A Yoga Retreat and Fun with Chives!

Enlightened figs basking in the glory of their existence

Reincarnated fire finding inner peace in the form of these magnificent leaves
with outstretched fingers embracing the light 

For Mother's Day weekend I got to go on a yoga retreat. (Retreat: a quiet or secluded place in which one can rest and relax.) Well, the wake up gong sounded at 6AM so.......  But no, all the many activities available to you from 6:30AM till 9PM were optional, so it was as intensive or relaxing as you chose.

For example, at one point the friend that I went on the retreat with decided to participate in a two hour meditation class (she didn't know it was going to last 2 hours) while I decided to do a 5 mile exploratory walk on my own. It was on this walk that I took the two photos above along with many others. I returned sweaty but relaxed and rejuvenated just in time to see her staggering out of one of the buildings. "Where are you headed? What are you doing?" I asked. "The class just finished! I am exhausted. I need to lie down," she moaned. I knew then that I had taken the easier path even if it was 5 miles longer.

But if you are serious about connecting with God or the cosmic vibrations of the universe sometimes you need to work for it. One of the residents of the spiritual village who we ate a couple of our meals with, had made a vow of Total Renunciation! "Wow, what is total renunciation?" I wanted to know. There were different levels of renunciation with "total", of course, being the most extreme. It was, she explained, renunciation of the ego itself. (That is in addition to no sex, no marriage, no alcohol, and Shiva knows what else.) She told us that she spends 24 hours each week sitting in silent meditation.

We did yoga postures, we chanted, we meditated. We picked and chose the nuggets of spirituality that resonated with us and left the rest to the more devout.

The food they offered was vegetarian and delicious. When I told the staff upon arrival that I ate a gluten-free diet they didn't bat an eye. They cook almost completely gluten-free and always present gluten-free options. It is their standard operating procedure. So that was easy.

The grounds were bursting with flowers and buzzing with bees and song birds. I do believe I left with a more energized spine and an open heart.

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Back at home the chives are doing their mad-chive thing. I had just been saying how you can only use so many chives...... But then, yesterday I made chive pesto and now I am not sure if I have enough chives! Why didn't I think of doing that sooner? All these years I've been under utilizing them although I sure do enjoy their blossoms in the garden.

Last summer I posted a recipe for arugula pesto which we enjoyed all through the winter as I froze quite a bit. The following chive pesto recipe follows a similar formula. Herb, nut, cheese, oil, basically. Once you know how to make pesto, you can make it with many things in many variations.

Chive Pesto

4 cups of roughly chopped chive greens

1/2 cup raw cashew nuts

1 clove of garlic

1 to 2 oz. of dry cheese cut in chunks (I used an aged manchego)

1/4 to 1/2 cup of olive oil (depending on the consistency you like)

salt to taste

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Place garlic, cashews, and cheese in a food processor and process until crumbly. Add the chives and the oil and process again until it looks like pesto. Open the lid and scrape down the sides with a flexible spatula and sprinkle in some salt. Blend again. Adjust salt and oil to your preference. Done! Try it on fish. We had it on oysters last night. So good.

I also filled a jar with chive blossoms and covered them with white wine vinegar to infuse in the sun. Oh what fun!

Enjoy!!! Namaste.

Images of Seattle

Okay, so listen. We were invited to a wedding in Seattle set for March 23, 2013. My husband's cousin's wedding. At first I was excited because the default mode of my life is to be super-zealous about travel. But as the date grew nearer I began to have doubts about the trip. Really? This seems like a lot of planning and logistics and expense just to attend a wedding for a few hours......  I was also cursed with that feeling of "NAMELESS DREAD" (anxiety disorder that affects many [especially those with small children] but usually not me). I was sure that if we went either: a) the plane would crash b) our precious son would be run over by a bus in the city c) our precious son would be recalcitrant (OMG, I love that word. So glad I have the opportunity to use it.) and it would be pouring rain constantly.

Well, guess what? We went, we are back, we are well. The plane didn't crash. The public transportation system ran like clockwork. The wedding was lovely. Our son was my hero once again. The city was dynamic, pulsing with energy and creativity. And the sun made an appearance every single day of the five days we spent there. I also might add that the whole trip was energizing at the same time that it took a lot of energy.

