the Spa Creek sea wall. He had reservations about this for most of the way but did not balk and kept up with me. We both got home real tuckered out.
• Shopping: I shopped after MCIJ at Frank's for fish, where the mild weather has allowed fishermen to get out a lot, providing lots of fresh fish at low prices, $2.99 / lb for fresh, large wild rock, flounder, and farmed salmon, as well as $1.50 / lb for large wild blue - say 5 lb. and above. I got one of each, two flounder, and had them filleted into the bargain, plus a couple of pieces of cod to try the poissons aux champignons with cod, as specified.
• Also went to David's Natural Market, the Giant on Riva, and Shopper's; made it down to SECU to withdraw some money for the week.
  
• Dinner:
  
• An opening course, as the weather had just begun to drizzle, of Charcoal-Grilled Prawn Salad from Dancing Shrimp by Loha-Unchit. Made with medium shrimp from the Giant on sale at $5.99 lb. GREAT. HOT.
  
• The soupe de courges au curry, previously described, with a dollop of creamy yogurt, as a second course.
• Bluefish fillets slow cooked on a piece of foil on the grill after cooking the shrimp. I had sprinkled the fish with coarse salt and pepper (black and white) and crush allspice and sugar mix from Blox recipe, then as, they went on the foil, sprinkled them with lemon juice from a Meyer lemon. Covered the fish on the foil on the grill with a lid after placing a piece of bark from the trees here on Ridgely between the grill pan and the grill top to make sweet smoke. The fish were on the grill for perhaps 25 min. as the heat was very low. The smoke permeated the fish. When it was done I cut a few openings in the fillet pieces and but little pats of butter in the openings and sprinkled some more Meyer lemon juice over the fillets to server. Amazingly delicate and delicious.
• We had water with our meal.
• As alluded to above, I used the rest of two big bluefish fillets to make Blox, i.e, bluefish substituted for salmon in a recipe for gravad bluefish, per the Bluefish Cookbook.
  
• Breakfast: DONE
• Heated in a skillet some leftover pommes de terre aux herbes; fried sunny side up a couple of egges; sliced finely a couple of kumquats, added some P. Wells Chanteduc rainbow olives, a bit of ketsup: quite good!
  
• Asana
• Lunch at Touchstones: Yesterday at MCIJ Eric Badger attended. He is on staff at Shimer College. He and Dan Sullivan told me that Stephen Werlin is in town, on his way to Florida and then on to Haiti. Someone else, also a Haiti veteran, like Eric, is here who lives in Hershey, PA and is interested in ways to use the Open Space / Touchstones model in the US. I suggested we all get together for lunch. I'm not sure who or when or where, but will head over to Touchstones pretty soon, it now being 11:32 a.m.
• Work on OEC narrative

Another day, another dog walk.

• Recipes given or referred:
  
• Sauteed veg. loaf sauced w. six-minute flounder in spicy tomato sauce. Preceded with a bowl of reheated New England fish chowder; hors d'oeuvres reheated lavash w. some humus, cheddar.
• Poisson aux champignons and Pommes de terre aux herbes: M. Johnson's The Cuisine of the Sun.
• For breakfast: Omelette Moliere from E. David's Omelette and a Glass of Wine.
• Summary
• Walking Luigi
• Dinner Monday
• Editing Karl's Daghani lecture
• Dinner Tuesday
• Sleeping
• Wednesday breakfast
• Monday yoga class
• Tuesday meeting at FLOC
• Wednesday breakfast
• Walking Luigi
• I walked Luigi this foggy morning from the house down to Monterey Ave. around behind past Purple Cherry's office to Melvin Ave. Then we crossed Rowe Blvd. to the USNA Stadium and walked around it in the clockwise direction. We walked down to the front of the Court House and then up beside and behind it before we went over to the walk along the Taylor Ave. side and across the back until about halfway when we cut across the muddy field to the parking lot behind the Stadium near Melvin Ave. We then rejoined the path and went on back home. Luigi behave very well, requiring less intervention from me than on our much shorter walk yesterday.
• On Monday morning we walked from the house to Monterey, then down to the apartment buildings and their swimming pool on Weems Creek. There a small dog with slightly opened windows in a car barked at Luigi who took it in stride. We walked back up and along the street at the back of the block between Ridgely Ave. and Rowe Blvd. and then back up Melvin to Ridgely and back home from their. Luigi required several times to be called to heel and became calmer as we walked.
  
