Monday, June 14, 2010

Lady Gaga's Alejandro, Kettlebells Transformation and Fresh, Local Foods

Has anyone seen Lady Gaga's video Alejandro? When she's on screen I can't look away. Check her out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqrrmev4mA%3D As Cathy Horyn says in this week's Sunday NY Times "I like that Gaga continues to explore style whether she is backtracking through Madonna country or making more abstract connections to art and film". She's strange and I like it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUgsmsvSYow

Gaga is unusually pale and thin. Who is built this way? Certainly not the gorgeous women in Vogue Curvy that I've been reading to reinforce thickerer positivity http://www.vogue.it/en/vogue-curvy. Still I can't resist the urge to tighten things up.

Over the next eight weeks I'm adding weights to my fitness routine so that I can transform my body into my life style's version of Dara Torres;-) . Last week I began to make the best of my insomnia by getting up to take a 6:00 AM Kettle Bell class at the Roxbury YMCA (side bar: oh, how I love working out with the peoples of Roxbury-- that's what's up!).

Here's the promise: Add kettlebells to your workout, and you’ll reboot a sagging metabolism, lose weight and have a better shape—all in just a few weeks. I'll keep you posted, gentle reader

Week 2 of the Food Project CSA http://thefoodproject.org/csa-farm-share This week: garlic scapes (that I added to a white bean soup in place of garlic cloves) and spinach (that I used to make lemon garlic spinach with sauteed chickpeas) and lots of beautiful greens. I found the most lovely strawberries at the Morse Elementary School Saturday farmer's market in Central Square. I brought a quart to share with my compadres in Afro-Haitian dance (thank you for the privilege of dancing with you, dancers!) and another quart to make home-made dairy-free ice cream. There's nothing fresher than the farmer's market. There's nothing more local than my kitchen. Try this at home:

2 cups soy creamer
1 cup soy milk
2 cups strawberries
2 tablespoon arrowroot
3/4 cup sugar... See More
1 tablespoon vanilla

(1) mix 1/4 cup soy milk with 2 tbs arrowroot; set aside;
(2) puree 1 cup strawberries with soy creamer, remaining 3/4 cup soy milk, sugar;
(3) heat strawberry mixture until it boils; remove from heat;
(4) add arrowroot and creamer (mixture will noticeably thicken); add vanilla then chill for 2-3 hours
(5) add to your ice cream maker (follow manufacturer directions); fold in remaining strawberries during last minutes of freezing;
(6) eat

Feel free to embellish with sliced strawberries OR chiffonade of mint picked from your window box.
Dara Torres has good muscles
Shaped like a metal cannonball with a handle, the kettlebell, which has been used in Russia for hundreds of years, has recently become popular on the U.S. fitness scene—so popular, in fact, that kettlebells-only gyms have opened across the country.
Carrot white bean soup w/ grilled cheese toast
Lemon garlic spinach with sauteed chickpeas
Saturday at the Dance Complex from 1:30 to 3:00 PM. Off the chain!
Vegan strawberry ice cream under a little mountain of strawberries
Here's the anatomy lesson: Garlic and its relatives in the allium family, (leeks, chives, onions) grows underground, where the bulb begins its journey, soft and onion-like. As the bulb gets harder (and more like the garlic we know), a shoot pokes its way through the ground. Chlorophyll- green like a scallion (maybe even greener), the shoot is long and thin and pliable enough to curl into gorgeous tendrils.

Won't you celebrate with me? May 23, 2010

Poem by Lucile Clifton

won't you celebrate with me
what i have shaped into
a kind of life? i had no model.
born in babylon
both nonwhite and woman
what did i see to be except myself?
i made it up
here on this bridge between/ starshine and clay
my one hand holding tight
my other hand; come celebrate
with me that everyday
something has tried to kill me
and has failed.

Didn't make it to the farmer's market this weekend but it was fantastic and full just the same. My sons visited (oh how I adore them!). Spent a hot minute with the hardest working woman in show business. Her name is LISA. Watched my men be boys at the skate park (I alternated between shouting "Hercules, Hercules" and "Oh no, baby are you all right?!" I got in a little dancing (Jean and Nailah: you keep me young, cherie). Picked up White Teeth by Zadie Smith from the library http://www.randomhouse.com/boldtype/0700/smith/interview.html. Admired my baby's garden. Dreamed and made plans for the future with her too. And I cooked!

