We live in a creative and discerning household and one thing we've learned is the wonder of the SDV. Salt Delivery Vehicles (SDVs) add to the contrast of food tastes and are characterized by two major players- potato chips and tortilla chips. In Lays or Herr's Wavy potato chips (not Wise Ridges), there is a wider periodicity ruffle and they are more crisp than a non-wave chip. Just put a chip into your mouth and let the salt dissolve. The other SDV of equal wonder is corn tortilla chips. My favorite are Eden Garden Brand. However, Snyders or another brand are also good. Baked chips typically don't do it but you be the judge.
SDVs need accessories- like freshly made guacamole or a salsa. If you're new to the spiritual view of Guacamole as life, you can try out fresh guacamole made commercially at the South of the Border chain. Look for hand made and not whipped or blended. South of the Border makes the guacamole table side where you can watch and direct the correct amount of the ingredient mix. They tend to be gentle in their preparation- not too spicy or salty as they don't want to have you turn away from what you ordered. Another way to do guacamole is to use a pre-mix spice package and just add avocados. And to have maximum freedom in taste adjustment make your own. Tim, Ted and Zach all cook at our house. Tim has been the lead in guacamole mixing and flavoring techniques.
There are two benefits of making your G/S. First, making it yourself lets you select the freshest ingredients and raw flavors. Second, by making the dish yourself you have total control of the flavor by selecting how much of each material you put in.
GUACAMOLE (based on Tim's works) Ingredients, Cutting and Initial Mixing Instructions
Tools:
Cutting/chopping knife, cutting board, dinner fork, table spoon, mixing bowl about two times the size of the final serving bowl.
Ingredients:
SDV's - 1 lb bag of Eden Garden or other corn tortilla chips
4 avocados- (grow or reduce the recipe 2 avocados at a time). Select avocados so they are slightly but noticeably movable by your hand squeeze. Cut the avocados and remove the pit. Spoon out the green/yellow pulp into the mixing bowl.
Prepare the other ingredients
1 Fresh tomato (not too ripe)- chopped about 1/4 inch cubes, use 1/2 of a 3 inch tomato.
2 Jalapeno Peppers-cut in circles so they look like wagon wheels. Chop smaller. The more seeds you leave the hotter the flavor. Begin with 1 pepper. Save 2nd for adding flavor (see tuning directions below)
Cilantro- about 30 stems- cut with scissors or chop with knife so leaves are about 1/3 of their original size
Sea Salt- start with a tablespoon. (see tuning directions below)
1 White or Red Onion about 3 inch diameter- select the zing in the onion to your personal taste. Chop 1/2 of the onion.
1 lime
Mix the ingredients.
Use fork and spoon to break up the avocado. Mix until there are still a few chunks left. Do not overmix or whip- keep some coarseness to the texture. Texture aids scoopability.
Add Lime juice- a light squeeze of 1/2 a lime
Refrigerate and let flavors mingle:
The onion, cilantro salt and jalapeno need about 1/2 - 2 hours to mix in the refrigerator
Tuning Directions:
Taste test and add more sea salt to personal taste.
Not hot enough? add jalapeno and onion a table spoon at a time to get to your personal liking.
Consider an experiment and divide your batch into two parts- one mixed with low spice and the other high spice- see which you like better.
Leftovers?
Use a plastic wrapand press it down against the guacamole- this and the lime juice keep it alive for later in the day or overnight. Avocados turn brown in the air.
PEACH AND MANGO SALSA
(make both guacamole and salsa- many of the same materials are used)
Joan made this last week with great results. We used the same SDV's as for Guacamole
The delicate flavors of mangoes and peaches combine with onions and garlic in this sweet-and-savory salsa recipe. Try it with chips for a light snack on a hot summer night, or add to a vegetable burrito for an unusual twist. (from a newsletter we received)
Ingredients:
2 mangoes, peeled and chopped
2 fresh peaches, peeled and chopped
1 sweet onion, diced
1 medium tomato, diced (optional)
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
dash sea salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Dice and chop- no blenders.
Chill:
Chill for at least one hour, to allow flavors to combine, and stir well before serving.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wind Wave Chimes Ring Freely
Every trip I make to Florida includes a segment of remembrance for my dad, and his influence in my life. JCH is buried in the Veteran's area of a cemetery in Stuart, Florida, a nice resting place, albeit in a hot zone and two miles inland. Last year while visiting his gave site I was impressed with the five years of growth of the thin sprig planted next to his flat headstone that has now grown to a lichen rich full shade tree. At the cemetery people place wind chimes in the trees as a peaceful remembrance of their family members. But in the hot and moist Florida Treasure Coast climate the string ages and rots and the chimes fall to the ground. With this last chime crash my mom and I began a search for a new wind chime. We checked four different stores and finally gave up--- no chimes in the winter but the idea stayed with me.
When we leave this life what happens to us? Our life less body remains but what happens to our essence, our soul? The question is ours to ponder and to speculate upon. We listen to those who think they have an idea, who formulate and propagate a scenario. It could be so. We all face this event and yet we know nothing for sure- it's a mystery that we live with. I'm ok with the uncertainty as I know the Universe only has good in mind.
Last week when I spent time in my father's garage I was in a communion with him. The tools he used, the things we worked on together, perspectives and skills he taught me, my observations on his aging, his passions, obsessions both joyful and unpleasant are my bread and wine all contained in the covenant of our continued connection. It is that same connection as he had with his father and father's father before him and as I have with my sons today. And so invoking my creative nature, I continued with the idea of creating a new wind chime.
