late summer ramblings

Hi ya'll,

well here we are, summer is (finally) winding down... I feel like a real islander because I can breath a huge sigh of relief along with the rest of the Vineyarders that September is finally here and the tourists are finally gone - and with them, their children. thank you baby jesus. hahah. Today was the last day of camp, and fittingly, it was half canceled on account of a giant hurricane heading our way, fierce Mr. Earl. Some kids still showed up, and we ran around making some last minute preparations to get the animals to safety, the structures secure. And then, we all sat down to a lovely feast, prepared by the children throughout the week using all delicious farm-fresh ingredients. My kids had fried green tomatoes, salsa, and tomato sauce to offer. Notice a theme? Speaking of which, I have a big bubbling pot of tomato sauce on the stove right now. I'm going to try my hand at canning! I'm a little afraid of botulism, but... I'll definitely try my best not to poison myself (and others).

This summer has been so much of what I wanted and needed, and a little bit of what I didn't want or need (lots of child-related stress...). Oh well, next summer I'll know not to become a weekend nanny while I'm working full-time as a farm-based educator. But, I have been able to pick up some pretty nifty skills, mostly involving food. I just made some delicious corn tortillas (such a wholly satisfying experience..) and I've been quite the bread-maker/baker all summer long. Now I'm moving on to sauces, canning, and other methods of food preserving. Also, I'm really excited that I've grown rather comfortable around some pretty large (and some not large) animals that I would have once been scared to be near. For example: oxen, and cattle in general (and I now know the distinction between oxen, heifers, and bulls! plus, I've learned the commands for guiding an ox, but definitely haven't mastered the art of working with oxen just yet..). I'm still working up the courage to get near our ducks (nasty creatures, those buggers ) but I am beyond infatuated with our goats. Also, piggies are the shit. Sheep are alright too, I guess.

I'm staying on at the farm as a garden apprentice for the month of September, and then I will begin my wanderings. First, a good solid month of New England visits (Amherst, Boston, NYC, New Haven), and then, middle America! I plan on training it out to Minneapolis first, maybe with a pit stop in Chicago, and then moving on to South Dakota, before heading south to Tennessee/Alabama/Louisiana/Texas and then finally, home to South Florida for the Christmas holidays. I am contemplating volunteering at a mega yoga retreat center in the middle of the Berkshires for the months of January through April 2011, but nothing is certain.

Hopefully this storm will pass through the night so I can make it off the island in the morning and make my way to Beantown for sweet Rachey's birthday bash (complete with Stevey G's rapping skillz, we hope). I hope you all are well, and I await our weekend getaway with much anticipation. Nobody beats my Chapman loves, I'm learning.

here's a little taste of summer from my kitchen to yours..




and some shots of the scene on the beach before the storm --











with love, carmella

ni hao, peng you!

hello, friends!
it is 6:25am in California and I cannot sleep due to the trials of jetlag. So I'm going to post about my trip.

Firstly, it was delicious. Taiwan boasts some of the most ridiculous food in the entire world, and some of the most ridiculous jadeite rocks meticulously carved to resemble food. In fact, the two most famous pieces in Taipei's National Palace Museum are these:

Cabbage and pork .... rocks. Every keychain in the gift shop either has cabbage or meat hanging off of it. Other delicious specialties include oyster omelettes, bell apples and sugar apples, neither of which remotely resemble apples. One is like a pink, heart-shaped pear, and the other is a bubbly green artichoke-type thing oozing with delicious creamy white goo (yeah, i said it). This goo is so sweet that I can only have about 1oz before I have to stop. And I'm a sugar fiend.
Mochi in Taiwan is called Muaji and they think they invented it. It is also delcious and comes in ridiculous flavors. Many vegetables are mysterious pickled and many fruits and flowers dried and marinated in weird liquids that give everything a sweet rum taste. There are exotic potatoes.

Okay. As for the actual sites that I saw, mom and I traveled to four cities, not counting the city with the airport (Taoyuan), which is not that interesting.

Tainan- southwesterly city, with a temple on every street corner, mostly buddhist, one confucian. The buddhist temples are all foggy from the incense and filled with people bobbing up and down at the alter asking for shit. Each temple has a specialty like love, education (students pray here for good test scores), family, shock and awe, etc etc. tainan is also famous for danzi mian, a noodle soup dish with little bits of animal floating in it. also ran into some of the new year's day festival, complete with firecrackers, giant gods on stilts, dragon dances, and masked instrumentalists.

Taitung- southwesterly city framed by tropical forest. We took a bus out to the Jhihben forest park and hiked our asses off. We also dipped our feet into some medicinally healing hot spring water. I didn't experience any spritual revelations, but it was nice and warm and all of the other hikers had for some reason decided to bring adorable puppies and gerbils. Seriously there were like eight dogs and two gerbils ROAMING FREE.

Hualien- flower city. edible specialty is a red flower marinated in sugar. also home to taroko gorge, a really big-ass gorge that also has one of the world's tallest buddhas and some little temples with names like "eternal buddha sunshine spring temple".