Food highlights: grilled red white and blue potatoes; savored strawberries as big as a child's fist; gobbled down black bean, tomato, roasted red pepper and corn salad and nibbled on oven baked espresso/cinnamon french toast.

As I am sharing poetry with you (rest in peace, dear Lucille) my son, Cyrano, hipped me to a Hudson Valley poet, Saul Williams. Check him out hipsters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDMtaIcrfQ0

Shell's Strawberry Goodness: wash well in cold water a quart of strawberries, pat dry, put in a pretty handmade ceramic bowl then eat with the stems still on. not entirely necessary but if you like pair w/ Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc (deliciosa).

Won't you celebrate with me?

self portrait of mi familia; me, my shorty and the fellas.
rhodies and allium past peak in miss pamela's garden. my grandmother was a master gardener like my wife and mother-in-law. it's funny how we recreate familiar patterns in relationships (friends i'm channeling alice power, my maternal grandmother, through pamela denise waterman:-)
flatblasted the rollerblading casualty with the jammie home healing
red white and blues on the barbey. a grill and potatoes are beautiful thangs.
pamela's garden in the early stages (it's gonna be good).
cyrano at the hallway gallery; my son's graduating from college this week, y'all! buttons burstin!
sole ingredient in Shell's Strawberry Goodness

The First Taste (May 16, 2010)

Blazing blue sky, sun beaming down, slight breeze, people milling all about, Ghetto-Child by the Spinner's playing in my head, the Rodster talking garden stuff. Walking past a stand of neatly stacked greens, our eyes locked. His farmer's hands thrust a package filled to overflowing with tender tendrils of pea shoots towards me. Pea tendril? he offered.

Today was the opening weekend for the SOWA market. Has anyone else been eagerly anticipating the return of the farmer's market? My excitement started building a couple of weeks ago when the Fiddleheads (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiddlehead_fern) appeared in Whole Foods Market. These odd "at-sign"-shaped veggies are only available two weeks out of the year. Nothing says local and now like Fiddleheads. Oh boy! Among all the beautiful handcrafted jewelry (I particularly loved: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LOOKAjewelry) and DIY stuff I found a gorgeous crusty french baguette from When Pigs Fly bakery http://www.sendbread.com/, hydroponic tomatoes and pea tendrils.

I plopped one of the tendrils in my mouth. OMG. Memories of shucking peas with my South Carolina grandmother rushed back through my taste buds. The leaves had the mouth feel of watercress but tasted like lovely sweet peas. I forked over my four dollars and farmer man suggested I lightly saute them in olive oil.

Instead I composed a lusty tomato and bread salad with large chunks of Pecorino Romano on a bed of raw tendrils (next time I will saute them). I served it with a pugnacious 2007 Shiraz that Pam said came from among the "good stuff". You hear that Elizabeth? I’m coming to join you, honey http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5dHXzmV24U I'm still sipping as I write this. Gentle reader, life doesn't get any better, or does it?

I heart summer. I heart farmer's markets. I heart Pamela Waterman and tomato and bread salad. Try this at home:

* 1 tablespoon sherry-wine vinegar
* 1 garlic clove, minced and mashed to a paste with a pinch salt
* 1/4 cup red onions, slivered
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 cups 3/4-inch cubes crusty bread
* 1 pound vine-ripened red tomatoes
* 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, washed well, spun dry, and chopped fine (I used flat parsley)
* 1 tablespoon freshly cracked pepper
* 1 teaspoon of smoky sea salt (I found it in St. Helen's Olive Oil Co. in Napa; it tastes like bacon!)

Preparation

In a bowl whisk together vinegar, garlic paste, and pepper to taste and whisk in oil until emulsified. Add remaining ingredients and salt to taste and toss to combine well. Let salad stand at room temperature 15 minutes to allow bread to soak up some dressing.



sweet pea tendrils
Tomatoes as the sun goes down 5/16/10
SOWA market
hydroponic tomatoes and tomato and bread salad. 5/16/10
i'se married now! Wedding Day 10/10/04.