I voted today. The last time I voted was in 2008. Prop 8 passed, and I became disillusioned with the whole election process. I was already disillusioned from the electoral college versus popular vote results from before. With the exception of Prop 8, California is a blue state and generally votes the way I would have, had I gone to the polls. So I decided to just watch instead of participate. My vote doesn’t really matter.
But now with Trump in office and so many heartbreaking laws getting passed and others encouraging me to fight and not lose hope, I decided I would start voting again, if for no other reason than to be another number and actually *do* something no matter how useless it might be.
I checked my registration and I am still registered but with the wrong address. And I want to vote by mail so that’s another thing on the to-do list. I told myself I would rectify that situation, but I had until November so no rush. And then when I went to the library, I saw I could vote so I corrected my address and I voted. Fingers crossed my government actually represents me and puts my tax dollars toward compassion and not hate. We need all the luck we can get.
Our goal is to make one new (hopefully amazing) recipe that is outside our wheelhouse once a week. The NYTimes asked Yewande Komolafe to provide 10 recipes that best represent her Nigerian culture. Jollof Rice was on the list, and M was fascinated by the sheer number of habaneros in the recipe. So, of course, we had to make it.
Jollof Rice By Yewande Komolafe YIELD: 8 to 10 servings
Time: 1 1/2 hours
INGREDIENTS FOR THE OBE ATA:
1 (14-ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes with their juices
1 medium red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and roughly chopped
1⁄2 medium red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, peeled
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 red habanero chile, stemmed
2 tablespoons canola or other neutral oil
INGREDIENTS FOR THE JOLLOF RICE:
1⁄2 cup canola or other neutral oil
2 medium red onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1⁄4 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)
3 cups parboiled long-grain rice (such as Carolina Gold or Uncle Ben’s Original), basmati or jasmine rice (about 1 1⁄4 pounds)
5 fresh thyme sprigs
1 fresh bay leaf
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups beef, chicken or vegetable stock
PREPARATION
Step 1
Prepare the obe ata: Working in batches if needed, combine all the obe ata ingredients except the canola oil in a blender and purée on high until smooth. The liquid from the can of tomatoes should suffice, but you can add up to 1/4 cup of water if necessary to get the purée going. (You should have about 3 cups of purée.)
Step 2
Heat the 2 tablespoons canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high. Add the purée and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer until the sauce is slightly reduced by about a third of its original volume, 18 to 20 minutes. (It should make about 2 cups. Obe ata can be cooled and refrigerated for up to 2 weeks, or frozen for up to 1 month.)
Step 3
Prepare the rice: Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the 1/2 cup canola oil in a large Dutch oven over medium until shimmering, about 1 minute. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove half the onions to a plate and set aside. Add the garlic and sauté until fragrant and translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the tomato paste, turmeric and smoked paprika, if using, and toast, stirring occasionally, until turmeric is fragrant and tomato paste has deepened to a dark red color, about 2 minutes.
Step 4
Stir in the obe ata sauce and bring to a simmer over medium heat. The habanero oils love to disperse in the air, so you may want to turn on your stovetop fan or open a window while simmering the obe ata. Stir in the rice, thyme and bay leaf, and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the stock and cover with a lid. Transfer the pot to the oven and cook until rice is just tender, 35 minutes.
Step 5
Remove the pot from the oven and let sit, covered (no peeking) for 15 minutes. Uncover, fluff the rice with a fork and stir in the reserved sautéed onions. Adjust seasoning, if necessary, and discard the thyme sprigs and bay leaf. Serve warm.
Not the best photo. Don’t judge. We had an issue with the Breville Fast Slow Pro rubber gasket but beans still turned out amazing. Little bit o’ beans, little bit o’ rice. Yum!
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 1 hr
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 136kcal
Ingredients
1 pound dry pinto beans
½ small white onion chopped
4 cloves garlic minced
1 jalapeño seeds and ribs removed and chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon black pepper
4 cups water filtered if possible
½ teaspoon salt or more to taste
Instructions
Rinse and pick over beans to make sure there are no small pebbles or other debris.
Optional: Soak beans in a large bowl of water (use filtered water, if possible) for at least 8 hours and up to 12 hours, at room temperature. Transfer soaked beans to a colander and rinse them well.
Put pinto beans (soaked and drained or unsoaked) in the Instant Pot. Add the water and remaining ingredients, except for the salt, and stir to combine.
Close the Instant Pot lid and turn the steam release valve to the sealing position. Set the cook time using the Pressure Cook or Manual button at high pressure:
Unsoaked beans: 30 minutes.
Soaked beans: 15 minutes.
The Instant Pot will take about 10 to 15 minutes to reach pressure and then the cook time will begin counting down. When the cook time ends, allow the pressure to release naturally for at least 15 minutes by leaving the Instant Pot alone.
Then turn the steam release valve to the venting position to make sure all of the pressure has been released. Once the pin has dropped down, carefully open the Instant Pot lid. Stir and season the beans to taste with salt.
Cooled beans can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
I checked in on the plot today. After 4 days, no weeds. I picked a few weeds from the path in front of my neighbors’ plots and our own. I watered the beets and poppies. I hadn’t really watered the poppies at all. Is that what happens when you grow native flowers or are we just lucky?