Taipei- hit all the big museums here: National Palace, a museum about the formosan aborigines that would probably piss off my anthro people, and a van gogh exhibit. did a bit of shopping in the ximending district as per jenny's recommendation. one of mom's friends took us out for one of those acupressure foot and calf massage from a bunch of sadists who kept offering me tea and telling me that the pain is cleansing. the pain was not especially cleansing. but the tea was delicious. when i see the color purple, i think of taro.

All in all I had a completely awesome time with my mum and took a zillion pictures that I'll try to make a postable album of soon. Until then, love the earth, love each other, and swear profusely.

-mei gui

augustoberfest

Came home from Meg's to play host to a gaggle of boys, Chris' friends from home, who were road-tripping through Boston. Took them to Deep Ellum, our favorite overpriced bar that references some neighborhood in Texas and sells swanky-ass beer that makes us feel rich when we're drinking it. Also went beer-tasting at the Harpoon Brewery with some kids - it has been a pretty beer week, no complaints. Also, have been frequenting super yuppie cafes with names like L'Aroma Cafe, Crema Cafe. Listening in on conversations is the best. There are youthfully bespackled 20-somethings complaining to their dates about how they only sell stuff you don't need at the Fall Sales, like, who wants to buy a swimsuit, summer is, like, practically over! There's a pair of paradoxically dread-haired yet tweedy-bowtied collegiates talking about the meaninglessness of symbology and middle class ad-consciousness. There is that middle-aged couple talking about their prize terrier, Oscar (isn't he cute), and I keep looking under the table for the dog, but all I see is this shag-carpeted ottoman from Target that maybe is breathing and maybe one end of it has a tongue and the other end has an asshole. Needs a haircut.

Saw two more movies:
Born into Brothels
Goodbye, Lenin!

And Julian, just finished White Teeth, what an ourobor(ical? ic? os-y) plot explosion.

We have an unusually classy dinner planned tonight: salmon, red wine, perhaps a rice pilaf, and Meg's purple potatoes made into french fries! (guess which part of dinner I planned??)
.....Keepin' it real.

entertainment across all forms of media, or hardcore leisure

Just finished Farenheit 451, being recently inspired to read those old classics that I managed to miss during high school. It's nice to have the time to do all of this catch up. I'm headed to the swap meet with Kevin (he visited Chaps, remember?) tomorrow.

Interesting events in recent memory include the San Diego County Fair, complete with adorable cows, goats, sheep, canopied kiosks of shops selling completely useless shit, and anything that has ever been fried. I actually saw a sign advertising a confection composed of two cookies forming the outer flanks for the following delicious filling, "cream cheese, strawberry jam, and CHICKEN" ...what the fuck. Not even I, nor Jess, would put chicken in the middle of a cookie and sweet goo sandwich. Not that it helps, but I believe it was fried chicken. The fair is a sick sick place.

Also, opened a twitter account (http://twitter.com/ultracricket) in order to follow the iran election, and have just now made my first post, so that if you click on the link, it won't be a silly empty page. Who knows, maybe i will become a 'tweeter', helplessly connected in a pool of peer consciousness, which is more and more starting to seem to me a miraculous and scary manifestation of the 'hive mind' which captivated my star trek adolescence. You know...the borg...RESISTANCE IS FUTILE...too nerdy?

Also yesterday watched Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey for the first time and it is SCARY AS FUCK. The scariest part of which is encapsulated by this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1IPrx-zC1Y&feature=related
How scary is this scene out of context? Because after watching the entire movie, I wanted to crawl into a corner and cry softly. Man this video doesn't even have any of the HAL stuff. In other movie news, I agree with Rach, Up is lurvely.

Next week I'll get to tell you about my upcoming trip to Selena's crib in Dallas, and then it's back to Amherst for a quick hello and MOVE TO BOSTON. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh real life ahhhhhhhhhh....that is all.

who loves the sun?

forgot to post the beautiful picture of my red bean brownies (which I still have a few of in the fridge....have they gone bad by now? hmmm)
anyhow, here it is:

in other news, carmella just called me from JFK, on her way to sail the world with her dad from pisa to athens. i'm steaming with jealousy, especially since my weekend plans only include an asian side of the extended family schmooze fest in santa monica. i don't really know any of these people, nor do i really speak chinese, nor do i really have this strong sense of family that makes me want to get to know or be known by this family i apparently have, all of whom look same. also, santa monica is a long, gas-wasting drive. and i'm lazy.

however, despite my slothful handicaps, i've been getting into some lovely walks lately, around my sea foamy town, with happy waves crashing into rocks, baby seals burrowing into the sand, irrigated parks sucking water from the colorado basin. i used to really hate san diego, and i'm still wary of spending my time here, but i have found new ways to appreciate the place, by looking through tourist's eyes, and exploring the city's natural and artificial wonders more actively. i always have a more interesting experience when i dig for treasures in the desert than when i sit around and passively receive...which generally means watching tv and eating popcorn with cheese powder. i have carmy to thank for this new enthusiasm.

it is also interesting to note, that as soon as carmella left, our overcast 65 degrees and cloudy problem came back. hm. who brings the sunshine? because it isn't me.

