Aprovechar

In a move that could give you what I have termed ‘life whiplash,’ my husband’s company decided to shut down his lab. The employees got a week’s notice.

(The company, did, however, provide nice severance to those who didn’t transfer.)

My husband told me over text as he got the news during the surprise meeting.

I cried . . . a lot.  For about three days, I cried a lot, filling up the bedroom wastebasket with tissues. A couple of months after I had finally felt at home, we needed to uproot again, and that was really painful.

My husband is really well-respected in his field, and he’s in the tech world, so there are lots of jobs open right now (at least in certain cities).  In fact, within days, he had recruiters contacting him about jobs other places.  But he love-love-loved his job, and he wanted to stay with the company in a new office doing what he loved (with a boss he also loves).

So I said yes to the move.  That’s actually the easy part, saying yes. It may not feel easy, but it’s much easier than making all the minute, middling, and large adjustments that living in a new city means. (Those are the actual hard part.)  I got to work figuring out cost of living differences so that my husband would know what to ask for in a raise.  I researched housing options.  I canceled the classes I was supposed to teach and the classes I was supposed to take.  I registered for new classes to take . . . and held off on scheduling new classes to teach.  Rebuilding my business in another new city was more than I wanted to take on in the midst of our crazy move.

It was 28 days between the day we learned the lab was closing and the day we moved to our new city.  Life whiplash, see?

But it’s not all bad.  Actually, I don’t know if it’s even half-bad. It’s not easy, but it’s really not bad.

We’re still in California . . . just in the Bay Area now, in the boom towns of Silicon Valley.  This is the easiest place for my husband to work, because he will likely always have offers open to him here.  We can have stability here we never had in LA, where the company he worked was the one place in town he could do what he loves to do.  We have a little house, now, with hardwood floors and a guest room–a rental house, I keep having to tell people; you could not convince me to buy a house right now, especially in an area where the mortgages are this high. We have a back yard with a big deck and lots of fruit trees.  I’m in school, which at least has given me an immediate purpose to my days and a way to be around other people.  I’ve looked for a part-time job, but I’m picky about what I want to do, and I have the option to be picky, which is fortunate.  I could talk about the negatives, because of course they exist, but I don’t feel the need to right now.

A new location . . . whether it’s a vacation or a move, it always makes me think, What do I really want for my life to look like? What do I want to take from where I am right now? What do I want to offer? With whom do I want to connect? And what I do want to let go?

When I worked for Habitat, this blog was hugely important to me.  It was a creative outlet when I really didn’t have many, besides the cooking that I was doing that I started sharing here.  That need for an outlet changed, and how I used my time changed, when I quit that job to become self-employed. This blog’s been limping along ever since then, and though I tell other people not to feel guilty when they don’t blog, I do feel guilty about not blogging here.  I had pretty good readership at one point, and I really killed it.  That makes me sad.

But I’m tired of thinking about it at this point, and I’m also tired of trying to figure out how to fit my shifting life and lifestyle into this template that I set up so many years ago. Though I still absolutely believe in the core of the word ‘aprovechar’ and the concept of self-care, I have quite different methodology for a lot of what I do now. I don’t eat the way I used to (these days, mostly grain-free–way beyond gluten-free–with only moderate carbs and good doses of pastured meats).  I have things on here that I wish I hadn’t shared or had done a better job of sharing.  I have things I wish I had shared that are missing.  I don’t like the mental space it takes up thinking about this blog and what I’ve written or haven’t.

I do want to blog, is the funny thing. At least, I think I do.  I keep thinking of posts to write lately.  This move has brought that out for me again.  I just don’t want to blog here anymore.  And with the exception of certain posts (like the sandwich bread recipe that now has ~200 comments), I don’t necessarily want everything I’ve written to remain here anymore, either.  I haven’t decided how to handle leaving up resources that people really want while removing other stuff, but there will be big changes here soon.

Before then, I’ll probably share my new blog URL. I’ve bought the domain but haven’t finished setting up the page, so I don’t want to say what it is yet.  I guess I just wanted to give a heads-up to the few remaining souls who read here that, if there are certain recipes or posts you want to keep, now’s the time for printing.  The changes, they are a-coming.

Have you heard of the Bacon Explosion? It’s cooked bacon and barbecue sauce, wrapped in a thick roll of sausage, then wrapped in another layer of (woven) bacon, and smoked until cooked. When the Burnt Fingers bbq sauce guys first wrote about it, it definitely captured people’s attention.  Folks tended to either love the idea of it or think it was a disgusting example of excessive meat consumption.  The guys who created it have had enough success that they’ve trademarked it.

