there were things we did in the days of the comet we ran under the storm of rocks in wet grass and slid onto benches, and sitting upon it with long hair of younger days there are things we’ll do, I promise on beaches nowhere near here and songs that we’ll hear, dance, sway as palmettos grow sweet fruit and we linger at [...]]]> By Dan Steele

there were things we did
in the days of the comet
we ran under the storm of rocks
in wet grass
and slid onto benches, and sitting upon it
with long hair of younger days
there are things we’ll do, I promise
on beaches nowhere near here
and songs that we’ll hear, dance, sway
as palmettos grow sweet fruit
and we linger at their bottoms
at the end of the day walk to the
beach at the end of our street
i’ll follow you, venus, adonis
with tan skin and coming winter
we’ll live forever
under the blue light of the comet
January 5th, 2008
To Tracy on her birthday

http://www.pablove.org/home/

for donating food, and to all friends who helped prepare this recipe for 60 at Los Angeles’ Ronald McDonald House on Dec. 18th:

Begin by heating a few drizzles of grapeseed oil in a medium sized pot.  Add an onion, chopped, and cook it some (til it twinkles).

Toss into the pot: 3 [...]]]> Thank you to the Pablove foundation

http://www.pablove.org/home/

for donating food, and to all friends who helped prepare this recipe for 60 at Los Angeles’ Ronald McDonald House on Dec. 18th:

Begin by heating a few drizzles of grapeseed oil in a medium sized pot.  Add an onion, chopped, and cook it some (til it twinkles).

Toss into the pot: 3 or 4 pieces of chopped garlic, 3 T. chili powder, 3 T. cacao, 1 t. cinnamon,  and 1/8 t.- 1/4t. clove (ground).

Cook a couple minutes, then, add:

2-3 c. veggie broth

1 can of drained, diced tomatoes

1/4 c. raisins

2 T. peanut or almond butter, and 1 T. tahini paste.     

Allow sauce to simmer over medium-low heat for about 20 minutes, then blend. 

Season the sauce to taste with salt.  Add either veggies, like green beans, squash, and chopped bell peppers, or, browned pieces of chicken or turkey.  Allow another 20-30 minutes of simmering to fully cook the goodies. 

Serve over rice, with cilantro and sour cream.

Baked Yams or Sweet Potatoes -400′ oven, holes poked into them with a fork, olive oil rubbed on, wrapped in foil and placed directly on rack for an hour.  If your hotel room has a microwave, I learned, that works too.  Wrap each poked yam in a paper towel and check [...]]]> (Things you wrap in foil) 

Baked Yams or Sweet Potatoes -400′ oven, holes poked into them with a fork, olive oil rubbed on, wrapped in foil and placed directly on rack for an hour.  If your hotel room has a microwave, I learned, that works too.  Wrap each poked yam in a paper towel and check it by the minute, after a couple minutes, til it is tender throughout. 

Bananas, Chocolate covered espresso beans

Almond butter and jam on a pancake – similar to the turkey bacon on a blueberry pancake, which incidentally, if you add egg, is known as a number 6 at McDonald’s.   

veggie scramble burritos 

almond-date-dried apricot and cranberry bars - grind equal parts almond, pitted date, and a dried apricot-dried cranberry (or sour cherry) combo in a food processor.   Roll through shredded coconut or raw oats to coat the outside of bars.

peanut butter granola bars- melt 1/4 cup each of peanut butter, honey, and oil with a pinch of cinnamon on the stove top.  Toss through any dried fruit you would like to include, measured according to your own taste, and 3 cups rolled oats that have been toasted in the oven along with 1 c. toasted coconut, and a pinch of salt.  Spread the stiff mixture flat on parchemnt paper.  Cut or break by hand into bar shapes.  

Cashew butter and jam on spelt bread, whole wheat, or cinnamon-raisin.  Don’t try this with millet or rice bread (too dry to swallow.)

Sushi bars a la Chris Carmichael- cook sushi rice according to package directions.  Add to it: braggs amino acids, 3 eggs that have been scrambled in grapeseed or olive oil, chopped salami or pepperoni, baked yam or sweet potato chunks, parmesan, or seeds and dried fruit…form into bars and sprinkle parmesan on the outsides so they don’t stick to the foil – wrap each bar.  

Sweet Potato, Black Bean, Spinach Burritos a la Chris Carmichael- pan saute 3 sweet potatoes/yams until cooked through and still firm.  Add 1 chopped onion, 1 chopped, canned chipotle chili and some of its canned adobo sauce, add salt to taste, and wilt in 1 bunch of clean/bag of prewashed spinach greens.  Heat and smash a can of black beans off to the side in a separate, smaller, pan.  Fill warmed tortillas with a small scoop each of beans and the sweet potato mixture.  Wrap each in foil.  

