Thursday, January 14, 2010

Rambutan! Say it!

Man, is the St. Patrick's thrift store trashed or what? I got this vintage classic there yesterday.
Look at these fine Berkeley bitches that wrote it! Parts of it read more like a non-fiction book than a cookbook. There is a LOT of talk about meditation. Also a ridiculous passage about packing lunch for your man and how you should include, like individual salad leaves and little packages of dressing and sesame seeds. And "score" his orange ahead of time for easy peeling.
For some reason the "guys" section sign cracks me up.
We found this CD there. Mysterious.
Irishman of the year! Every year.
I ate more crabs! $3.99 a lb at Sunh Fish.
Here they are, traumatizing me by battling in the sink. They were cracking each others shells! Babs was trippin'.

I made a kabocha soup inspired by Laurel's Kitchen. All their recipes have one weird ingredient like "tivoli yeast" or something like that (what is up with the use of powdered milk for everything?), so it was really just loosely inspired. Plus, I used chicken broth to cook the kabocha. I sauteed onions, then added broth and kabocha. Then some ginger and cumin, and salt and pepper of course. I pureed it.
We had some delicious, fresh, soft tofu from SF market so I added some of that to make it creamy. Then buttery croutons on the top. It doesn't look so hot but I swear it was really good and took about a half hour.
I also bought expensive rambutan at SF market. This is an awesome fruit! I'm hooked on the peeled-grape tartness.
It's fun to say "rambutan". Try it. Say it!

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love the Laurel's kitchen Borscht recipe, but I don't use the beet tops.

gbeet

Anonymous said...

Laurels kitchen was big in my childhood. i have yet to find the love for St. Patricks.

-natalie.

beckler said...

St. Patricks kinda sucks. It is unpleasant how trashed it is. The walls are crumbling. There was a vintage dress there that was so campy that only I would wear it and they had priced it to 20 bucks. It's gonna sit there until the second coming of you know who.

The Armeniac said...

The second coming of Monsignor Edward Kavanagh I assume?

Anonymous said...

I've had the exact same experience with their "vintage" rack.
Only I want that, I swear to god. But not 20 bucks want.

-Natalie.

Anonymous said...

I like St Patrick's! It's all about the GUYS section.

-miller

Anonymous said...

Becks-

regarding rambutan seed-

"The seed is soft and crunchy. They are mildly poisonous when raw, but may be cooked and eaten."

I didn't know that, did you? Any ill effects?

I once accidentally poisoned trish O. by having her eat raw ginko nut. whoops! Her whole face swelled up like a basketball!

also, that tree, who's fruit you ate in my front yard... it is a manzanita for sure. I confirmed with landlord who planted it.

ec

beckler said...

I was munching on the seed yesterday to test it out and the thought occurred to me that it could be poisonous. I only ate a little bit and I feel un-poisoned today. I ate some miner's lettuce on our hike in stinson and scott told me to stop eating things. i'll never stop. until i die.

Anonymous said...

You really will eat anything outside, won't you? You are brave.
ec

The Armeniac said...

Miner's lettuce is prfectly good for you. Keep eating these that are outside! That's where the best stuff comes from.

michele h said...

Like sour grass! Which is blooming already because its Fake Spring!!!

-mh

Anonymous said...

It's all fun & games until you're sitting in the back of a car with a freaked out Beckler trying to look up whether or not the plant she just ate is poisonous on an iphone.

-miller

Anonymous said...

I say, stick to shit that you know for sure isn't poisonous. Like miners lettuce, that's good. but when we get into the fennel/hemlock area.... white flowers are bad, yellow flowers are good... just don't eat it beckler! at least not until you've taken a sample and looked it up in a guide book!

ec

Stephen Glass said...

One of the best things about Humboldt County? Drive-thru crab stands.

beckler said...

I eats whut I finds and you caint stop me.

beckler said...

I'm on a see food diet. I guess that joke doesn't work written down.

Anonymous said...

tell us where a good shack is, if'n you know mr. glass. tell us. hungry people who are going to be in or near humbolt county want to know.

ec

KW said...

I have some foraging books that I got when working on a weird, uncharacteristic story about wild foods a few years ago. Let me know if you want to borrow and read up!

My favorite super-70s cookbook is called Wings of Life, by Julie Jordan. It is full of recipes for things like unleavened whole wheat bread, which is exactly as dense and heavy as it sounds (I made it once when I was about 14 and going through a phase, and have not forgotten).

(the verification word for this is "fruite," which seems appropriate somehow)

beckler said...

I still have yet to crack my copy of "Stalking the wild asparagus". It's been sitting in my desk for like 2 months. I want to start with that, and then see if foraging is for me. That reminds me there's a field of wild mustard outside my work...

beckler said...

If you find weird people on yelp amusing, take a gander at this guy's reviews:

http://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=4EsWntWUQO121uiLNAMUBQ

Anonymous said...

The only thing I have ever foraged are mushrooms, for all the reasons you forage for mushrooms.

It always made me real nervous, except Morrels nothing else really looks like them.

Natalie.

Anonymous said...

B M. is a B.M. I like the beef that he has with the clientele at some places. yelperz.

-skpr

Anonymous said...

Dude, thanks for reminding me about rambutans. I totally grubbed on them when I was an exchange student in Malaysia...they're so good!

Margs

beckler said...

Yeah, they are worth the high price. They are addictive.

wburg said...

I have enjoyed the rambutan at the asian food store, but not the durian.

I have found some great things at St. Patrick's over the years, including the Eraserhead soundtrack (with a glossy photo of the baby in the sleeve) and a wonderful secretary desk. It's not a place to visit often, and I kind of revel in how trashed it is even if I find nothing to buy.

verification word: ratorm