• He had already been to the doggy park with Nancy. She said that later in the day he seemed very well behaved when she walked him again.
• Dinner Monday: Mostly made up of leftovers after I returned from yoga class.
  
• Sauteed a couple of slices of the vegetable loaf until it began to dry a bit and crisp up on the outside, and microwaved the remaining six-minute cod (actually flounder) in spicy tomato sauce as the sauce over the loaf slices. Preceded with a bowl of reheated New England fish chowder and accompanied by a salad Nancy made that was a little heavy on the grated vegetables - I wasn't real excited by the texture. For hors d'oeuvres we had some of the lavash I had made Sunday that Nancy had reheated on the grill, together with some humus, some cheddar, and the leftover raita - the raita beginning to fail, I thought. We drank water with dinner.
  
• Editing Karl's Daghani lecture: I spent most of the day Monday working on this. Karl had called early, as I was getting ready to look at Nancy's edited version, to tell me that he had reviewed her edits and "did I want to use his new version?" I said, "Of course" and he sent it to me. About 17 pages long, it had several odd usages along with the difficulty of the unfamiliar material but I worked my way through it. My favorite triumph was having deciphered that the phrase "time forms" probably should be "time frames." Lecturing the English speaking auditors would probably unconsciously transform it to "time frames" but anyone reading it closely might be mightily puzzled.
  
• Dinner Tuesday:
• From Mireille Johnson's The Cuisine of the Sun: Poisson aux champignons and Pommes de terre aux herbes. Both very good but a little overcooked, the potatoes a little chewier than I wanted, the flesh of the pink snapper a bit dry after I had filleted it. I reduced the mushrooms and sauce perhaps a bit more than necessary. It would have been nicer to have a little of the sauce liquor to moisten the fish. Nancy had a glass of chardonnay from that which I had opened to cook the fish. I finished the one glass of prosecco left in a leftover bottle, now flat. Later, I had a shot of rum and slept poorly, as a consequence, I think.
• Sleeping: until last night I had slept as much as eight hours a night since New Year's, a result, perhaps, of limiting my alcohol intake. Last night I drank a glass of prosecco with dinner and then had double of rum with most of a Diet Dr. Pepper before going to bed. Whether it was the rum or the wine or the DDP, by about 5 a.m. I was tossing restlessly and got up a 6 to relieve myself and read the paper. Tonight I shall continue the study and see if no alcohol, no DDP results in a sound night's sleep.
  
• Monday yoga class: I made it to class on time. Mary had us focus a great deal of attention on the relation between our sacrum and pelvis and the muscles of the thigh as they go down the leg, across the knee and on down to both sides of the foot.
• Tuesday meeting at FLOC: we met about the OEC DOJ grant and how to develop it as well as to discuss the leaving of Rich ... who we had hired in July to run the programs at the OEC (Outdoor Education Center.) It was a hard but productive meeting. I am tasked to write up the narrative of the grant description and review it with Nancy van Scoyoc before our next meeting on or about 1.25.2005. Writing the narrative now becomes my primary work over the next couple of weeks.
  
• Wednesday breakfast: I made an Omelette Moliere from E. David's Omelette and a Glass of Wine. I drank DDP instead of wine, but it was still delicious. I finished the intro and read the first chapter and a half of David Perkins' A History of Modern Poetry: Modernism and After.

