What of The Answer….

What Of The Answer

Distant dreams dubiously and delicately dancing 
within the realm of the slumbering subconscious,
injecting time frames of past discretions and future light.

How long must this go on,
before the time sequence regulates itself
and the balance for peace is fulfilled?

Only time knows the answer to this coveted secret.
….and we still wait.

-facade3 2010

Balance for Peace

Balance for Peace

A listless cacophony
of the present situation inundating
the main source.

Middle ground is difficult to negotiate
when ones ears have been clapped,
thus weakening the equilibrium.

The section within the ear, when antagonized,
delivers vertigo like a Christmas wrapped gift, all the while,
a child’s innocence laughs from outside the window,
in an almost mocking soliloquy.

“If you want to win a war, serve no master but your ambition.”

-facade3 2010

Rays

Rays....

Each day the rays

accidentally shatter through the window

…the thoughts of these hours should always be

joy, perseverance, strength and prosperity, simply because,

it may not be an accident after all

fore the foundations I seek may come to be,

when the concept of their purpose or their arrival is unknown to mortal minds……

-facade3 2010

Switch

....switch-a-roo

…I sometimes intensely stare
with childlike eyes
and wonder how different
(be it for better or for worse)
my life would be If I were them…

-facade3 2010

My Love of Local Food and The Tacoma Farmers Market

…so this blog has been quiet for a bit. I’ve been quite occupied with creating a video for a contest hosted by the Tacoma Farmers Market. It’s been a doozy being unemployed since April, but a close friend and former-colleague so eloquently pointed out, “Dood, it’s only been 4 months, it’s not that bad and you are using this time to work on personal projects and fine-tuning your skills.” After going over this in my head a few times, I thought, “Hey, she’s right.”

I’ve been visiting the Tacoma Farmers Market every Thursday morning for the past month now, collecting footage, buying produce, hanging out and enjoying some live music . This is my examination of the market and my love for locally grown foods. In this piece, I show some sites of Tacoma, my herb garden and a few of the recipes I’ve posted to the Cuttingkeyboard Blog. The video runs about 4:04. Please Enjoy!

The Return of My Peugeot Avoriaz

..my child is back

Tacoma has proved to be my personal “City of Destiny”. I was itching to take my bike out for a spin, but realized that it needed a serious tune up. The chain looked a bit rough, the tires were stripped and flat, the seat did not seem to appear as comfortable as it once was, and the breaks…..well, one should never take a chance with breaks, especially here in the Pacific Northwest where the street can go from a simple inclined plane to a 90 degree angle in seconds. I feverishly began my search for a good bike shop in the area. I typed ” Tacoma, Bike Shops” into the Google Search Engine and Eureka! – Tacoma Bike. Actually it wasn’t the first bike shop that came up in the results (it was #5) but it seemed more the “real deal”. Any bike shop that names itself after the city it resides must be worth a try, local pride and all.
Tacoma Bike, whose motto “Life is better on a bike”, hosts a number of biking events, maintenance classes and a Riders Club. Along with this and their excellent repair service they even have a sector that specializes in bike fitting. Bike fitting is a new concept to me because I always thought one could sit on a few bikes to see which one was the most comfortable, but no way, it is much more complex than that. It is so much more complex that the price for a proper fitting can cost you $150 dollars for a 1.5 hour session. If you think about it, riding a bike should be as comfortable as possible and the rider/ bike relationship should be synergistic. They build custom bikes and hand built wheels so a bike can be be built uniquely for its rider. Very neat indeed. Silly me, I always thought that bike shops were just places you either bought a bike or sent it in for repairs. Tacoma Bike offers much much more. I’m not entirely sure if I’ll have time to take up one of the events, maintenance tutorials or even the Riders Club, but I am extremely grateful that I found a bike shop that takes so much pride in bikes and bike riding. I will definitely continue to patron this wonderful establishment.
I excitingly picked up my Peugeot Avoriaz today. I was surprised that it on only took about a weeks turnaround time for a tune-up, new seat and a solid pair of Kevlar tires. Next Mission: To master the steep streets of Tacoma!

Side note: Tacoma Bike should be promoted to #1 in search results when searching for “Tacoma, Bike Shops” in Tacoma. Just a thought. They are the best!

Zenni Optical – The Hub of Low Price Eyeglasses

Black Medium Plastic Full Rim

Have you ever spent $400 dollars for a pair of frames only to either step on them or lose them, say, two months from the date you got them? In this day and time, money’s too tight to mention and not everyone can replace their frames so easily.

Retro Orange Tortoise Shell Square

Enter Zenni Optical – a California web-based eyeglass manufacturer that markets and sells its own brand of frame called ZENNI. There are no “middlemen” distributors and their budget for advertisement is slim to none. They rely simply on “word of mouth” to advertise their inexpensive and stylish frames. Users can log in and choose from frames that range in price from $8.00 – $30.00 dollars and in styles from half-rim, memory titanium, men’s classics, women’s and children’s fashion frames.

