eat: pozole

of all the pozole i've tried, this is the best one i've had.

i love making a large pot so i can have it over and over. the flavor only gets richer. 

the recipe calls for chicken, but you can use pork or i make mine vegetarian (or "pozostrone" as someone has called it. lol). adding those extra veggies takes from the authenticity of it, but what the hell, let's get the fiber flowin.

Ingredients

*Note: You can downsize the amount of ingredients if you want to make a smaller pot. If you want, you can also make it more juicy or more thick, depending on how much broth you put in.

1. 1 large can of hominy
2. 7 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless for less fat) OR a medley of your favorite vegetables
3. 10+ California Chilis (dried)
4. 7+ garlic cloves (I like putting in a lot!)
5. Large pot of chicken (or vegetarian) broth 
6. Salt (to taste)

Cooking Instructions

The Puree

*Note: You can prepare this the day before, or if you want to make a lot at once, it freezes well. I would make more than you need, in case you find that you need more while making the soup.

1. Cut off the stem and de-seed the dried California chilis
2. Bring a lot pot of water to boil
3. Boil chilis until soft; don’t leave them too long or else they get diluted
4. Blend the soft chilis and garlic cloves together, until smooth; use some of the boiled chili water if needed
• It should turn out sort of thick and pasty
5. Put this aside until you’re ready to cook the soup

The Soup

1. Rinse the hominy
2. Cube chicken
• for vegetarian version, i use carrots, zucchini, mushrooms (and whatever else i have in the fridge) instead of chicken. 
3. Bring chicken broth to boil
4. Boil hominy, chicken and puree together for about 20-25 minutes, making sure that the puree dissolves.
• I put about 3 heaping mounds of the puree into the broth to create a rich red color
• Since the california chilis are not spicy, you can put in a lot and not worry about spice level
5. The soup is ready when the chicken is cooked through and you have a nice color to the soup
6. Put in some salt to taste and voila! you've got yourself pozole.

Side Fixings:

Cabbage – thinly sliced

Radish – chopped

Onion – diced

Cilantro – chopped into small pieces

Avocado – small pieces (optional)

Tostadas

Lemons

desperate times calls for prolific measures

when we drove out here, i made sure to bring a jar of kimchee on our 1,006 mile road trip. i knew i'd need to eat some shortly after arrival. but what i treasured so dearly, i killed within two weeks of arrival. i needed my kimchee...bad. real bad. 

well, there's nothing like the lack of options (and a desperate palate that needs mouth-watering korean pickled goodness) to inspire me to make my own kimchee! and not just kimchee...

this past weekend, i made the following because i needed some asian lovin':

• tom kha (thai coconut soup)
• variation: used tofu instead of meat
• note: surprisingly easy to make
• do chau
• variation: i salted the julienned daikon and carrots, then rinsed them with cold water and drained before putting it into a jar.
• pad see ew
• variation: instead of fresh rice noodles (this might be an impossible ingredient to find here in montana), i used large dried rice noodles.
• variation: i made my own marinade for the beef, only because i didn't notice that the recipe offered a suggestion. oops.
• jjang ah chee (korean pickled veggies)
• mom's recipe
• ggak doo ghee (korean radish kimchee)
• mom's recipe
• greek yogurt (this is obviously not asian, but...same same)
• i used the link above and this one to make the yogurt.
• note: i had trouble straining it, so the creaminess came out between regular yogurt and greek. definitely going to try this again with better tools. 
• the whey produced from straining was shortly after to make bread pudding with leftover stale bread. YUM!

towards presence.

i shouldn't be, but i am.

i'm astounded by how easily i slip into dwelling in the past or the future, 

my mind dances with what's possible (or not), 

and what is no longer. 

sometimes it's easier and seemingly less painful to be doing that dance, rather than being present to what is right in front of me. 

but yesterday, i drove over 200 miles to go visit two friends for their annual crab fest. (the term "annual" is used loosely here.) i was slightly hesitant to go because there was a part of me that felt like the drive would be daunting given the current downpour of rain. and it was. i saw a car spin out of control along with several accidents, sat in 0mph traffic, and hit two of the biggest potholes i've ever encountered on a back country road to bodega bay. (poor little civic.)

but i felt some things i haven't felt in a while...inspired. 

and hopeful.

and eager.

and i felt myself moving towards presence.

for now, i can breathe deep again. 

i leave for peru today for a rainy trip to an ancient world. i'm looking forward to the experience and am hopeful for what it might bring. 

hope you end your 2012 with days full of presence, curiosity, and delight. see you in 2013!

peace, 
liz

the farm | roasted

sprinkled some olive oil and salt over the farm fresh cauliflower and roasted them into these delicious morsels. and when i say roasted, what i mean is that it was in the oven for about 24 minutes at 450 degrees sizzling next to some carrots, cut lengthwise. 

hulo.

