The Debate

I wasn't going to comment on last night's debate, but one of my faraway friends -- a member of the NEO diaspora -- asked me to.

The truth is, I haven't watched any debates thus far -- not on TV, not on YouTube, nowhere. I'm pretty good at tuning out all the chatter about the horserace.

(I have caught a couple soundbites, including the Hill-arious "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" speech in which Ted Strickland, bless him, nods and claps sycophantically in the background.)

So I thought Clinton and Obama did equally well. Afterwards, watching a little bit of the chatter, I concluded that The Media must've decided beforehand that Hillary wasn't going to pull off a stunning upset, because that's what they seemed to be talking about, even though I can detect no discernible difference between the two candidates. Or maybe it's just me.

Also, some weird inner conservative impulse came bubbling up out of my dark subconscious last night.... I started to wonder, is there a point at which Ohio should stop blaming NAFTA and globalization in general and expecting the next president to do something about that, and start working on, say, bringing high-tech businesses here and creating a better-educated workforce? (I know. It scared me too.)

Look, I wasn't planning on making a choice between Clinton and Obama. I'm going to vote for Dennis, if he's on the ballot, and if he's not, I'm going to write him in. And if they don't give me a pencil, I'm not picking either of them.

In the general election, I'm probably going to vote for Ralph Nader, if he's on the ballot. And if he's not, I'll probably write him in. And if they don't give me a pencil, I might just abstain.

What would Clinton or Obama have to do to get my vote? Commit to a single-payer healthcare system. Until the Democrats take that stance, I'm just going to have to conclude that I'm not actually a Democrat.

Maybe I'll just have to swim across to Canada, provided they haven't built a fence!

What I Bought at the West Side Market: Branching out to Athens Pastries

I love Athens Pastries. You can get basic stuff like a big bag of brown rice, or exotic stuff like galactobouriko. You can get wine from Moldova, Armenia, and Romania, or giant screw-top bottles of Greek retsina.

This afternoon, Jim and I had the pleasure of walking Jackie and her fiance Frank (of Coming Back to Cleveland fame) around Ohio City, including a foray over to Athens and Hansa Import Haus. So this week, I decided to get my two mystery items at Athens, which is a mere block from the WSM at 2545 Lorain Ave.

But first, the highlights from last week:

I. Red-wine shallot butter...mmm.

It's nice to have items like this on hand to dress up really boring dinners that you make when you're tired and get home from work late. This week, we used this sweet little delight from Ohio City Pasta to enliven some Quorn patties on whole wheat buns.

II. Dried kiwi...hmmm.

I must admit, I've never liked kiwi fruit. So when Jim bought this last week, I was pretty skeptical. Although it did have a suspicious fishy smell, the fishiness rinsed off under hot water, so I chopped up a generous handful and used it in this lemon-kiwi cake, a really simple recipe that's good for late night tipsy munchies.

Up next week:
Syrian spices, $2.31 for about 8 0z., Athens Pastries
Fufu (plantain) flour, $2.99 for a 16-oz box, Athens Pastries

What's the Matter with Downtown?

So being car-free, I've pretty much got three choices, workwise: I can work in Ohio City (where I live), downtown (a three minute commute on the train!), or in University Circle.

I had two job interviews last month, one downtown and the other in UC. I got the one in University Circle, and am glad I did. I'm basically working the same job I had when I was 16, which is in some ways depressing but in other ways, really brings me back to my roots. My friend Joe, who has in fact been working that same job since he was 16, is one of the happiest people I know. He may not be rich, but you know what, he's happily married and fills his time with things he likes to do and people he likes to be around, which is easier because he only works 4 days a week.

Anyway.

The real reason I'm glad to be working in University Circle is that despite how I've raved about downtown, there was something that really bothered me about downtown that I couldn't quite put my finger on.

And then I did: suits.

I don't like being around people in suits. Every time I see someone wearing one, the fuzzy bunny suit episode from A Christmas Story comes to mind:

"Are you happy wearing that thing?"