Black Bean Brownies! And Funny Video

Hi Loves,

Selena (i.e. the Blog Police) just called to tell me today was my day! I've got it down now -- I promise I won't be latish anymore...

Anyways dears -- two things:

1) I was thinking that now you have nobody to make you black bean brownies, and that you should learn to make them yourselves and spread the chocolatey beany love. SO, below is the original recipe, and the ** indicates my changes, which I think makes them better. :)

Ingredients
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter **1/4 cup butter, 1/4+ cup plain yogurt (non- or low-fat), 1/4- olive oil**
2 cups soft-cooked black beans, drained well (hs: canned is fine)
1 cup walnuts, chopped **1/2 cup walnuts (I just don’t put in walnut chunks**
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (granulated) natural coffee substitute (or instant coffee, for gluten-sensitive)
¼ teaspoon sea salt
4 large eggs
1½ cups light agave nectar **3/4 cups agave nectar or honey**

Process
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line an 11- by 18-inch (rimmed) baking pan (hs note: or jellyroll pan) with parchment paper and lightly oil with canola oil spray. **I like 9x9 better; the brownies are too thin otherwise... and never used parchment paper... Don’t have any! Just put LOTS of butter**

Melt the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl in the microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes on high. Stir with a spoon to melt the chocolate completely. Place the beans, 1/2 cup **that is, all of the walnuts** of the walnuts, the vanilla extract, and a couple of spoonfuls **usually need more than a couple spoonfuls for successful blending** of the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl of a food processor. Blend about 2 minutes, or until smooth. The batter should be thick and the beans smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the remaining 1/2 cup walnuts,**so, no walnuts here** remaining melted chocolate mixture, coffee substitute, and salt. Mix well and set aside.

In a separate bowl, with an electric mixer beat the eggs until light and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the agave nectar **and the yogurt and olive oil** and beat well. Set aside.

Add the bean/chocolate mixture to the coffee/chocolate mixture. Stir until blended well.

Add the egg mixture, reserving about 1/2 cup. Mix well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Using an electric mixer, beat the remaining 1/2 cup egg mixture until light and fluffy. Drizzle over the brownie batter. Use a wooden toothpick to pull the egg mixture through the batter, creating a marbled effect. **This part is beyond me. Plus, I put yogurt and olive oil in the egg part, so I just pour it all in and forget the marbling** Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the brownies are set.**Or until a toothpick/fork comes out cleanish** Let cool in the pan completely before cutting into squares. (They will be soft until refrigerated.) **Way easier to cut and more delicious and fudgy chilled... I don't know, recently I've started liking them warm/hot.**

**AND: something I haven't tried yet, but you should -- mix in a box or two of raspberries or your favorite berries into the batter as the last step before pouring into the baking dish. One other note: you can really use any kind of beans you have -- they don't have to be black beans.**

Makes 45 (2-inch) brownies.

And, 2) Some video humor. If you have not yet seen the video/song "Dick in a Box," watch it FIRST: http://www.hulu.com/watch/1596/saturday-night-live-dick-in-a-box-uncensored. Then, watch the sequel, "Mother Lover" -- http://www.hulu.com/watch/72434/saturday-night-live-digital-short-motherlover-censored.

Love and miss you all! Definitely already feeling nostalgia for Chapman. AND: Milo is sitting right here and says hi to everyone!

Muah,
Megan

chapman too

I can't wait for my day!
I am still here, getting ready to head out tomorrow. We are in this strange limbo period. It's like I haven't left yet...because I haven't. Graduation and all that hasn't hit me yet, maybe it will on the plane, maybe it will in thirty years when I have eight kids and I can't remember their names because I'm too busy wondering if I left my sheets here.
Selena's parents and Tony are chilling in the common room. Janitors and random people have been in and out, but none seem to have the authority or care to kick me and my shit out of my room.
I was contemplating a Rao's run to sit and sip coffee and have my last raspberry oat muffin, but instead decided to eat everything in the kitchen and make myself the Ethiopian Harrar that I purchased for the family brunch, which is from Rao's anyway.
I am waiting for the posts that begin with, "so now I'm in the tiny village of blank, thousands of miles away from any other civilization, and yet somehow I have a computer and can tell you of my hut-building adventures," but until that happens I will entertain you with a description of my breakfast.

Rosie's Last Hurrah Exciting Breakfast Yogurt

In a small bowl, mix thoroughly:
1 cup yogurt
1 spoonful ground ethiopian harrar coffee beans from Rao's
1 spoonful confectioner's sugar
1 spoonful 'Better n' Peanut Butter'
3 spoonfuls hot chocolate mix
garnish with frozen blackberries and shame

...honey might be good in this
also, eating straight coffee grounds is only mildly unpleasant and makes you pretty hyper immediately, very effective for a little morning jolt.
however, in the future, I would omit the peanut butter substitute, because not only is it unnecessary, but it also tastes like crap....live and learn right?

love you girls.