"oh hulo." he said with his english accent. 
wasn't expecting to find him in the carton, when i went to fry an egg for breakfast. 

ashland | heh?

i added the left eye hole, but otherwise....
i think my almond butter sandwich didn't feel comfortable knowing he was getting eaten that day. & he had no way of escaping his certain doom.

ashland | bacon s'mores

i think we're on to something...
especially as an after breakfast treat. 

high sierra trail | day 7 | guitar lake to whitney portal

today's mileage: 16 miles

we woke up at 3am and started our ascent by 3:50am. it was pitch black and the sky blanketed us with stars. i barely slept because the slight bump i was on began to feel so uncomfortable that i kept thinking i was sleeping like this.

the day before, i had felt in my gut that this would be a hard climb, and it was. hit with altitude sickness pretty early on, i felt miserable for almost the entirety of the ascent. nausea, diarrhea and headaches were my symptoms and all i wanted to do was cry. so i did, in the dark, by myself. 


i'll spare the sob story, but what i came out of this time was this: i can't make it in this world alone. i consider myself an independent person who typically handles things on my own. it's rare for me to ask for help because i know i can probably figure it out. but sometimes... i need to accept my weaknesses, cry out for help, and say yes! when help arrives. i couldn't have made it up mount whitney if it weren't for the committed and generous help of my friends brendon and di.


it took - what seemed like - an eternity to summit. in the early hours of this journey, the sun rose and illuminated the route we had taken and the route we were on. it was both painful and joyful to see (first image); i was at times, in disbelief that i was hiking up a mountain. "i'm crazy!" and "this is so amazing! i'm so glad i'm here!" stirred around simultaneously. but i've found that it's that exact cocktail of emotions/thoughts/feelings that flag for me that i am alive and well...and on a very good journey. :)


when we finally got to the drop off point, i mustered up an excited smile for this picture. but shortly after, my headache came back with a vengeance. 

we finally all made it to the top and caused this hoot, and made it off the peak of the mountain before a big storm rolled through. 


and how awesome is this guy? if i hiked up mt. whitney just to see him... it could've been worth it. (he didn't know i took this picture. i was in stealth mode.)
after what seemed like another eternity of the descent (i.e. 98-100 switchbacks and 6,000' drop). we drove to the nearest town, and ate (a lot). this kinda of mass consumption continued for the next couple days...

puerto rico | culebra in tiles

after about 3.5 days in the condado area of puerto rico, i headed east to a small town, desert island called culebra. my adventure started as soon as i called for a cab.

1. isabella (van driver) hands me this lil box of chiclets. i say, "is this for my breath?" and she says, "no, it's for your nerves." we both laughed awkwardly out loud. (the mango was a gift from a vendor outside of the port because i told her i love fruit.)

2. i missed the ferry to culebra by about 3 minutes. they were sailing away as i was buying my ticket. (that's why isabella gave me the chiclets....because we were really late.) so i waited at the port for 4 hours for the next one.

3. met paola & luismi on the top floor on ferry ride over and decided to camp together. (they had never made a fire...it was a blazer!)

4. the next morning, i got to see everything in the light. speechless.

5. yeah, seriously.

6. we rented bikes from dick and roamed the entire island underneath a fierce sun.

7. and jumped in the water when we felt like it.

8. my favorite tree on the island. it made music with every breeze.

9. wild cotton.

10. roots.

11. the way to zoni beach was much longer than we anticipated, but we managed to have fun. my dream of a bathing in pina colada kept me going.

12. zoni beach has it's own 'wilson'

13. spontaneity. openness. trying everything.

14. happy toes.

15. contrast.

16. p&l said i must try alcapurria. so on the drive back from fajardo to san juan, we stopped by roadside food stalls and inhaled these deep fried heavenly goodness. i ate two, and we managed to finish off two already opened bottles of hot sauce.

{ . }

run a lil late. miss the boat.

wait.

a long time...

fall asleep,

order the canned mushrooms on your pizza slice.

scribble all those thoughts down.

look around. look around again.

give access to your soul by way of your eyes.

say hello.

because less than 24 hours later, you might just wonder how life could be the same without having smiled and uttered that simple greeting.

everything that happened on that island was a serendipitous gift.

...magic in the making.

monday morning meal.

this week, 2 things have captured my attention: figs & cold brewed coffee
about figs
the colors
the textures
the flavor
the crunching and the squishing at the same exact time
the sound of the cracking of the seeds


about cold brew coffee
damn.

the 60% less acidity & cold brew method draws out the flavor of coffee.
i mean it, it really draws it out.
the immediate satisfaction
the convenience of it being pre-made
the lack of waste
the way the 1 part coffee and 3 parts milk swirl together at first interaction


just lovely, <3

Fork & Spoon

talk about simply extravagant. fork & spoon is a local sf based designer catering company that has impeccable attention to detail.
(picture taken from fork&spoon website)