Spinach and rice cakes- combine a batch of rice with about 2 cups of cooked, squeeze-dried spinach.  Add 1/3 c. bread crumbs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and parmesan to taste.  Make sure it tastes yummy, then add 1 egg to bind it all together.  Shape and pan fry little patties.

Risotto cakes – fry leftover risotto combined with an egg and a handful or two of breadcrumbs – cook patties til golden brown then drain on paper bags. 

Veggie frittata- saute any combo of veggies in a small, oven-proof skillet.  Add 6 eggs to the hot skillet, and move eggs around with a spatula by lifting layers, letting uncooked liquid egg come into contact with the hot pan.  Sprinkle parmesan, salt, and pepper over the egg while it begins to solidify in the pan.  Tranfer the whole thing under a broiler or very hot oven to finish the cooking.  Cool some, then slice.  

gf blueberry pecan pancake – follow Bob of Bob’s red mill’s directions.

Sushi balls coated with sesame seeds – cook sushi rice according to package directions.  Using wet hands, shape into bite sized balls and roll through sesame seeds.

Almond stuffed figs - shove an almond up the butt of a dried fig.

http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/12348-Frank-O-Hara-Lines-For-The-Fortune-Cookies

“I think you’re wonderful and so does everyone else.

Just as Jackie Kennedy has a baby boy, so will you—even bigger.

You will meet a tall beautiful blond stranger, and you will not say hello.

You will take a long trip and you will be very happy, though alone.

You will marry the first person who tells you your [...]]]>

http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/12348-Frank-O-Hara-Lines-For-The-Fortune-Cookies

“I think you’re wonderful and so does everyone else.

Just as Jackie Kennedy has a baby boy, so will you—even bigger.

You will meet a tall beautiful blond stranger, and you will not say hello.

You will take a long trip and you will be very happy, though alone.

You will marry the first person who tells you your eyes are like scrambled eggs.

In the beginning there was YOU—there will always be YOU, I guess.

You will write a great play and it will run for three performances….”

<a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/us/09buffer.html?ref=health”>Kelly’s</a> Quiche

Ingredients 5 eggs 1/2 cup crème fraiche 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese 1 white [...]]]> When you’re out in the world kicking ass sometimes you get too busy for fussing with pie dough.  But you’ve still gotta eat.  We’ve all gotta eat.  Pie.  Thanks to two satellite sillypants correspondents here are two sensible tricks with frozen pie crust:

<a href=”http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/us/09buffer.html?ref=health”>Kelly’s</a> Quiche

Ingredients
5 eggs
1/2 cup crème fraiche
1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese
1 white onion
Garlic to taste
Pie crust (“um, I buy them already made”)
Baby spinach leaves
Olive oil
Nutmeg, salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 350
Pre-bake pie crust for about 7 minutes
On stove medium heat a little olive oil and throw in the chopped
onion/garlic till slightly browned
Add spinach leaves
Put spinach/onion/garlic in pie crust

In a mixing bowl, add the eggs, crème fraiche, cottage cheese, nutmeg,
salt and pepper and mix up
Pour on top of spinach in pie crust

Put in the oven at 350 for 50 minutes!

Charlotte’s 15-Minutes-of-Prep Chocolate Chip Pie

2 eggs (don’t use eggbeaters. tried it. nasty.)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened (use the real stuff, it makes all the difference)
1 cup chocolate chips ( or anything that comes in the chip form.. I’ve tried the Reese’s ones.. pretty f’in good)
1 cup chopped walnuts (can use pecans or a mix of the two)
1 9″ deep dish pie shell

325 preheat
i usually set the pie shell on top of the oven while its preheating to thaw it while i’m mixing everything else.

beat 2 eggs until foamy. add flour & both sugars. beat in butter. stir in chips & nuts. put in shell.

yeah. that’s it.

takes about 45-50 mins to cook in my crazy oven.

Meatballs make the man, says Artemio

with the arch of his back

while he is crouched over

bus tubs of raw

pork, ground

and parmesan, and milk

and oregano and veal and things, knees on the concrete

and tile

second time this week, producing same results, January

cold floor, icy mornings, steaming sip, numb after noon, delayed for dinner, abbreviated in rest,

some mornings we [...]]]>

Meatballs make the man, says Artemio

with the arch of his back

while he is crouched over

bus tubs of raw

pork, ground

and parmesan, and milk

and oregano and veal and things, knees on the concrete

and tile

second time this week, producing same results, January

cold floor, icy mornings, steaming sip, numb after noon, delayed for dinner, abbreviated in rest,

some mornings we toast over prosecco to wake up

our clean slates

he is mixing with his arms and gloves, Met cap on backwards,

and he is the proudest man

to ever live in a ghost town.

