Experimentations with Spices: Paprika

Yesterday I took a trip to the store to replenish and expand on the seasonings I use in the kitchen. This evening I decided to try out one of my new spices. Glancing over my new inventory, I chose to use paprika.  I can't recall ever using this specific one before. Holding up the bag,  it looks like it could be a specimen of fine dust from Mars. The vibrantly red seasoning would seem to possess a fiery mesquite smoky flavour. Although there are many that do, the one I have bought lacks the heat.  Its characteristics are more of a mildly dry sweet flavour. Paprika gives a dishe quite an appetizing quality as well when used as a garnish or rubbed over the meat I've found.

 

Recipe:

• 1 Bone in chicken breast
• 1 stalk of celery
• 2 small onions
• 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 3 table spoons of paprika
• salt
• pepper
• 3 stripped sprigs of thyme (plus a few for on top the chicken)
• 1 table spoon of basil
• extra virgin olive oil

Simply place the chicken in a casserole dish and begine to prepare.

Drizzle some olive oil over the chicken and massage all over to thoroughly coat.

In a bowl, mix paprika, basil, thyme, garlic and a pinch of salt.

Take the mixture and rub it all over the chicken breast, making sure to place the mixture under the skin as well.

Slice up the onions and celery any way you like. (I julienned my onions)

Place around the prepared meat and season with salt and pepper.

Drizzle the oninons and celery with olive oil.

Place a few sprigs of thyme on the top of the chicken.

Cover with foil and cook at 350 in the oven for approximately 45 mins or until done and enjoy.

 

 

 

This is a before picture. 

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After. 

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For show, I put a few celery leaves as garnish. I really enjoyed the dish. The garlic saturated the meat quite well, the chicken was juicy, and the paprika gave it a very subtle flavour. The side of onions and celery really obsorbed the color of the paprika and had a great carmalization over all.  This is one dish I will be making again maybe next time I will finally have friends over for sampling. If anyone tries this dish or have suggestions to improve it, let me know!

 

 

Cold Moon: Reflection

When it comes to current events in my life, I've looked for solace in things that help me to either relate or at the very least see the full spectrum of life. While I was in Indiana getting ready to leave my sister's house and fly back to Washington, I made sure to grab a book I left there last time. I needed something to read and was ready to finally finish the story of Ada and Inman.  It was Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier.  Little did I know how much I needed to read and reflect from this insightful book.  I've tried to resist letting my mother's death be the end of me.  It' has been hard to find my existence past her departing to the afterlife.  I will even confess that I still can not grasp life without her and think of her and her death daily. 

Yet one passage towards the end of my Cold Mountain trek has helped me in my mourning,  I have thought about it several times since,

 "He talked to her of the great waste of years between then and now. A long time gone. And it was pointless, he said, to think how those years could have been put to better use, for he could hardly have put them to worse.  There was no recovering them now.  You could grieve endlessly for the loss of time and for the damage done therein. For the dead, and your own lost self. But what the wisdom of the ages says is that we do well not to grieve on and on. And those old ones knew a thing or two and had some truth to tell, Inman said, for you can grieve your heart out and in the end you are still where you were.  All your grief hasn't changed a thing. What you have lost will not be returned to you. It will always be lost.  You're left with only your scars to mark the void.  All you can choose to do is go on or not. But if you go on, it's knowing you carry the scars with you."

When I got down to that last line, I knew I personally had a choice to make.  To wither and die in the recent past that years from now I would still lay in, crippled and void, fruitless in any effort and unhappy, or go on and make my mom proud, live in her name, and flourish. As long as I and others of us that knew her live, she still lives at least in our hearts.  Personally, she has etched herself permanently there in my heart. There is no hiding it even if I tried.

Three are many days I've digressed. I've wished only to lay in bed and just lay in a limbo dream state where she still resides for me to interact with.  Reality still is a hard man I hate to face yet I find myself getting up and going about as normal as possible.  I remind myself of what Mom would want me to do, the same as the passage says, "Go on."  She would not want her passing to be the end of me.

The day I finished Cold Mountain, I decided I'd take a little christmas money and go by Goodwill.  Skimming the aisles of books, I saw a hardback one entitled, "13 Moons."  I took a glance at the author and to my utter suprise, it was the same author as Cold Mountain.  I quickly grabbed the book and headed for the check out knowing what I had in my hand was a book full of people in some way I could relate to all over.  This  morning I finished the book and it was better than I had thought it would be.  I found it stylistically different than Cold Mountain, but very much still in the realm of Frazier.  "13 Moons" has helped me look through the eyes of an old man ripe with stories and reflection.  I felt like I was talking to an elderly man who was telling all his past and how to help make your future a better one.

