random – Page 21 – morestomach

365 days later: anniversary

Published on September 28, 2014September 28, 2014 by Lan | MoreStomach15 Comments

photo courtesy of luke eshleman & used with permission

365 days ago
you hit it
and thank gawd,
you didn’t quit it.

i was a notoriously shitty student
who never reached full academic potential,
especially in the subject of math.
you join the legions of teachers
and tutors
and professors
who make me realize
what a mockery i am with numbers,
because i cannot begin to count
the infinite sum of reasons
as to why i love you so.

to further my grievance,
i cannot even fall back on
the one thing i usually can rely on:
Words.
because you always get me tongued tied,
and because you started reading way before i did,
and your vocabulary is worth more than $5.

instead,
i will feed you cake.
because you are my heart,
you who by some grace
not only loves me,
but acts loving towards me,
you who i dreamed of for so long,
but my limited imagination
never could fathom
just how fucking awesome you are.

i love you dw,
i will always be your
Ride Or Die Bitch.

chocolate tahini cake + rosemary frosting
makes one 2 layered 8″ cake, entirely too big for two people, and yet, dw & i totally ate the entire thing. together.

*note: this is a riff on my sure-thing chocolate cake that i always fall back on because it’s amazing. the frosting has the heady essence of rosemary, dw calls it a mature flavor. if i make this again, i’d infuse it for a shorter period and make a bigger batch of frosting.

2 cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 3/4 cup AP flour
1 cup 2% lactose free milk, i used organic valley
3/4 + 1 TBL cup Cocoa
2 TBL canola + coconut oil, i used Spectrum blended oil
6 TBL tahini
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup boiling water

pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

grease 2 round 8″ cake pans

in a large mixer bowl combine dry ingredients.

gradually add eggs, milk, oil + tahini. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.

remove from mixer; stir in boiling water. (batter will be thin).

pour into prepared pans.

bake 30 to 35 minutes for round pans,or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

cool cake in rounds 10 minutes; remove from pans.

cool completely.

rosemary infused buttercream
makes enough to just crumb coat the two layers. i had high plans to decorate the cake, as i like to collect pretty attired cakes, but when i finished crumb coating i realized that i didn’t have enough frosting, and i was over it. as dw said: “it’s like you finished crumb coating the cake and you went FUCK IT & started putting dishes away.” he knows me so well and yet he stays.

2 sticks of vegan butter, divided, i used earth balance
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 lb powdered sugar
splash of liquid, water or lactose free milk

the night before, melt down 1 stick of vegan butter and add in the sprig of rosemary. don’t let it go too long, just enough to warm through. allow to steep overnight.

next morning, warm up just enough to fish the sprig out. allow to cool to room temp.

add to mixing bowl along with other stick of vegan butter.

whip up with powdered sugar, until reach desired consistency. add more or less liquid to loosen up.

BAM!

homemade ricotta cheese – lactose free

Published on September 22, 2014September 21, 2014 by Lan | MoreStomach16 Comments

prior to the age of
the Internet
and Email
and Blogging
i was a handwriting
Letter Writer,
and i kept a daily journal.
i haven’t written
in a diary in over
five years.
on a bookshelf,
upstairs,
dw keeps a stack of my
old
pubescent
young adult
twenty-something
ramblings.
for a long time
i believed i’d always write
in bound books,
on ruled paper,
words written without margins,
precariously,
as though they’d fall off the page
without the adhesive
rules of a sentence.
rabid with my memory collecting
that it never occurred to me
that one day
i wouldn’t need it.
i’m too busy, now,
making the memories.
and eating.
i do mourn the slow death
of cursive though.

homemade lactose free parsley ricotta
adapted from the Splendid Table

note: back when i figured out that i was lactose intolerant i fully believed that i would never eat cheese again, ~~it was like a slow death~~ i was really sad. then i learned that the harder the cheese, the least amount of lactose in it. then i decided to try my hand at making cheese, vegan and lactose free. i’ve made ricotta before, i just had to look for lactose free stuff. and now, ricotta’s back in my life. happiness again.

1 cup 2% fat lactose free milk, i use organic valley
3 cups lactose free half/half, i use organic valley
juice of one lemon, about 1/4 cup
healthy pinch of salt
chopped parsley, amount to your heart’s content

heat up milk and half/half in pot, on medium heat, to a gentle simmer. remove from heat. add in salt and stir with lemon juice. curds will rise to the top, add the chopped parsley, stir and then give it a few minutes.

you can separate the curds from the whey (the separated liquid) with a cheese cloth and colander. (the leftover whey can be used to make soup, though i’ve never done that before). i use a big spice bag to drain the cheese, hang it over the sink.

drain for anywhere from 30 minutes to overnight. just keep in mind that the longer you drain it, the dryer the ricotta will be.

i drain it for about an hour, carefully dump it out of the spice bag, shape into a ball.

a good tip: coat hands with olive oil to shape.

drizzle with olive oil to keep from drying.

slather on toasted bread.