One of my dearest friends here in Quincy asked me, upon my return, what I liked best about Seattle. Caught off-guard by the question, (LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that type of question by the way), I blurted out: "the sky". The weather and the sky were so dynamic, I explained. It was constantly changing, in constant motion. And the Seattlites are out in it. And so were we. Our hotel, north of the downtown, was a block away from a walking bridge that led to the waterfront. There were two paved paths running for miles in either direction; one for walkers and joggers and one for cyclists. Oh, the infastructure! The socialism of it all!

Upon further reflection, I realized that another of my favorite things about Seattle was that art and creativity abounded. I am including just 12 of the 190 photos I took on our trip. I hope that it is not too many. I know how too many images, too much clutter, can obscure the sublime beauty that can be found in a single perfect moment or object or image. 

Yeah, like I said, "the sky"

Are you guys familiar with Frank Gehry, the architect? If not, you should be. Read about him and see some of his work here. We have visited only two of his many architectural wonders. The EMP (Experience Music Project) museum is in Seattle near the famous Space Needle. I couldn't stop taking pictures of it.

  Industry, Art, Motion. These are the things I loved. There were ships and tugboats so busy....

Shapes, images, art, new and old....

This is my favorite photo of the whole trip. I will enter it
in our county fair art show this summer.

With love and a renewed enthusiasm for travel........
Enjoy!

Purple Sun Carrots and the Exquisite Ice Crystals

 

One of the local growers for our food cooperative produced these gorgeous carrots. I meant to call and ask them what variety they were but now the smart growers have fled to their winter getaway in Carmel on the California coast. A Google search led me to this site: Purple Sun carrot seeds from Territorial Seed Company. My guess is that they were Purple Suns. Their inky color was beet-like with tie-dye and sun-like patterns when sliced. They were so juicy and saturated with color that they stained my hands as I worked with them.

I am a big advocate for eating your colors and these sweeties were super-charged with color. I kept buying them until they were gone. I roasted them in the oven with other root vegetables. I grated them raw on salads. I fried slices in hot peanut oil and then salted them to make crisp on the outside, tender on the inside, treats.

Roasted Purple Sun, red cabbage, avocado salad

Perhaps I will order some seeds and try growing them this year. It will be awhile though. Our house and yard have been encased in an icy snow since Christmas. It was a very cold January and the dry conditions were such that the Christmas snow began to grow! Each day the ice crystals that formed on the snow grew taller and more intricately beautiful. It is really quite amazing to see.

The crystal forest beside our driveway

Remember the stock tank full of potato plants last year? Well, here it is now:

Ice blossoms!

As you can see, I have reverted back to a variation on my original blog format. I was approached by a woman at an art opening here in town recently. "Are you, by any chance, the 'hungry farm girl'?" she asked. Why yes, I said. I didn't know you were a follower. She explained that, while she doesn't cook (not sure how she obtains nourishment?;-) she loves to read my posts and look at the pictures. At the end of our conversation she gently added that she missed the old format. "It was so beautiful!" I also received a comment from an old friend who follows my blog from Colorado. He too preferred the old format. My uncle liked the white background of the new format I tried, so I've incorporated that into this new version. Hope y'all like it!

Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow. If you are looking for a decadent chocolate cake that happens to be gluten-free, this one rocks: flourless chocolate cake

Enjoy!

Creative Wood Stacking, a Video, and a $500 Recipe

Happy 12-12-12. A thousand years till that happens again!  Lots of random things to share.........

 

A friend who is aware of what a big role firewood plays in our lives here in the mountains sent these along today and I couldn't help but lead with them. We burn it up so fast this time of year that there isn't much use in getting artistic with the stacking but I love the inset crate idea so I'll be brainstorming a way to incorporate that!

More photos to share...... I already did a post on our local apple press event but I had forgotten that there are actually two community apple squeeze events in Quincy now.  At this first one, our 6 year old was in charge of the camera and I love the slightly different perspective his photographs provide.