Black Square Basic

It’s easy to select a frame or frames of your liking and place an order. Make sure that you have your prescription on hand. If you do not have your eyeglass prescription, contact your eye doctor and they will be more than happy to provide a copy for you. Depending on your location in the states, complete eyeglass orders should arrive within two weeks time. I, for one, am glad I discovered Zenni (word of mouth actually) and have several pairs on hand. I have taken quite a liking to the Men’s Classic Retro Tortoise Shell Frames (seen below). I get comments on them all time and I cannot help but to chuckle and think to myself, “Little do they realize, these frames cost only $8 dollars.”

My Personal Current Favorite -Retro Black Tortoise Shell

Burnt Orange Ice Cream and India

This recipe was passed to me from a friend. It is taken from Bill Gross, who was executive sous chef at Café Gray in New York City. I will include full recipe here in it’s original form as I stayed true to the steps. The only thing I recommend is grating a bit of nutmeg before serving. The nutmeg seems to enhance the burnt orange flavor. A complex recipe, but well worth it! I never thought I’d enjoy orange flavored ice cream so much. Delicious!

Ingredients

FOR THE ORANGES:
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 large navel oranges (each about 6 ounces)

FOR THE ICE CREAM:
3 cups heavy (whipping) cream
2/3 cup half-and-half
Seeds scraped from 1 vanilla bean (see Note, below), or 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks
grated nutmeg

Preparation

1. One day ahead, prepare the oranges: Position a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Place 1/2 cup of the sugar on a plate. Rub the butter over the oranges, then roll them in the sugar.
3. Pour the unused sugar from the plate into an 8-inch square baking pan, and shake it around to cover the bottom of the pan. Place the oranges in the pan and bake, moving them around once to break up any unmelted sugar, until they start to color and some of the sugar in the pan starts to melt, 15 to 20 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the oven (leaving the oven on), and using tongs and a sharp knife, carefully quarter the oranges. Place the quarters, skin side up, in the baking pan and bake until the peel is dark brown, about 35 minutes. Let the orange quarters cool slightly.
5. Remove the peel from 4 of the browned quarters, discarding the pulp. Leave the other 4 quarters intact.
6. Combine the orange peel, the 4 intact quarters, the sugar from the pan, and the remaining 2 cups sugar in a food processor, and puree. Strain the puree into a container, cover it, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
7. The next day, prepare the ice cream mixture: Place the orange puree in a saucepan over medium-low heat, and bring it to a simmer.
8. While the orange puree is heating, whisk the cream, half-and-half, vanilla seeds, and egg yolks together in a large bowl. Then, whisking constantly, slowly add the hot orange puree. Let the mixture cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate it until it is cold, 3 to 4 hours.
9. Freeze the mixture in an ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
10. Transfer the ice cream to a container, cover, and store in the freezer until ready to serve.
11. Grate a bit of nutmeg on top before serving

To read more visit Burnt Orange Ice Cream

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way……um…I’m going to India in two days, so it was very important for me to post this as I may not be posting recipes for a bit. In any case, I may add some video blog entries here instead. Enjoy!!!

Baked Korean Yams w/ Honey & Ginger

Baked Korean yams w/ honey and ginger

I woke up today with a strong desire to cook yams for dinner. Instead of getting your standard yam, I decided to be a bit more adventurous and grabbed Korean Yams (Goguma). I found a recipe and began adapting away. Ginger, raw honey and cardamon compliment the goguma’s unique flavor and the lemon juice just makes it “pop”. In my opinion they have a plantain quality to them. The aroma created when baking this will fill the home. Fun times!

Ingredients

3 pounds Korean Yam, peeled and cubed
1/2 cup raw honey
3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
freshly squeezed lemon juice from one lemon

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
In a large bowl, toss together the sweet potatoes, honey, ginger, olive oil, cardamom, and pepper. Transfer to a large cast iron frying pan. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Stir the potatoes to expose the pieces from the bottom of the pan. Bake for another 20 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender and caramelized on the outside. Squeeze lemon juice on top and serve.

Blue Cheese Cornbread

Blue Cheese Cornbread

I took a traditional cornbread recipe and gave it a spin with blue cheese. The added sugar gives it light sweetness while the rosemary gives it an earthy flavor. Sweet yet savory.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups stone ground cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons of sugar
1 teaspoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon of black pepper
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/3 cup canola oil, (olive oil is fine too)
5 oz of crumbled blue cheese
1 large egg

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease an 8-9 inch baking pan. Set aside. In one bowl add the following dry ingredients: cornmeal, flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, black pepper, rosemary. Combine well.
If you’ve noticed, what we’ve done here is make our own cornbread base. You may be familiar with Jiffy Cornmeal Mix, which you could totally use. Just omit the cornmeal, baking soda and flour.

In a separate bowl combine milk, egg and canola oil. Whisk together and then combine with your dry ingredients along with the blue cheese and mix well together until blended. A wooden spoon may come in handy. Transfer your mixture to the 8-9 inch baking pan you prepared earlier. Use a rubber spatula if needed. Make sure your batter is even and place in the oven for about 25-30 mins. Cornbread should be golden brown when ready. Use a toothpick to test. If it comes out clean, you’re all set.

Cornbread makes a wonderful side dish and Blue cheese Cornbread is even better! Enjoy! A great side for Chili.