Wednesday Tasks

• Recipes discussed:
• Eponymous omelette from E. David's An Omelette and a Glass of Wine
• Soupe de courges au Curry: P. Wells The Paris Cookbook, M. Johnson's Cuisine of the Sun
• Walk Luigi: DONE
• Walked over to and around USNA Stadium
  
• Read paper: DONE
  
• Cook and eat breakfast / lunch: DONE
• made the eponymous omelette from E. David's An Omelette and a Glass of Wine
  
• Asana: Not Done
  
• Write up notes for last two days: Done
  
• Work on OEC Narrative: Did some, need vastly more
  
• Attend Study Circle meeting this evening: DONE
• Six people present: Claudia Boynton, Judy Cabral, Leonard Blackshear, Alan Hay, myself; coming in about 7:30 or 7:45, was Sheila Murdoch, a friend of Pat Schenck and member of AnnapolisFriends Meeting.
  
• We discussed some of the Program preparations and Fund Raising possibilities. It turned out to be a fairly good, productive meeting.
• Low turnout partly determined by very unfriendly, foggy weather, as well as knowing some people could not attend, e.g. Pat S. had told us last week she would be away.
• Decided to hold next meeting next Tuesday, not Wed., which works out OK for me.
• I agreed to get Program Committee together before next week, to hold a meeting between now and then. I need to send out a schedule with my meeting availability so that others can respond and we have a meeting. Must do before noon, today.
  
• Prep dinner: DONE but...
• Made pumpkin soup / Soupe de courges au Curry per curry powder from P. Wells The Paris Cookbook and from M. Johnson's Cuisine of the Sun but did not eat it, as we got a call from Brian Cahalan, proprietor of Cafe 49 West about the appearance that night at his place of the classic folk performer Carolyn Hester. We drank far too much alcohol and regretted it all day Thursday.
  

Epiphany Sunday items

• St. Mark's Capitol Hill: Stephen Edmondson preached a very good Epiphany sermon with a context in the final battle in the Lord of the Rings.
• For lunch I used previously made up pancake mix to make pancakes for Nancy and me at home.
• Dimitri Fotos: Dimitri's show of B&W photographs of local scene musicians opened at 49 West; we attended briefly; marvelous show. Saw many folks, including Max Ochs who I told I would call today to set up an appointment or lunch later in the month.
  
• Lavash: for dinner snack of Sunday evening I finally made lavash, the mid-eastern unraised bread; a little tricky rolling it out; a little tricky cooking - i.e., too long will be burned, too short too much will be underdone and chewy; the texture should be crunchy but not quite flaky. I also made humus as one of the accompaniments and put out the leftover raita from the night before; together with some cheddar cheese; added a couple of pieces of the cabbage / veggie loaf from Friday which I heated until browned on both sides in a film of oil on the grill and sauced with some of the red fennel sauce from the six-minute cod (really flounder) in red fennel sauce of Friday - delicious!
• Nancy worked on Karl's Daghani paper, sent it to him; he called just a few minutes ago to ask if I wanted his revised version to work on, I said yes, as I had just put together today's schedule with that near the top.
  

St. Phillips; Dinners Friday, Saturday; Shopping

• Recipes discussed:
  
• Cauliflower fricassee with a raita: Elements of Taste by Kurz & Kaminsky
• Salmon with a pan-fried crust and orange ginger chili couli: Elements of Taste
• "cabbage loaf" from Richard Olney's Simple French Food.
• 6 minute cod in a spicy red fennel sauce (using flounder): Wells The Provence Cookbook.
• At St. Phillips yesterday, I attended a forum where Fr. Nat Porter delivered the remarks for the discussion of grace in life. I saw an ad for this in the Sat. morning paper and thought it is time I began to get serious about getting known in the St. Phillips community. At the end of the forum Nat introduced me as a friend he had known for over 40 years, as we met, he announced, at the March on Washington in 1963. Afterward, a couple of women from the church came forward to announce themselves as also having been there. I note that Shari Blanton, with whom I worked on the Study Circles for the Slavery Reconciliation Walk in September and who is on the new Study Circle planning committee, is giving the fourth and concluding talk in the monthly series.
  