Looking back on these two books, both dealing with the grave realities of life in some ways, there is a sense of anchoring that has taken place.  Life can be a shear and utter torment at times, but there are many amazingly brillaint occurences as well.  One job we hold is to make a decision of how the unfolding events in life will affect us.  For the better or the worse?  Sometimes, the choice is a blur.  We only find after a space of time has fallen the clarity one needs to judge our previous actions.  As for the tragedy that has altered my life forever, I hope in some ways there is healing.  I can never forget, but one choice I do know.  I will choose to live and forever uphold my mother's legacy until my time on Earth ends.

My Winter Trip to the Beach

Yesterday, I took a trip to the coast with my friend Kyle. I had alot of fun during my first winter experience at the beach.  The forecast said it'd be rain, rain, rain.  I found it to be quite the opposite.  There were a few clouds in the morning, but it soon broke to a beautiful day. I love the coast. The following pictures were taken through out my trip to Long Beach, WA with the first photo taken at our first stop by the Julia Butcher Hansen Wildlife Refuge.

Looking out through an opening at the refuge.  We were looking for white tail deer but didn't see any.

An upclose pic of a log that makes up part of the viewing platform.

Along the way, we always pass this church.

I've taken pictures of this church several times before, but they were always while in the car. This time, we stopped.

Me on the stairs.

In Illwaco, WA, there is a little garden along with this area behind the Columbia Pacific Maritime Museum.

A sturgeon among smaller fish.

One huge stop, Cape Disappointment. This was up on the top looking out at the Cape Disappointment lighthouse.

This is actually the end of the Columbia River right before it begins to enter the Pacific.

The white oceanic waves to the right were converging with the mouth of the Columbia which was the mass of water in the foreground.

Looking down the cape. Am I really here?!  Beautiful.

Some other pictures along a trail on the cape.

Inside the Lewis and Clark Historical Museum (Located on top of the cape) was this old lighthouse lamp.  Awesome!

I love these glass fishing floats.  They come off of Japanese fishing nets and make their way across the ocean to land here on the beach during strong wind storms. People collect them like crazy.

A model of the area.  The Columbia River cuts straight through Washington and Oregon to empty into the Pacific.

Fort Canby is also located on the cape.  It was used until a little after WWII I hear.

This is a room here in the fort. 

In this same room was this painting.  I don't know much about it, but I found it quite interesting.

Finally moving along, this sculpture was in a small park in Long Beach.

Walking along the beach, several sea gulls decided to chill nearby.

Quickly, I ran as close as I could when the tide rolled back out to get these few pictures. I LOVE THE OCEAN! :)

I was down on one hand and almost a knee to get this close up picture of the incoming waves.

Beautiful.

I wonder what kind of fish this was.

This blob of substance is a dead jelly fish. 

This is the largest kite I've ever seen in my life!  It kept rotating in the breeze.  This guy was tending to it while we were walking up.

Did I say huge?!

Walking along the Discovery Trail in the dunes, I took this pic!

Another pic on the dunes.  You can see Cape Disappointment to the left and a littel bit of the ocean in the horizon.

This is a statue of a sturgeon (Yes, they're huge!) and Lewis or Clark (I don't remember) They found one beached when they came out this way.

YEEE HAW! lol

For non-coastal people, we may not know what in the world these things are for.  They are used to shield one from the sand on extreamly windy days.  They are needed, I've felt the wind's wrath at the beach before.

More info on the glass fishing floats

Info on Cape Disappointment

Chehalis Cache Machine

Yesterday I attended my very first Cache Machine ever.  I've never spent so much time at once caching in my life, but it was alot of fun.  The caches I liked the most were not really because of the cache container, but because of where it took me. It's funny how a container can be so ordinary yet possess something of value to it. There were a few that had historical value that I enjoyed like the Jackson House Estate (GC189W8) or the Cowlitz Mission (GCW2HH.) I was excited about the Clan MacLeod cache (GC21CKZ) because a "Kyle Cache" was on the list and also it has an awesome view during the none rainy/foggy season.  I've actually posted in one of my earlier blogs pictures from that same area.

There were several other ones I enjoyed as well around the Centralia and Chehalis area.  I'll definitly be going back to finish the list of caches I've not found yet on the list and also doing some more touring around. I think the most interesting tidbit I learned yesterday was that Winlock, Washington was the first established town in the state of Washington!  The town that possesess the world's largest egg has some actual interesting historical value. Who would have ever thought that?

On Writing and Mom.

Since I started school at LCC back in September, I've found myself not really having time to do much blogging. In one class, I've grown custom to writing constantly in a journal. I've been told to write about an essay I was assigned to read, reflect on a dream, or free write, among other topics. Sadly, writing on my blog was set aside to focus on these more pressing demands. So, my journal became my outlet.