All photos by L.G. Kusener

The next thing I'd like to share is a simple recipe I created for a recipe contest I entered. I learned about the contest in a magazine I subscribe to. The contest required that the recipe have only 5 ingredients, one of which is chicken. Salt and pepper and fat for cooking were bonus ingredients. I had to make dinner that night anyway so I submitted the following recipe and won $500. I was delighted!

Chicken and Green Olives with Apricot Shallot White Wine Sauce
Serves 4

An easy weeknight preparation that utilizes the much loved fruit/meat flavor combination.

Ingredients:
About 1 pound (6-8) chicken breast tenders
salt
freshly ground pepper
1 T. olive oil
1 t. butter
¾  cup thinly sliced shallots
¾  cup white wine such as chardonnay
½  cup apricot jam (note that cherry, peach, or plum jam, or even orange marmalade work equally well here)
¾ cup of pitted ripe green olives                                                                              


Directions:
1.  Season chicken breast tenders or thighs with salt and freshly ground pepper. Heat olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Sauté chicken until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side. Set aside on a plate. When cool enough to handle, cut into bite-sized pieces.
2.  Add shallots to the hot skillet and sauté 4 minutes until soft and browned. Add wine and stir to deglaze skillet. Add jam and stir mixture until it smoothes out and begins to bubble. Add chicken pieces and olives, stir to coat and turn off heat. Serve with pan sauce.

I like to serve it over basmati rice. The last time I made it I used some homemade peach jam from last summer and vegetable broth in place of the wine and it was even better than the original. The recipe will be part of an on-line cookbook available soon and I will post the link to it here on the blog.

If you have a spare 4 minutes, this video that pokes fun at foodies and the high-end grocery store, Whole Foods, is highly entertaining:

It's gettin' real in the Whole Foods parking lot!
That is all for now.
Enjoy!!

Solar Cherry Crisp....Bear-ly

Ahhh...July is upon us. Did I already mention that summer is my favorite season here at the 40th parallel north? Well, it so is. Fifteen hours of light a day, warm temps, and the fruits of summer all contribute to my exuberance this time of year. I've been busy, busy but in an indulgent, uni-tasking kind of a way. 

I've been creating a lot of stuff in the kitchen but not writing anything down. I've realized that I'm not the best food blogger. I occasionally use a recipe but far more often I am adding a little of this and a little of that and in the end I am hard-pressed to come up with a complete ingredient list, much less accurate quantities. Most things simply come out a little differently every time I make them which keeps things interesting. I expect that is the way most cooks cook but it can make it difficult to share an actual recipe here on the blog. 

I mentioned our neighbor's amazing Bing cherry tree in one of my earlier posts over the winter. This is because I was still surfing the wave of utter summer bliss that the tree (and our neighbors) bestowed upon us. In the past there has been competition for the cherries between birds, and bears, and people. Last year the tree was laden with cherries but for some reason the bear did not come to the tree and the birds left it almost alone. So last year the lucky people were swimming in cherries. Each one was like a jewel and cherished as such. The photos below will give you an idea of what the tree looked like last summer:

Me on ladder with grin

This year was a different story. The tree was again laden with cherries but before they could fully ripen a bear began to visit the tree. She or he would come at night, climb up into the tree, and gorge on the cherries. Then I imagine her back up in the woods during the day sleeping and dreaming about the juicy sweetness of her nighttime exploits. She returned night after night until every last cherry was gone and the tree stood pathetically mangled and broken. I was too sad when I saw it to think of photographing it. Rude bear. No manners whatsoever. The neighbors tried banging pots and pans and telling it in no uncertain terms to skedaddle but the cherries proved too big of an allure. One day my neighbor called to say if I wanted any cherries I better come and get some, so I did. At that point there were still thousands of cherries. I filled a large colander with almost ripe cherries. A few days later the tree was devastated. 

I made a gluten-free nectarine cherry solar crisp with a cardamom cashew custard. Mostly though, we just eat one each time we walk by them. We have a little bit more restraint than the ill-mannered bear. 

I love my Sun Oven! More about it later.