BAM!

bonus topping ideas:
i roasted up some delicata squash, along with the seeds.
simmered down honey + miso (1:1 ratio) + a splash of water til it reached jam consistency.
sliced figs, cukes, tomato, whatever you have in your pantry.
the combination is only limited to your imagination.

another BAM!

confab | current reads

Published on September 1, 2014August 31, 2014 by Lan | MoreStomach9 Comments

it’s september.
which means my first love turns
half a century old.
it also means there’s
an extra 25 minutes to my commute
cus schools have started.
mostly it means
that the weather is cooler
i’m thinking about knee high socks
plans are being made for apple picking.
i might put away summer clothes
and bring out the sweaters
i’m also thinking about making soup
but mostly,
i’m snuggling with dw,
possibly with a book in hand.

last month i finished
TWO POINT FIVE BOOKS:
is everyone hanging out without me by mindy kaling
this song will save your life by leila sales
disconnected: an e-short story by jennifer weiner

there were times when i
thought mindy & i should be bffs,
i even tweeted her.
she ignored me.
that’s the other times i thought
we shouldn’t be bffs.
i listened to the other book,
which made me sad,
because it reminded me of high school.
and then i read the short
one while on jury duty.
that’s it.

currently on my kindle slash cloud reader slash audio thing:
allegiant by veronica roth
one more thing by bj novak

currently wait-listed:
interworld by neil gaiman
bossypants by tina fey

currently reading in the car during road trips:
the smokejumper by nicholas evans, which happens to be a repeat,
and one of my favoritest books.

and you lovies,
what are you reading?

confab | current reads

Published on July 31, 2014July 28, 2014 by Lan | MoreStomach12 Comments

august is here
summer is almost over

i could cry

instead,
let’s talk books

i don’t read as often
as i’d like
and i made the decision
this year that
there are so many, many, many
books & reading materials
out there
that should it not hold my attention
i will dump it.
life is too short
time is too scarce
to muddle through shitty words

currently on my kindle:
Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

currently on my bookshelf:
On Such a Full Sea by Chang Rae-Lee
Califia’s Daughter by Leigh Richards (reread. because good books deserve to be read over & over & over again)

online:
1K project
networking for introverts
woman in the rainy season

and you.
what are you reading?

pickled beets + urban picnic

Published on July 21, 2014July 21, 2014 by Lan | MoreStomach13 Comments

i’ve been into quick pickling
this summer,
mainly because we have a glut
of vegs,
also because
it’s good for digestion,
and because
we have a lot of jars,
either i chuck ’em or use ’em.

when i’m in a mood
and food is the last thing
i want to play with,
we have picnics,
stuffed heaped on bread,
though not as fancy as this,
still very satisfying.

what’s your fave pickled veg?
(and, can you send me some?)

pickled beets

*note: this is the kind of recipe that is going to require you to use some common sense. beets vary in size, you might like your beets more tender, or more al dente. this is just a guideline.

12 small – medium beets, scrubbed and peeled
drizzle of oil (olive oil, i used organic canola oil)
dry italian seasoning (though fresh rosemary or thyme would be nice)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vinegar
1/4 tsp black peppercorns
6 whole cloves
6 whole allspice berries
2 -3 wide strips lemon zest
3 – 5 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks

heat oven to 400F.

meanwhile, with netflix going (i was watching Arrow, i think i’m gonna hit up The Returned next), scrub beets and peel. (i have a love hate relationship with this step. you can roast them first and then it’s easier to peel the skin away while warm, but i find that messy, with oil and random bits of herbs sticking to your hands. it’s up to you.) cut up any large beets so they’re all approximately the same size. place beets on baking dish lined with large piece of foil. drizzle with oil, top with italian seasoning, salt/pepper. cover with another sheet of foil and roast for 45min – 1 hour, until beets have reached desired doneness. this time around i made them tender, but the batch before that were toothier. do what you like.

when beets are warm to the touch, slice them up in either 3/8″ rounds or wedges. (i’ve done it where i sliced the beets before roasting, which made for much quicker roasting time, again, up to you.)

meanwhile, stir sugar, salt + 2 cups in sauce pan. bring to a gentle boil and stir until sugar dissolves. take off heat, stir in the vinegar and remaining seasonings. allow to cool.

in clean mason jars (or in our case, our huge 1/2 gallon mason jar) put the beets in a layer formation. (note: you can also add in sliced onions or cucumbers). half way up, pour a bit of the brine in, along with the various seasonings. continue to layer up with remaining beets and pour the rest of the brine into jar. if there is any leftover space in the jar, add a bit more water & vinegar (1:1 ratio) to top.

refrigerate for a day or so and consume. they do last awhile, just remember to use clean utensils when extracting the beets from the jar to keep from contamination etc.

BAM!

also pictured:
dutch oven bread
bruised cucumber salad