verbatim

Can You Say Satay?

Last night I tried a new recipe that played to mostly positive reviews (Pete wasn't so nutty about the peanutty sauce, but he liked the steak). The kids couldn't believe I had bought ramen noodles, but I assured them that I'd be throwing away the evil chemical-seasoning packets and just using the fun curly pasta. I used 3 packages of ramen and just under 1½ pounds of meat for the 5 of us. I shouldn't have bothered upping the quantities of everything else by half again as much (which was a pain in terms of measuring), because it turned out that a little less marinade wouldn't have mattered, and there was way too much peanut sauce anyhow. So, next time: quantities as written for everything except for the ramen and the steak, and leave some noodles sauce-free for nutty ol' Pete.

Beef Satay with Peanut-Ginger Ramen

2 tablespoons soy sauce, divided use
2 tablespoons lime juice, divided use
1¾ teaspoons sugar, divided use
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger, divided
1 pound flank steak, thinly sliced against the grain
⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
2 packages (3 ounces each) ramen, cooked according to package instructions (seasoning packets discarded)

Soak 12 wooden skewers in water for at least 15 minutes. In a shallow dish, whisk together 1 tablespoon each of the soy sauce and lime juice and 1 teaspoon each of the sugar and ginger. Add the beef strips, toss, and let sit for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a blender, puree the remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon lime juice, ¾ teaspoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon ginger with the peanut butter and ⅓ cup water. 

Heat a grill or grill pan to medium-high. Thread the beef onto the skewers. Grill the beef until it is charred and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Toss the ramen with the peanut-ginger sauce and serve with the beef.

Lunch Lady

I don't go out to lunch all that often, but it seems as though lately I have been able to try quite a few new places. To wit:

1. I've been twice to the Farmstead Table. The first time I had the most exquisite roasted veggie soup ever, along with a fancy salad (can't remember the details, but it was yummy). The second time I had a grilled cheese sandwich, which sounds ordinary, but in fact it was local cheddar with black walnut arugula pesto on spelt bread, with hand-cut fries. So there.

2. Next week I'm going for the second time to the Walnut Grille, a new vegan/vegetarian place. The first time, my Indian-style cauliflower appetizer was out of this world, and then I had a roasted veggie quesadilla, which was huge and provided lunch at home for the next day, too.

3. A few weeks ago I finally met long-time Verbatim reader Elena! We had lunch in Lexington at Nourish. I had a salad with salmon, very good.

4. Today I had lunch again in Lexington, this time at Royal India Bistro, where I went with the old standby, yummy chicken tikka masala.

5. Speaking of Indian, I've been a few times to the lunch buffet at Singh's Cafe, which is always excellent. I like a buffet for Indian because there are so many things I want to try but am wary about getting as my only dish.

6. A few weeks ago, out of nowhere on a Sunday, we took the kids into Chinatown for dim sum at China Pearl. Fun! We hardly knew what anything was that we were eating, but the surprise favorite was the deep-fried tofu. Afterward I ran into a little shop to get the girls a bubble tea. It was incredibly weird.

While I'm on the food theme, I guess I am a dinner lady, too:

7. A while back we finally tried the Waban Kitchen, which took the place of the old Kouzina. The menu is extremely limited, but what we got we liked very much. I had some kind of fish and Andy had some kind of steak, but that's all I remember. We'll definitely go back.

One Mitzvah Leads to Another

Yesterday was Mitzvah Day, which is when our temple congregation comes together in a day of community service. Although the Hebrew word mitzvah translates to "commandment," it's usually used to refer to a good deed; indeed, good deeds are required of all Jews in the spirit of tikkun olam, or "repairing the world." Sometimes we think that the problems in the world, or even in our own community, are too immense to tackle and that our small actions won't mean anything. But we are taught, "It is not upon you to finish the work, but you are not free to ignore it." That is, even if you aren't the one who can cure the world's ills, you are still obligated to do what you can.

There are dozens of worthy projects, but we usually do the one where a few families get together and form an assembly line to pack hundreds of bag lunches for the people who visit one of the local soup kitchens so that they can eat their hot meal and then bring home a lunch for the next day. I always liked this project because even when my kids were little, they could understand that if we have plenty of food and someone else is hungry, we should share. Even the youngest kid can help pack up the bags and decorate a little card that says "Enjoy your lunch!" Another year we helped prepare "party boxes" for children celebrating their birthdays in a homeless shelter.