The garage smells of musty old tools, metal and wire that has oxidized in the humid air. Wooden tool boxes I made as a teen hold the tools and now they look back at me, waiting to be called back into action. I drew the new design for a wind chime on my sketch pad and began to look for materials symbolizing sailing- small sailing line designed to be low stretch and made of the best synthetic materials, sea friendly teak wood to hold the chimes. The last unknowns were the chimes. What about the chimes? How to make them? How do they fit and how do they sound when hanging and clanging together?
My father had many hobbies and as my mom told me last week, "Your father always got everything he wanted." It was through his hobbies that he learned and created and explored. So in his 30's amateur radio was his interest. Using his FCC call sign, K3IUZ, he was passionate about radio, electronics and electromagnetic waves through out his life. In his mid 40's sailing became his joy. Owning five different boats they sailed first in lakes and later grew into ocean sailing. Mom and Dad cruised the Northeast, the East Coast and both coasts of Florida in their 30 foot C&C, 'Misty.'
To get a signal out...or to bring one in, you need an antenna and not just any piece of wire; it needs to be tuned to transmit or receive a specific frequency. The garage has remnants of antenna projects that remind me of software projects I have been involved with. In software (in this case the antenna) a section of code that was perfectly clear to the developer becomes difficult to reuse or modify after the developer has left the project...unless there is some form of documentation. No one knows exactly what Dad was thinking on his antennas. My investigation into a cardboard tube stuffed in the back of the garage led to the perfect chime. Several 3/8 inch tubes, made of brass and aluminum no longer functioned as antenna and I transformed them into chimes. I made eight tubes ranging between 6 and13 inches long. To symbolically link the wind and waves together I painted the metal a dark blue, the color of 'Misty' and hung them with the marine grade line.
Next came putting it all together. Tim, home in NJ, became my coach, sending pictures of a much larger chime hanging there in a tree which served as my reference design. I began the project in mind a year ago and building and assembling it took parts of three days. I cut, sanded, drilled, filed, fitted, assembled, listened and adjusted several times. The garage temperature was 80's at night and mid 90's in the day and you can guess the humidity in Florida during June. The chime gong is a 2 inch stainless steel ring and a weight below it swings in the breeze and initiates metal to metal contact at the first signs of a breeze. The sound tone works perfectly and the sound reminds me of a boatyard with halyards clanging on a mast as the wind blows.
Mom and I drove to the cemetery and hung the wind chime in the tree, ready to relax its taut sailing cord in the daily temperature swings and ready to freely ring. I know there is no need to comfort my father. He is not here. But for those remaining, this chime is a symbolic reminder of experiences we shared and a way to honor one man's life. It is a form of grief relief and just one more pathway of free living today.
Last week when I spent time in my father's garage I was in a communion with him. The tools he used, the things we worked on together, perspectives and skills he taught me, my observations on his aging, his passions, obsessions both joyful and unpleasant are my bread and wine all contained in the covenant of our continued connection. It is that same connection as he had with his father and father's father before him and as I have with my sons today. And so invoking my creative nature, I continued with the idea of creating a new wind chime.
The garage smells of musty old tools, metal and wire that has oxidized in the humid air. Wooden tool boxes I made as a teen hold the tools and now they look back at me, waiting to be called back into action. I drew the new design for a wind chime on my sketch pad and began to look for materials symbolizing sailing- small sailing line designed to be low stretch and made of the best synthetic materials, sea friendly teak wood to hold the chimes. The last unknowns were the chimes. What about the chimes? How to make them? How do they fit and how do they sound when hanging and clanging together?
My father had many hobbies and as my mom told me last week, "Your father always got everything he wanted." It was through his hobbies that he learned and created and explored. So in his 30's amateur radio was his interest. Using his FCC call sign, K3IUZ, he was passionate about radio, electronics and electromagnetic waves through out his life. In his mid 40's sailing became his joy. Owning five different boats they sailed first in lakes and later grew into ocean sailing. Mom and Dad cruised the Northeast, the East Coast and both coasts of Florida in their 30 foot C&C, 'Misty.'
To get a signal out...or to bring one in, you need an antenna and not just any piece of wire; it needs to be tuned to transmit or receive a specific frequency. The garage has remnants of antenna projects that remind me of software projects I have been involved with. In software (in this case the antenna) a section of code that was perfectly clear to the developer becomes difficult to reuse or modify after the developer has left the project...unless there is some form of documentation. No one knows exactly what Dad was thinking on his antennas. My investigation into a cardboard tube stuffed in the back of the garage led to the perfect chime. Several 3/8 inch tubes, made of brass and aluminum no longer functioned as antenna and I transformed them into chimes. I made eight tubes ranging between 6 and13 inches long. To symbolically link the wind and waves together I painted the metal a dark blue, the color of 'Misty' and hung them with the marine grade line.
Next came putting it all together. Tim, home in NJ, became my coach, sending pictures of a much larger chime hanging there in a tree which served as my reference design. I began the project in mind a year ago and building and assembling it took parts of three days. I cut, sanded, drilled, filed, fitted, assembled, listened and adjusted several times. The garage temperature was 80's at night and mid 90's in the day and you can guess the humidity in Florida during June. The chime gong is a 2 inch stainless steel ring and a weight below it swings in the breeze and initiates metal to metal contact at the first signs of a breeze. The sound tone works perfectly and the sound reminds me of a boatyard with halyards clanging on a mast as the wind blows.
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