[emphatically shakes head no]

"Do you want to take it off?"

[emphatically nods]

"All right, then, get out of here...."

The truth is that I much prefer being around people schlepping backpacks, people wearing jeans at their desks, and jobs where you might get a little grubby (books are really filthy things, let me tell you.)

I need to find a way to make this permanent....

What I Bought at the West Side Market: Adventures in Mush

You'll recall that last week I bought green bamboo rice and mace and Urban Herbs.

Because I was so busy this week, I tried to kill two birds with one stone by making rice pudding. Green rice pudding. It was good, if you could get past the fact that it looked like Yoda's baby food. Kids would get a kick out of it...unless they're freakish picky eaters (like I was).

First, the mace. What's mace, you ask? That stuff you spray in the eyes of someone who's about to take your purse? Actually, it's the lacy outer coating of the nutmeg seed. The taste is very similar to nutmeg, but finer. Nutmeggier. It out nutmegs nutmeg. Very good with some steel cut oatmeal and raisins.

Mmmm. Oatmeal.

The green bamboo rice is green because it's been soaked in bamboo juice, which gives it a sort of vegetal aroma while cooking. (Actually, a greenish pond scum-like film rises to the top. Skim that off.) It's a short grain rice, a little like arborio. (I actually saw two separate people buying green bamboo rice when I was at the market today...I wanted to ask if they'd read about it here, but, well, they probably didn't!)

Most of the recipes I found were savory, so I thought I'd experiment a little. Here's the result:

TROPICAL GREEN BAMBOO RICE PUDDING

1/2 lb green bamboo rice
1/2 c. sugar
1 12 oz can coconut milk (not creme de coco)
1 tsp mace
Other colorful fruits to mix in: dried cranberries, pineapple chunks, etc.

Cook the rice in 3-4 cups of water until soft and somewhat glutinous, about 15 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk, sugar, and mace; cook a few minutes more, until the mixture resembles rice pudding (which it is, after all). Let cool a little bit...serve warm (not hot) with added fruit and/or nuts -- your preference.

Up next week -- two items my husband Jim picked out (I never would've picked them! It goes to show, people's eyes will drift to totally different things....)

Dried kiwi (this stuff smells like fish!) -- Mediterranean Imports, $2.31
Red wine and shallot butter -- Ohio City Pasta, $3.75

ps -- We saw Dennis at the market this morning! He was at the falafel place. I wanted to run up and hug him but I was too shy....

Notice: "What I Bought" Moving to Saturdays

Hi. I'm working a temporary job in University Circle through June, so my new weekly "What I Bought at the West Side Market" feature is moving to Saturdays. (Temporarily.)

Maybe this week I'll let the husband pick out the two mystery items (you know, because it's Valentine's Day and all).

Why I Don't Celebrate Valentine's Day

The same reason why I didn't have a wedding or wear a wedding ring: it's a tradition that doesn't mean anything to me, and I feel like you have to be especially careful about just "going through the motions" when love is involved.

What I Bought at the West Side Market: Nuts and Roses

I'm happy to report that after last week's kipper mishap, both of my culinary experiments this week were a success.

ROSE HIP JAM IS GOOD

I. What is a rose hip, anyway?

I wasn't sure what to expect with the rose hip jam, especially because -- all pomposity aside -- I wasn't absolutely certain I knew what a rose hip was. I knew it was part of the rose plant (turns out it's the fruit left behind after the blossom falls away), and that made me a little hesitant because I have mixed feelings about using the rose flower as a flavoring...chalk it up to an accident involving too much rosewater pouring into a white chocolate icing. (Shudder.)

II. So what does this jam taste like?

It's sort of like a thick, seedless strawberry preserve -- a little more tart, and with just a hint of a floral aftertaste if you close your eyes and pretend.

III. What did I use it in?

Well, this is your lucky day, people, because I am about to give up my scone recipe, which I've guarded secret for YEARS, since my college days making them for Sunday morning shoppers at a little Lakewood bakery. (The recipe is mine, but the roll-up technique is from my favorite cookbook, The Hay Day Country Market Cookbook.)