SC was at her plot and we agreed to water each other’s plots when on vacation. She gave me some red leaf lettuce. We made a garden ally. :)
A long time ago, in November of 1996, M took me to a Thanksgiving dinner on a boat in Besançon called Le Chaland. Tonight, we dined on another restaurant boat called Under the Stars, docked in Bristol’s harbor and specializing in cocktails. The entrance looks almost exactly the same as Le Chaland. We were lucky enough to get a seat without a reservation. By the time our pizza arrived, the place was full.
This is one of many posts I hope have this title this year. I have come a long way from the timid 28-year-old who bought her first rainbow shirt at Don’t Panic in WeHo. It was a fitted shirt (also outside my comfort zone) with rainbow dog paws diagonally placed across the chest. I bought one in black and white and never wore them. What if the shirt made me a target or what if I was publicly insulted?
Now, armed with a rainbow watch band (two, actually) and a rainbow unicorn baseball cap and a whole slew of other rainbow gear, like my Fu**Cancer t-shirt with a rainbow ribbon and my absolute favorite Representation Matters ringer tee, I parade around prouder than ever.
It’s raining. It’s 61 degrees outside. I’m sitting in an uninsulated and unheated garage. I’m so cold. Have I mentioned it’s raining? I love rain and all but have I mentioned I’m so cold? And I’m potty-less, and I refuse to use the contractors’ portapotty. So I do what I did once before, and I walked to Superba to use their toilet and, as a courtesy, buy a pastry. Superba has really upped its game: there were quite a few things of interest such as the churro croissant, the nutella pretzel croissant, and the vegan bran muffin which is either a gift to one’s colon or just plain punishment. I opted for the chocolate chip peanut butter banana bread because I like all 3 of those things, but it fell a little flat: not too sweet or too dry or too anything—just meh.
But I have an empty bladder and right now, more than being cold, that is all that matters.
When I am a famous author and my trade paperbacks are published by Penguin or Little, Brown, I want whatever glue was used on David Sedaris’ Calypso. Every page practically opens flat and the opening looks like those magazines that you open flat and then the glue splits and the magazine disintegrates and all the pages fall out into a slippery mess, but that’s not what happens. There’s an elasticity to the glue that keeps the pages from separating from the spine. And it bends just as evenly at the beginning of the book as it does at the end so the spine is nicely flexible and it doesn’t just fall open to the page with “Fuck, fuck, fuck” in capitals and italics and bold (that’s hyperbole—there’s no sequence of decorated text like that…but there is “Whore.” at the end of a chapter before a lot of white space.) I’ll admit that I was initially apprehensive when the spine bent so easily at page 23. I thought it was cheaply made with crappy glue and poor paper.
When I was in high school, I lent a fellow classmate (initials mb) my “Catcher in the Rye,” and I asked her not to dog ear the pages or bend the spine. She looked at me like I was crazy and scoffed but she complied. And she probably never let it go.
Now I look at Calypso’s spine with admiration. The nice and even creases demonstrate a well-read book. It shows me that I actually enjoyed the book—the whole book—and I was happy to pass the time buried in the thick pages held together with elastic glue.
But the real question is: “Will the silverfish like it better than the old glue?”
I took a photo of the cabin just now. I was thinking about posting it to Instagram: “I am interrupting my #bristol programming to announce that I am on my way to Canada to ring in the New Year in a country that is not my own. Given the year that I have had, I deserve to be in a place that makes me feel good and gives me hope for the future.”
I am flying Air Canada and I love it. I love the expansive cabin that doesn’t make me feel claustrophobic. It may be the fact that this plane is a 787 instead of a 737. I cannot understand why, when I fly to the East Coast (New Jersey), I am forced to spend more time in a smaller space. Air Canada just gets it right. We even were delayed for takeoff by an hour for an A/C mechanical issue, but I was so nonplussed, I fell asleep in the half-empty plane and only briefly awoke when the remaining masses boarded prior to departure. The whole time I dreamt that half full was the final head count and I would be able to move to an empty row and fall asleep in a horizontal position. Alas, that is not the case, but even though I am awake in a vertical seated position at 3 am, I am not unhappy.
I love the fact that when the person seated in front of me extends their seat, it doesn’t hit me in the head like on airlines based in the US. (I will not say American airlines or US airlines, lest you get confused and actually think I am talking about a corporate company rather than a location. But I digress…) I actually dumped the contents of my ditty bag on the floor and had enough room to bend myself in half and go spelunking for the wayward AirPods that slipped out of reach. The last time I flew Air Canada, I was impressed by the way they lit the cabin. Tonight, the cabin is gently lit with a blue light that is a lot more subtle than this photo would indicate. I couldn’t help but think that the light should be red because it’s *not* blue (activating) and red would be a better #branding color for them.
Today, I roasted Ethiopia Shakiso Kayon Mountain Farm—I hadn’t even opened it yet. I washed all of the dusty pieces and took the Hottop outside in the shade of a 64 degree day. Apparently, the last time I roasted was a Bali coffee on 6 Jan 2018. It has been a very long year…
I checked in on the plot today. After 4 days, no weeds. I picked a few weeds from the path in front of my neighbors’ plots and our own. I watered the beets and poppies. I hadn’t really watered the poppies at all. Is that what happens when you grow native flowers or are we just lucky?