This year we and several other families each spent Saturday baking in our homes. Each family then brought 5 dozen goodies to the temple, which we divvied up and packed into big bakery boxes, which the younger kids decorated, as well as cards. Then each family delivered a box of treats to a local fire or police station, or in our case, to the emergency room at the hospital. They were surprised and pleased to receive it, and it was such a fun and easy way to thank all of these very important members of our community. 

Pete didn't feel great, so he was banned from the kitchen. Steph made two dozen chocolate chip cookies, Julie made two dozen doughnut muffins, and I decided to make use of three very brown bananas sitting on the counter:

Chocolate Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 large eggs
3 very ripe bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Mix together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In another bowl, cream the butter until lightened, then beat in the chocolate, eggs, bananas, and vanilla. Stir in the dry ingredients just until combined; do not overbeat.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake until a toothpick stuck into the center of the bread comes out almost clean, 50 to 60 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for at least 15 minutes before unmolding.

 

 

Silver White Winters That Melt into Springs*

*As Mark pointed out last time, this is the last line of "My Favorite Things," but that doesn't mean that this will be the last list of my favorite things. I'll just have to think of some clever new way of presenting them. 

1. Here are some truly heart-wrenching problems posted on Twitter and illustrated with stock photography.

2. Speaking of stock photos, here's an ode to them (via Fritinancy).

3. A Boston Herald reporter's video camera was lost after the Boston Marathon bombing; it was returned to her 3 weeks later. Let's watch. 

4. You may have heard that Abercrombie & Fitch refuses to make XL-sized women's clothing because the CEO says he only wants the best-looking people to wear his clothes. They also destroy all irregular clothing from their factories rather than donate it to the needy as other clothing manufacturers do—AF doesn't want "just anyone" wearing their logo. Here's how one guy gave them a "brand readjustment." (Another suggestion, from Seth, is that all us parents of teens start wearing AF clothing—nothing will make it seem uncool faster than that!)

5. I already posted this article on Facebook a while back—I think it was written just for me! If you are as fascinated as I am by the names and identities of all those NPR voices, here's the mothership. My first stop was reference librarian Kee Malesky (for spelling and male/female revelation), and my biggest surprise was Audie Cornish (spoiler: she's not pale and blonde). My two favorite correspondents, judged solely by voice, are Wade Goodwyn (just love the cadence of his speech) and Eleanor Beardsley (with her glorious Southern drawl coupled with perfect French).

6. Old Spock battles New Spock in the greatest car commercial ever. This is so awesome, even if it didn't feature my cousin. LLAP!

7. I saw this on Mother's Day. Which parent would you ask...?

8. And speaking of Mother's Day, here we are celebrating:

Books

Last Friday Barbara invited me to the library's annual author luncheon, which this year featured William Landay, author of Defending Jacob (which I reviewed here) and Randy Susan Meyers, author of The Comfort of Lies. Both are extremely pleasant and engaging speakers, which I guess is why they do these things! I know that some authors are painfully shy and can't bear the thought of trying to entertain a crowd (even a crowd of library lovers).

The Comfort of Lies is another book that I likely wouldn't have read if I hadn't been going to this event. I liked it, though. It tells the story of three women: Juliette is married to Nathan. They have two kids and a seemingly wonderful life. Nathan, however, is having an affair with a young woman named Tia. When Tia tells him she is pregnant, he breaks off their relationship and tells her to "take care of it." She decides to have the baby (a girl), but then gives her up for adoption. The baby is adopted by Caroline and Peter, who have been unable to conceive on their own. Peter is smitten with his new daughter, but Caroline much prefers working in her lab and interacting with her colleagues than playing dolls and baking cookies. She wonders if she's cut out for motherhood at all. Juliette eventually finds out about the baby and ... well, the plot gets a little bit less believeable at that point, but the characters seemed quite real to me. There's obviously no way it can end happily for everyone—particularly Tia, who still loves Nathan and regrets giving away her baby. So, not a feel-good book by any means, but an interestingly intricate web of relationships and, as the title suggests, the lies that the people in these relationships tell each other and themselves.

Next I'm reading Autobiography of Us by Aria Beth Sloss, for book group.