• Dinner last night (Saturday): Both dishes from Elements of Taste by Kurz & Kaminsky, excellent model teaching cook book I have been studying; meaning, they exemplify aspects of their theory of taste and cooking via actual recipes for one to cook, to learn both technique and theory through applications of the theory:
  
• Cauliflower fricassee with a raita: I had found I used a leftover raita with cucumbers that had drained overnight, substituting coarsely grated daikon radish for the beansprouts for a nice crunch and thinly sliced shallots for the chives: very good. The fricassee was a little too crunchy, a little too sharp - less lemon juice or more sugar to cut it and a longer cooking time either on stove top or in oven
  
• Salmon with a pan-fried crust and orange ginger chili couli: I substituted panko bread crumbs for the rice flakes specified and that worked fine; excellent dish.
• Shopping: Also, shopped during the day at Sam's for salmon, paper towels, coffee - should have gotten six red/yellow pepper bag for, as it turned out, we are out of them. Went to Bed, Bath & Beyond for Microplane grater - which I used for the fricassee, above, to grate the zest off of two lemons - amazingly fine zest as well as a paper towel holder for the garage. Also drifted through Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble where I bought a book of Wodehouse on Jeeves. Finally, went to Shoppers Food for corn tortillas but couldn't find cans of chipotles in adobo sauce.
• Dinner Friday night:
  
• Note that I had abstained from wine or liquor since 1 January, for both dieting and spiritual reasons, for a system cleansing, for a calming effect. In all respects this seemed to be a good thing and, after two dinners with wine, I shall go back on the discipline today until the end of the week.
• For dinner I made a "cabbage loaf" from Richard Olney's Simple French Food. From Patricia Wells The Provence Cookbook to go with it, a recipe whose title I have already forgotten but is something like 6 minute cod in a spicy red fennel sauce.
  
• Cabbage Loaf: Not my favorite title for a recipe but a delicious mound. I had about 1/2 a cabbage which I boiled. I added diced mushrooms and red pepper and zucchini sauteed in butter. I used broth or sauce from the previous evening's New England Fish Chowder in place of milk and chopped a few pieces of fish and potato also into the loaf. After cooking the requisite 30-40 minutes I served it, but I think it could have cooked a bit longer as the center still seemed a bit mushy and, as a leftover, it's almost runny. It has a great flavor but needs a bit more stiffening.
  
• 6 minute cod in a spicy red fennel sauce: I made the spicy red fennel sauce but instead of cod I used the fish I had, a fillet of flounder with skin on. Although the fish was fully thawed and ready to go, it did not cook in six minutes. After about ten minutes, I served it, and it still needed further cooking, so I put it in the microwave for three minutes and that did the trick - immaculate white fish emerging through the delicately perfumed sauce - exquisite.
  

Dinner developments

1. Yesterday I worked on notes for the previous night's dinner.
2. I thought more about how my cooking is, indeed, my major yoga: I began reading "The Power of Now." Realizing that when I am cooking I am most present in the "now" I continue to entertain the thought that it is my meditative work - I have set aside the time, I am calmest, it has a beginning, middle, end, it is present, it is other oriented, it has many positive qualities, I am able to write relatively objectively about it, it is a focus.
   
3. I cooked a dinner for us of New England fish chowder - see below.
1. We celebrated in a very subdued way the Feast of the Three Kings - we turned on all the Christmas lights for the last time. We will degreen and detree this weekend.
   