Cherry/Nectarine Almond Crisp
A gross approximation of a recipe:
Cut up about 4 cups of white nectarines and cherries and place them in a baking pan or dish. Melt about a quarter cup of butter or butter alternative (I've been using Earth Balance) in a bowl. Add 3/4 cup of almond flour and 2 T. each of white rice and tapioca flour. Add 1/4 cup of muscavado or other brown sugar. Stir well to combine. Lastly add 1 t. vanilla, 1/4 t. almond extract, and a pinch of salt. Sprinkle over fruit and bake at 350° for 30 minutes. The topping crisps up nicely and tastes like marzipan. Great on its own or topped with vanilla ice cream or you can try the dairy-free custard below.
Cashew Cardamom Custard
From Whole Living Magazine, July 2012 issue
Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw cashews
2 cups, plus 1 Tbsp plain rice milk
Pinch coarse salt
1 Tbsp maple syrup
5 cardamom pods, crushed
1 1/2 tsp arrowroot or cornstarch
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions:
In a blender, process cashews, 2 cups milk, salt, and syrup for 1 minute. Transfer mixture to a saucepan, add cardamom, and bring to a boil, whisking. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 15 minutes.

In a bowl, whisk remaining Tbsp milk and the arrowroot until smooth. Add to saucepan and thicken mixture over medium heat, whisking, 30 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Strain custard into a bowl and let cool slightly, then transfer to refrigerator. Serve chilled.

Enjoy the summer!

Arugula Pesto (and 41 hrs of non-parental bliss)

Where the Russian River meets the sea

My husband and I spent the weekend at the coast. We had two kid-free nights in a row. This is the longest we have been alone together since our son was born over 6 years ago! Pretty amazing when you think about it. If you would have told us back in early 2006 that it would be 2012 when we would next have 48 hours (41 actually, but whose counting?) to ourselves, I doubt we would have believed it or been able to comprehend it. We took advantage of our time together by dining at a nice Thai restaurant in Santa Rosa called Sea Thai Bistro. My favorite dish was the coconut chicken soup in which lemongrass was a powerful component. I love the flavor of lemongrass. The menu reads: Chicken Galangal Soup in coconut milk broth, crimini mushroom, cherry tomato, shallot. No mention of the lemongrass but that is what made the soup amazing. Yum!

The next day we did a leisurely 6 or 7 mile hike from the edge of the Pacific over the bluffs to a lush redwood grove and back. There were views of the Russian River flowing into the sea as seen in the photo above. There were ferns as tall as us and interesting plants like this lily: 

I consulted my fellow Quincy blogger, naturalist Joe Willis, who posts prolifically here: black oak naturalist, to find out what it might be. Here is his response: It's definitely a lily. Probably a species of Clintonia. Probably Clintonia andrewsiana which has red flowers and blue fruit. So there you have it. Anyway, it was a lovely day full of uninterrupted conversation, synchronized hiking, and quiet moments.....


Back at home, I've been making arugula pesto like mad and freezing it for next winter. I've made it 3 ways so far and will share my favorite. Pesto (from the Italian pestare: to crush, grind, or pound) consists usually of nuts, oil, garlic, salt, cheese, and leaves of an herb. The most typical combo is basil, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, salt, and parmesan cheese. But let your imagination be your guide. You can use sundried tomatoes, parsley, cilantro, or arugula in the place of basil. You can use any kind of nut. You can use any kind of hard cheese. You can play around with different oils and salts. The possibilities are endless. I experimented with walnuts, pistachios, and cashews in my 3 different versions of arugula pesto and the cashew version was, hands down, my favorite.

Cashew Arugula Pesto
3/4 cup raw cashew nuts
1 clove of garlic
1 to 2 oz. of dry cheese cut in chunks (I used an aged dry Monterey jack)
a large bunch of arugula
1/4 cup of olive oil (or more depending on the consistency you like)
salt to taste
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Place garlic, cashews, and cheese in a food processor and process until crumbly. Add the arugula leaves and the oil and process again until it looks like pesto. Open the lid and scrape down the sides with a flexible spatula and sprinkle in some salt. Blend again. Adjust salt and oil to your preference. Done! *********** I've been eating it with rice crackers and on spiral rice pasta; husband has been slathering on sandwiches. The little bit of hard cheese doesn't seem to upset my tum-tum :-) And again, it freezes well.


Enjoy!!