Chance Meeting

A few weeks ago I had a really nice copyediting project. It’s a memoir called A Thousand Hills to Heaven, written by a man named Josh Ruxin, who goes with his wife Alissa to Rwanda to help set up new health clinics, revamp the farming system, etc., as part of the UN’s Millennium Villages project. While there, Josh and Alissa not only have three kids but also decide to start a gourmet restaurant, in large part to help create jobs. The restaurant is called Heaven, and it soon becomes one of the top restaurants in all of Africa, let alone Rwanda. The book is lovely, mostly because pretty much the only thing any of us Americans know about Rwanda is the genocide, and we aren't aware of how much healing has already gone on and continues to go on there. The government is remarkably un-corrupt, and is doing everything it can to help raise the people out of poverty and become self-sufficient. Those who managed to escape from the genocide fled to neighboring countries where they got good educations, and many came back to make their lives in Rwanda. So you have all the makings of a rebirth, with just a little help from international foundations. Ruxin points out throughout that you haven’t done a thing if you haven’t prepared people to continue your projects once you leave—the old “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime” thing. So all of the projects he works on are meant to continue on long after he’s moved on. It was a beautiful and inspiring and fascinating book.

So, last night Andy and I went out for my belated birthday dinner, to Mistral as usual, and had a splendid meal, also as usual. At the table next to us were two women, and every so often the older woman would reach across the table and clasp the younger woman’s hand, and they were both just beaming. They must have caught me smiling at them, because the older woman explained to us, “My daughter just surprised me by flying in from Africa for Mother’s Day!” The daughter had arranged to have the mom taken to Mistral by a friend, then she showed up with flowers and the friend left. Best Mother’s Day gift ever, huh?

We got to talking, and—you guessed it—the daughter had flown in from Rwanda, where she is working for a year to help institute new systems for prenatal care. She knew the Ruxins, and she and her mother had in fact eaten at Heaven when her mother visited her! We were both so excited to have had this serendipitous meeting. Just a month ago I would’ve nodded and smiled politely while thinking, “Rwanda? Yikes.” I have such a new perspective now.

Snowflakes That Stay on My Nose and Eyelashes

These are a few of my favorite things:

1. The Dropkick Murphys are played a lot in Boston anyhow, but especially right after the Boston Marathon bombing. I only just learned that the lyrics to "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" come from Woody Guthrie! Really!

2. If you have just about had it with this week, try watching this for a bit. (via CopyCurmudgeon)

3. A couple weeks ago, the Associate Press's Twitter feed was hacked, and a bogus tweet about a White House explosion went out to the millions. I didn't see the tweet until after I'd already heard about the hacking, but lots of eagle-eyed editors suspected it was phony because it didn't follow AP style. (For you non-editors out there, all journalists follow the style manual put out by the AP, whereas book editors, like me, generally follow the Chicago Manual of Style. Yes, there are differences.)

4. This is positively brilliant—how to avoid saying the wrong thing to someone who is ill or in trouble or suffering in any way. (via Scott)

5. Shit My Students Write is a new Tumblr blog that is hilarious.

6. The amazing John Green defines every acronym ever.

7. If you are an "I Love Lucy" fan, this is such a treat: Someone in the studio audience back in 1951 shot a clip of an episode being filmed, so we finally get to see everything in color! (When Julie is home sick or on school vacation, she loves to watch "I Love Lucy." She still hasn't seen the Vitameatavegamin one or the candy factory one, though.)

8. Apparently "slash" (the word, not the symbol) is now being used in a new way (scroll about halfway down). I keep forgetting to ask Steph if she's seen it.

9. A few years ago Dave Barry wrote a wonderful piece about getting his first colonoscopy. Here's how it begins:

OK. You turned 50. You know you're supposed to get a colonoscopy. But you haven't. Here are your reasons:

1. You've been busy.

2. You don't have a history of cancer in your family.

3. You haven't noticed any problems.

4. You don't want a doctor to stick a tube 17,000 feet up your butt.

Let's examine these reasons one at a time. No, wait, let's not. Because you and I both know that the only real reason is No. 4.

This was apropos reading for me today, since I joined the colonoscopy club this morning. As everyone had told me, the prep was a bazillion times worse than the actual procedure, which I slept through. I am very glad it's over! 

 

Milestones

I mentioned that Pete turned 14 a couple of weeks ago, which is of course impossible because he's still 4 in my mind. He's just a really tall 4-year-old.

Even more impossible: I turned 51 the following week, even though I can't imagine I'm older than 27, 28 max.

My Dad turned 85 yesterday, and my niece 25 a couple days before that. Where do the years go?

Perhaps just as inconceivable is the fact that I launched this blog more than 9 years ago (d'oh, forgot my own blogiversary in March!), and here I still am. And, much more importantly, here you still are, tuning in to see what I cooked or read or thought about the world. Some of you leave comments here or on Facebook, some email to check up on me if I've been away too long, some challenge me to games of Words With Friends, some just plain show up, and I appreciate every one of you more than I can say.