Sweet summertime

of New York’s empty city

The taller the tower

the hazier the cloud

Ring around my raspberry flavored mind,

devoured

The shape of an egg

reminds me what we like to see

In New York the vinegar is wine

In New York there is only fruit and labor

The bread comes as quickly as they can bake it up

comes as quickly as is, [...]]]> I.

Sweet summertime

of New York’s empty city

The taller the tower

the hazier the cloud

Ring around my raspberry flavored mind,

devoured

The shape of an egg

reminds me what we like to see

In New York the vinegar is wine

In New York there is only fruit and labor

The bread comes as quickly as they can bake it up

comes as quickly as is, goes

At 1 a.m. I get home

and wonder how I got here.

II.

Sherried prune, salted caramel

I create for you

A masterpiece that words speak and no one ever tastes

Star tipped campground

Delight, magical inverted

Question of timing, precise

At the moment of slicing

A seasoning that is fascinating

But hardly a well kept

Miracle

A burnt egg is meringue

Of a sort that pleases the eye,

And no one complains.

III.

Marc says he’s going to make a raspberry soufflé for the menu

Build your napoleon with the neat edged needles

Push saucing sauce around the plate

Push broadly

Eliminate the chaos of the misdirected

Lines on a plane

Where no shadows

Fall and one shape is the other of the color

Scoop the fruit and sugar

Down around the clowning fruit, papaya pineapple kiwi and

Textured shore of pecan pebbles

Caramel glazed miroir mountain

IV.

Doesn’t even look like a strawberry,

And the perspective is all off on the

Mint leaf.  A canyon is created from

The photo’s snapping shutter all the while,

Canyon snaps and creaks crumbs, but none tumble.

No crumbs on the plate and no resistance

From us or for the photographic eye,

But perspective is all off, cream is sharp

The plate so stiff, so expensive I can

See my future in it, a reflection

Breakaway flashes on the station’s steel

Lighting set for actors of a scriptless

Sensationalism, I see you now,

Offer you a peach that tastes like gold.

 *****

 Love Poem for Jacek at the mangia bakery

Jacek bends a knee and crouches toward the mixing bowl

Of a 60 quart

Fluorescent

Bulb, warehouse

that he painted himself, floor to ceiling yellow, color of butter

Story of sugar

Covering the mixer

And the floor, where, his knee leans and he folds

Eggwhites

Armpit deep in sweets

That early morning coffee don’t even cut,

By the time you get out of work here you can’t even remember how you got here

It was the train,

But it was so dark it was daylight-less dawn

How can so many people wake up and come straight

To Wall St.?  To clean up, to fasten, to check, to bake

To measure, to cut, to scrape

To end tired, and happy, in the middle of the day.  The day changes

into a different thing, has a different form, and

Sweets

Don’t taste anymore

And everyone works faster and faster when the music comes around again

Techno bakery, means to an end, and

How does anyone speak to anyone else this early, and

How does anyone see where they are going, next week I’ll stay out all night and stumble here straightaways,

See Jacek, Polish, good humored, young heart, old face, buttery arm   

Rosy cheeked

White pants, paper hat, 4:30am.

I was just checking out this (sort of but not that old) picture of the pastry station at ‘Gusto,’ in a basement off Greenwich Ave in NYC.  For about a year this was my corner of the universe! 

When I moved to Los Angeles I went to see executive, superstar pastry chef Sherry Yard because friends in New York told me she was [...]]]>

I was just checking out this (sort of but not that old) picture of the pastry station at ‘Gusto,’ in a basement off Greenwich Ave in NYC.  For about a year this was my corner of the universe! 

When I moved to Los Angeles I went to see executive, superstar pastry chef Sherry Yard because friends in New York told me she was really cool (and she is) and might have a job for me.  Sherry probably doesn’t remember this, but she told me something that was only part joke and made a huge impression on me: 

“being in desserts is all chocolate sauce.”  

Chocolate Sauce

5 L. water, .5 L. heavy cream, ½ k. sugar, 250 g. cocoa powder, 1 bay leaf, half a split vanilla bean, pinch of salt

Combine on stove top, heat gently to reduce and thicken sauce.  Stir often to prevent scalding on the bottom.

Sherry Yard’s Vanilla Sauce (from her book, the secrets of baking)

1 c. milk, 1 c. cream, 1/2 vanilla bean, 4 yolks, 1/3c. sugar

The Vanilla sauce, meanwhile, at Spago (which I tasted A LOT during the exactly 1 night I cooked there) was the most amazing vanilla sauce I’ve ever tasted.  The secret was definitely in the millionteen used vanilla beans that were being steeped in the milk, which Sherry tells you to do in her book!