4. I thought a lot about the meaning of memory, due to Karl's work on literature as the carrier of memory for the human species.
5. I spent an hour or more on the phone talking with Andy about his trips to Oregon and then his emergency visit to California.
1. In Bend, Ore. Andy was with Michael Cahall and the Cahall family, Lorna and Dick, and their nearly lost son, Sean. From his reports and earlier reports via Karl it was an awful time.
2. In a place he described as "near Burbank" Andy had gone to help out when his first love interest, Claude, had died, to help Claude's current companion / lover / (note: for future discussion, my own inability to keep the language "straight", e.g., I can never remember how to refer to two people who are of the same gender in a committed relationship), Mitch. Mitch, whom Andy described in very pejorative, had called Andy after Claude's death, to ask for his help in dealing with the preparations for burial, etc. Andy immediately flew out to California, Mitch picked him up as the airport and took him back to his house. There Andy tried to help by going through Claudes computer files and other papers and finding the documents necessary so that funeral arrangements could be made. As this was going forward, Mitch heard from his mother that her husband had just died in an accident from a broken neck. In the additional chaos that followed, Mitch lost it, beginning to accuse Andy in somewhat paranoid sounding terms of being "the Devil." After some pretty crazy sounding goings on, including making sure that Mitch's two children, who were living with Mitch and Claude, were still safe, Andy left the house, spent the night at a hotel on the airport, and then returned to Annapolis.
1. I let Andy tell me about all of this because, it seemed to me the right thing to do and also to be a natural way for me to begin to explore my difficulties in being open to gay people, to explore how to be more humane to more people.
6. I saw in the paper that the Washington Antique Show was opening and thought that I should go in to talk to people there about selling the art work for the IFC. Nancy and I will go in about lunch time today. I need to call Clark to see what he thinks.
7. For dinner last night I made the following New England fish chowder:

• New England Fish Chowder
  
  
  mal, 01.06.2005: I used this, modified as shown in italics, for dinner this evening. Nancy made a very good salad to go with it.
  

  Jasper White notes, "To me, this is the most authentic and most important recipe in this book (50 Chowders, One-Pot Meals...). It is the gold standard for chowder; a hearty main course with deep flavors, luxurious texture, and generous chunks of fish, onion, and potato. New England fish chowder is easy to make, uses simple ingredients, and doesn't require you to be fussy or exact. After making this chowder a few times you'll begin to understand the Zen of chowder."

  4 ounces meaty salt pork, rind removed and cut into 1/3-inch dice 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  - use 4-8 oz "grav rocks" as i've named it, i.e., rockfish fillets prepared as for gravlax; I would also try home made grav lax, as it has worked well in other preps I've done as a substitute for ham.
  2 medium onions (14 ounces), cut into 3/4-inch dice
  6 to 8 springs fresh summer savory or thyme, leaves removed and chopped (1 tablespoon)
  - lacking these, I used 1 short teaspoon of thyme dried
  2 dried bay leaves
  2 pounds Yukon Gold, Maine, PEI or other all-purpose potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/3-inch thick
  - hmm; I cut the potatoes in ~3/4 in. cubes
  5 cups fish stock: used Japanese dried bonito flakes, two packs, to make plenty of fish stock; a little smoky but I think made helped make up for not using salt port
  Kosher or sea salt and freshly ground black pepper: did not add salt as the salted grav rocks was very salty
  3 pounds skinless haddock or cod fillets, preferably over 1-inch thick, pinbones removed
  - used about 1 - 1 1/2 pounds rockfish fillet, skin removed; difficult to remove pinbones so warned of their presence; proved not too obtrusive in the end
  1 1/2 cups heavy cream (or up to 2 cups if desired)
  - only had about 1/2 cup; added about 1 c. light cream, about 1/4 c. leftover crema mexicana, a sour cream; was plenty rich
  2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
  2 tablespoons minced fresh chives: not available, can be lived without
• Heat a 4 to 6-quart heavy pot over low heat and add the diced salt pork. Using the grav rocks, sliced thin, heat with planty fo butteer and olive oil - 2-4 tablespoons. I also used the skin; I would omit the skin in a future instance as it is hard to get crispy enough to matter and has too fishy a taste. Follow the next instructions to cook fish until crispy. Once it has rendered a few tablespoons of fat, increase the heat to medium and cook until the pork is a crisp golden brown. Use the slotted spoon to transfer the cracklings to a small ovenproof dish, leaving the fat in the pot, and reserve until later.
• Add the butter, onions, savory, or thyme, and bay leaves to the pot and sautè, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for about 8 minutes, until the onions are softened but not browned.
• Add the potatoes and stock. If the stock doesn't cover the potatoes, add just enough water to cover them. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil, cover and cook the potatoes vigorously for about 10 minutes, until they are soft on the outside but still firm in the center. If the stock hasn't thickened lightly, smash a few of the potato slices against the sides of the pot and cook for a minute or two longer to release their starch. Reduce the heat to low and season assertively with salt and pepper (you want to almost over-season the chowder at this point to avoid having to stir it much once the fish is added). Add the fish fillets and cook over low heat for 5 minutes, then remove the pot from the heat and allow the chowder to sit for 10 minutes (the fish will finish cooking during this time).
• Gently stir in the cream and taste for salt and pepper. If you are not serving the chowder within the hour, let it cool a bit, then refrigerate; cover the chowder after it has chilled completely. Otherwise, let it sit for up to an hour at room temperature, allowing the flavors to meld.
• When ready to serve, reheat the chowder over low heat; don't let it boil. Warm the cracklings in a low oven (200*F - 95*C) for a few minutes. I reheated fish cracklings in a skillet with yet more butter; this worked fine.
• Use a slotted spoon to mound the chunks of fish, the onions and potatoes in the center of large soup plates or shallow bowls, and ladle the creamy broth around. Scatter the cracklings over the individual servings and finish each with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and minced chives. It was rather pretty and very tasty with plenty of leftover stew for another day.