In English 101, my writing began to transform. I began to learn how to express myself with more clarity and focus. What I wrote became more enjoyable, expressive, and personal than what I had ever written. There were times I stressed about a few of the essays I had to create, but the free writing and reflecting became very therapeutic. I wouldn't understand how therapeutic it could be until recent events in my life concerning my mother and her recent passing.

Writing about her has helped me to let out this overwhelming flood of emotions and all these shocking realizations that now fill my mind and heart. It is hard to process at one time this aweful event that has occured. My heart is overfilled with sadness, yet at the same time there is some joy. My memories of her conjure up laughter and happiness that overcomes the sorrow. They're full of all the great times that Mom had created. Some memories are from my childhood of watching her dance and sing to Aretha Franklin or Mo-town.  She'd even make me get up and dance and we'd start to laugh. We had alot of fun. I also remember when I would help her in the kitchen.  She'd be making fried green tomatoes or pork chops.  I'd help with making the mashed potatoes or stiring the gravy until it had thickened.  Sometimes my small fingers found their way to snatch a few fried tomatoes or a small piece of a pork chop.  Those times in the kitchen are why I know how to cook today.

It's been a long time since my last blog, I know. Some day soon I'll post more blogs of food, my trips, and the lighter things of life. I'll post of school updates (I will go back) and even blog about the books I read. I've realized recently this blog could not go on without at least lightly touching  the issue of my mother passing. Everyday it will effect my whole life in some way. Everyday I will think of her. I will always miss her. I will never forget her. A part of her will forever live within me, as I know I am forever with her.

My family: Jesse, Marcy, Mom, and myself at Steak 'n' Shake on 10-22-09.

Jesse was making a face right before the camera went off. lol

The Lotus Festival

Thinking about the Lotus Festival lately and thought about this song. Back in '07, I was coming out of The Vintage Pheonix (my fave comic store in B-town) and started strolling towards the library when this distinct reggae ryhthm stopped me in my tracks. It resounded down the whole block. Then I heard this soft spoken slightly raspy voice start singin' the song below. It's not a cheery song at all, but it's great hearing it live. Here's a few links too if your interested in the festival, Vintage Pheonix, or Taj.

http://www.tajandadowa.com/

http://www.lotusfest.org/LotusFestivalMain.html (Cara Dillon, The Horseflies, Huun Huur Tu & Carmen Rizzo -I would like to say WOW on what I heard from the site-, Kinobe & Soul Beat Africa, Los de Abajo, Parno Graszt (white horse in Romani, can we say awesome gypsy music?), Rupa and the April Fishes (best video from the list of artists), and tons more. The great thing about Lotus is that you learn about all these artists you would not normally ever hear about.

http://www.vintagephoenixcomics.com/ (their web site isn't as great as the actual store at all, but I listed it anyway.)

LIFE

Looked out of my window and into the street got no money in my pocket no food to eat cry out for a hand but no one will hear this be my burden lord then I shall bear

hurts me I hate it this is my life hurts me I hate it I’ll pay the price

pockets of hope a suitcase of dreamsmy only redemption from life it seems strumming so hard hope wears thin my dreams are worn by the cold night wind

bow abide in strength relieve me arches sorely grieve me bow abide in strength relieve me archers everywhere

two lights are gleaming in the cold Rasta hesitates which way to goone is a cottage lantern the other a ray my destiny seems a million miles away

bow abide in strength relieve me archers sorely grieve me bow abide in strength relieve me archers everywhere

by Taj Weeks and Adowa

Something Really Good. Yum!

I've been trying to not eat out as much to save money and maybe eat a little healthier. I've been stocking up on basic staples along with fresh veggies, fruit, and easy to put together ingredients to keep myself motivated to eat at home instead of eating out. Yesterday I made something that I couldn't believe I made. It was so good! I thought to share it because this was something I just made up that I'll be making more of in the futur with different tweeks to it just to see if I can make it even better.

This was the initial mixture that was going to be the stuffing. Cashews, bell pepper, herbs, a little feta, a little sour cream, olive oil, garlic, and some sun dried tomatoes.

I later decided to put a little lemon zest and grated a half of a small potato to the mixture.

This is what the chicken looked like before I baked it. I drizzled a little olive oil and lemon juice on it and sprinkled some Italian herbs on the top.

Ths is what it looked like when it was done. Yum!

I wasn't sure which picture I liked better so here's another one.

I decided to throw this one in just to show you something else I made a few days ago. Fried green tomatoes with spaghetti pesto and feta. The fried green tomatoes may not have been too healthy, but over all I think it was ok. lol