ROSE HIP JAM SCONES

2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 c. demerara sugar (you can use white sugar too)
grated zest of 1 lemon
3/4 stick of butter (salted or unsalted, your choice), cut into squares
1 scant cup half and half (more if needed)
1/4 c. rose hip jam

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Sift the flour and dry ingredients well (including the lemon zest). Add the butter squares and either cut them into the flour using a pastry cutter or mash them in using your hands until the flour mixture resembles coarse cornmeal - you do want to leave a few larger lumps here and there; it adds to the texture. Mix in the half and half slowly - you should have a really stiff, but not crumbly, dough. (You don't want it to be too wet; you want it to pull away from the sides of the bowl.)

Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough into a rectangle approximately 12 x 4. Spread the jam onto the bottom third of the rectangle (note: do NOT use more jam than recommended...it may not look like a lot, but it will liquefy and leak out the sides and turn into a sort of sweet cement on your supposedly nonstick pan). Then fold up the dough rectangle, cut in four pieces, and cut those four pieces on the diagonal. (You should end up with eight small rectangles.) Sprinkle tops with extra demerara sugar, if you like.

Bake for approx. 12-15 minutes. (Don't let them get too brown). Eat with a nice mug of tea - I like PG Tips.

(Be forewarned: when baked, the rosehip jam takes on a resemblance to hot ketchup.)

I taste-tested this on my dad, a real pastry junkie. I wanted to see if he could identify the flavor of jam. "Apricot," he said, without tasting it (that gives you an idea of what color it turns in the oven). Then: "peach." Then "strawberry." (When I told him it technically wasn't a tree fruit OR a berry, he got cranky, so I had to divulge the secret.)

PISTACHIO OIL: USE SPARINGLY

What do you use this for?
I spent a long time looking online for appealing recipes using pistachio oil. This one for Ice Cream with Roasted Grapes sounded good until I recalled a failed grape pie experiment last year -- it tasted like eating a pie full of eyeballs.

So I decided to just try roasting chicken in it. Then I saw how good the duck legs looked at Kaufman's, so I switched species. It's very intense, pistachio oil, so be careful not to use too much. I think it might have actually overpowered chicken, but the duck stood up to it nicely.

Here's the end result:

ROASTED DUCK LEGS WITH MARMALADE AND PISTACHIO RELISH

Duck:
2 duck legs
salt
pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Throw the duck legs, skin side up, in a roasting pan. Salt and pepper the duck legs. Put into oven and forget about them for 2 hours.

Marmalade and Pistachio Relish:
4 oranges, peeled, seeded, and diced
1/2 c. mixed marmalade and jam (I used about a third tart cherry preserves and 2/3 lime marmalade - go with something colorful, although I must say that I thought the lime and pistachio married well)
1 spring onion, thinly sliced
1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped (more or less, depending on taste)
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 Tbsp pistachio oil (note: USE SPARINGLY! this stuff is really, really strong)
Several healthy grinds of fresh black pepper
(you can probably add some actual pistachios to this, but I didn't have any!)

Let the relish sit for about 30 minutes prior to serving.

Serve with mashed potatoes, potatoes au gratin, or the like, maybe with a little bed of bitter greens, with the relish on the side. (You need something bland and/or creamy to cut through the fruitiness). And don't throw out that duck fat! It's delicious to eat by the spoonful -- mmm.

BONUS: There was quite a bit of relish left over, so I added about half a cup of Leelanau cranberry wine and roasted a boneless pork loin in it.

Up next week:
Green bamboo rice ($6.50/lb) at Urban Herbs, and
Mace ($2.75/oz) also at Urban Herbs

Walkability

During a bout of insomnia last night, my husband plugged in every neighborhood we've ever lived in into WalkScore.com. Ohio City scored the very best, at a 92/100.

How does your neighborhood compare?

43 Cleveland+ Things

This morning I created a list of 43 Things I want to do in the Cleveland+ area this year.

I urge you to make your own and share it with me!