New Year Starts 2005

Topics:

1. "Reconciliation" Study Circles: meeting on Wed. night went quite well, people were there who I was surprized and pleased to see: Shari Blanton, David Arthur. Also, a new participant, Claudia Boynton (sp), from St. Mary's, tasked with bringing Study Circle process to St. Mary's.
   
2. Cooking breakfast, revelations, reading:
1. This morning I cooked a "simple breakfast"
2. I've been reading Richard Olney's Simple French Cooking as well as, most recently, Elizabeth David's An Omelette and a Glass of Wine: both are revelations of what good writing and good writing about good cooking can be.
   
3. The simple breakfast that I cooked this morning was pancakes with left-over soup: doesn't sound particularly memorable or even appetizing. But my thoughts as I savored it while reading Elizabeth Davids essay para Navidad were along the lines of, if we don't record, remember, reflect on, moments when revelations come then, what's the point? So, these notes.
4. The pancakes were to be simple, and they were. No recipe. I put a couple tablespoons of unbleached all-purpose flour in a bowl, joined them with a little less corn flour (fine meal would do, I think). To this I added pinches of baking powder and baking soda, a pinch of salt, a few grinds of coarse black pepper. I mixed well one egg with about a cup of buttermilk with a little more thin yogurt. When this was all well mixed I added it to the dry ingredients and stirred in the bowl to break up the lumps, but not too much. Meanwhile, I had heated a griddle.
5. In the microwave I reheated, slowly, some leftover soup in a small bowl. As it had set, congealed, gelled, it was a bit before I realized it was not a leftover fish soup but instead the little bit of vegetables and broth left from a red snapper en papillote (which see below.)
   
6. I cooked the little bit of pancake batter, resulting in five or six small cakes. I rolled them up with a little butter in each. I cut the rolled logs into several narrow pieces, each now a sort of pinwheel.
   
7. I then took the bowl of leftovers with its rich fish broth and the rolled pancakes over to the dining room table, sat down, and ate the pancakes segments dipped in the fish broth. Awhile I read the E. David essay, para Navidad, about how in southwest France, in near poverty and deprivation, the people would prepare foods of memory to save until Christmas, how the weeks and months before Christmas had ther moments of anticipation, of waiting, and of the quiet joy (my term, not hers, she doesn't seem to me a "joyous" type writer - who knows what kind of person she was?) of looking forward to the time when all the riches saved up could be savored and enjoyed. I would look up, out our grand view across the clear blue water rustling in a light breez to the clear blue winter sky - moment of awareness, of joy, of enjoyment and simple living amidst the chaos and destruction we're seeing in the media about the horrific tsunami in the Indian Ocean. A revelation, a memory, quickly fading now as I am finishing this up on Fri, January 7.
   
8. The recipe for the red snapper:
1. Mark's New Year's Eve 2005 version
   
   1 (8-ounce) salmon fillet, pin bones removed
   1 (2-3 pound) whole red snapper, cleaned, head on
   2 teaspoons salt
   1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
   1 small bunch fresh parsley, chopped
   1 whole lemon, zested and then thinly sliced
   1/3 cup julienned fennel bulb
   1/3 cup julienned carrots
   (Other tender vegetables as available)
   1 cup thinly sliced red onion
   2 teaspoons minced garlic
   1 orange zested, peeled, then thinly sliced; discard seeds
   1 tablespoon fish sauce
   1 tablespoon soy sauce
   1 tablespoon Fruity olive oil
   1/2 cup white wine
   1 tablespoon butter
   
   Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

   Cut foil into 15 by 48-inch sheet. Fold in 1/2 and lay on baking/cookie sheet. Unfold. Coarsely chop fennel stems, 1 stick celery and put on bottom of foil. Lay snapper diagonally on sheet pan on top of 1 foil. Salt and pepper fish, inside and out. Place 1/2 lemon and orange zest, 1/2 herbs inside cavity of fish along with 1/2 of lemon, and 1/2 of red onion. Arrange vegetables next to fish on all sides. Put garlic, and remaining lemon and orange slices and red onion on fish and lay tomatoes and fennel creating somewhat of a wall. Pour fish and soy sauces, wine over fish and dot with butter. Drizzle with the fruity olive oil. Fold over edges of foil to create an almost airtight seal. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes. Carefully open and serve or fillet before serving (be aware of bones in the fish). Serve fish with vegetables and spoon broth over fish. Reserve leftover vegetables and broth for use later.

3. Memory, forgetting - interesting that this is becoming a focus of Karl's research.
   

New Year Starts with Fish

Mark's New Year's Eve 2005 version 1 (8-ounce) salmon fillet, pin bones removed - added to make sure there's enough for three people 1 (2-3 pound) whole red snapper, cleaned, head on 2 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 small bunch fresh parsley, chopped 1 whole lemon, zested and then thinly sliced 1/3 cup julienned fennel bulb 1/3 cup julienned carrots (Other tender vegetables as available) 1 cup thinly sliced red onion 2 teaspoons minced garlic 1 orange zested, peeled, then thinly sliced; discard seeds 1 tablespoon fish sauce 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon Fruity olive oil 1/2 cup white wine 1 tablespoon butter Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Cut foil into 15 by 48-inch sheet. Fold in 1/2 and lay on baking/cookie sheet. Unfold. Coarsely chop fennel stems, 1 stick celery and put on bottom of foil. Lay snapper and salmon diagonally on sheet pan on top of 1 foil. Salt and pepper fish, inside and out. Place 1/2 lemon and orange zest, 1/2 herbs inside cavity of fish along with 1/2 of lemon, and 1/2 of red onion. Arrange vegetables next to fish on all sides. Put garlic, and remaining lemon and orange slices and red onion on fish and lay tomatoes and fennel creating somewhat of a wall. Pour fish and soy sauces, wine over fish and dot with butter. Drizzle with some fruity olive oil. Fold over edges of foil to create an almost airtight seal. Bake in oven for 30-40 minutes. Carefully open and serve or fillet before serving (be aware of bones in the fish). Serve fish with vegetables and spoon broth over fish. Reserve leftover vegetables and broth for use later. .

Notes for Christmas, New Years 2004/2005

• Christmas:
• Smoked a turkey breast; seared shrimp over cherry wood fire; smoked fresh marinated salmon and a piece of mahi mahi
• Marla and Bernie came for their last Christmas in the U.S., as they will be moving to New Zealand in February and June.
• Keith and Celia joined us, also.
• With Nancy and Karl and myself, we were thus seven .
• New Years
  
• was simply spent with Karl and Nancy and I eating a quiet meal together. I cooked a red snapper en papillote - see recipe in first week of January notes.
• Karl and I walked Luigi up to the corner of Annapolis St. and Taylor Avenue to watch the fireworks over Annapolis.