When I came upon the Bacon Explosion, I instantly loved the look of it:  the woven bacon, the swirl of interior ingredients. But the idea of eating pure sausage and bacon wrapped in bacon was a little off-putting to me simply because it sounds like a complete salt bomb.  The original recipe calls for sweet barbecue sauce to offset the salty meat, but it still sounds like no more than an appetizer: something I might serve at a wine party and eat a half-inch serving of. (And the amount of sugar in barbecue sauce definitely takes it out of the realm of good Paleo eating.)

But when I came across a Primal version of the Bacon Explosion that incorporates a pork loin, that caught my interest for a possible dinner recipe.  The catch is, I don’t usually find pastured pork loin.  Pork loin is all over the place if you want to buy the crappy meat of mistreated, confined pigs, but pork loins of pigs that are raised as they were intended are more rare.  However, I came across Niman Ranch pork loin in the co-op a few days ago, and while post-corporate-takeover Niman meat isn’t as ideal as buying from a family farm, it has decent standards. I bought the loin.

I began daydreaming about my own dinner version of a Primal Pork Explosion. This one would retain sausage in the interior, but it would be blended into a sausage stuffing with naturally sweet ingredients so that sugar was unnecessary. I looked at Jamie Oliver’s and Mark Bittman’s recipes for pork stuffing, and then I created a primal version of my own.

Voila: a beautiful roll of bacon and pork loin swirled with a sausage, fruit, and nut stuffing.  Very savory and satisfying with hints of sweetness and some variation in texture.  A lovely meal.

Primal Pork Explosion (With Sausage & Fruit Stuffing)

My favorite method for roasting potatoes and sweet potatoes came about because a South African friend told me how his mom made the best roasted potatoes around and under a chicken when she roasts a chicken.  He said the potatoes get very crispy on the outside but very fluffy inside.  I’ve roasted vegetables under a chicken . . . without getting the effect he talked about. But researching what might be his mom’s method, I realized that, with the chicken poised above the vegetables on a rack, the potatoes probably steam from falling juices and then, as the moisture evaporates from the cooking chicken and potatoes, fry in the chicken fat that remains.

I was making dinner for my friend and his wife the afternoon he told me about his mom’s potatoes.  I already had lamb planned, so I decided to try a different method for the potatoes.  To mimic the steaming, I parboiled cubed potatoes; then I roasted them in duck fat until they were crispy on the outside. Voila!

Using this method, sweet potatoes never get as crispy on the outside as the potatoes do (a matter of starch, I imagine), but I think they are even better than the fabulous potatoes.  Something about the sweetness, crisp outside/soft inside, and coating of fat makes the sweet potatoes taste a bit like French toast . . . no sugar necessary. They’re a true Paleo treat, and I try to incorporate them in our post-CrossFit recovery meals when we are restoring our glycogen levels.

Best Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Serves 2.

water for parboiling
1 tablespoon salt
1 large organic sweet potato or 2 small ones (about 3/4 lb.), cut into 1 1/2″ cubes
3 tablespoons duck fat (in the refrigerator or freezer at better grocery stores & butcher shops)
seasonings: either go savory (chives, paprika, garlic powder) to contrast from the sweetness or go sweet (cinnamon, ginger) to play it up

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water with 1 tablespoon of salt added to a boil.  Add the sweet potatoes to the water, and boil them for five minutes.  When the sweet potatoes are parboiled, drain them well, shaking them to dry them (it’s good if they mash up slightly). Then sprinkle seasonings on them.

Meanwhile, put the duck fat in the bottom of a cast iron skillet or stoneware pan.  Put the skillet in the oven, and let the fat melt and heat up for three to five minutes.

Remove the skillet from the oven, and carefully add the sweet potatoes to the pan in a single layer. (They should sizzle.) Flip the sweet potatoes over to coat them in oil.  Put the skillet back in the oven.  Roast for 20 minutes.  Remove pan and flip the sweet potatoes, and then roast for 20 more minutes, or until sweet potatoes reach desired doneness.

A few years ago, six months after we got married, my husband was hit by a speeding car when he was walking in a crosswalk.  It was surprising he lived, but he did, and over time, he has recovered about 90% from the accident.  In the days and weeks and years after the accident, people have often said to him, “Boy, that must have changed your viewpoint on life.” His answer is a cheerful, “Not really.” Dan is someone who nearly always has a pretty positive outlook on life.  He mostly knows what he values, and he mostly does what he should to focus on what he values.

Me? Not always as much.

I’ve only ever told a few people about this—I don’t think I’ve ever written about it publicly—but I’ve been thinking about it lately.

[Read more →]

We–my husband and I–are at the end of Day Six of a 60-day trial of being sugar-free.  For the past six days, we haven’t had any cane sugar (table or unprocessed), honey, brown rice syrup, maple syrup, or artificial sweeteners.  When we set up the rules, we allowed ourselves one agave-sweetened treat per week, and I decided I could use blackstrap molasses in small doses in items that need a touch of sweetening. (You really can’t overdo blackstrap molasses without ruining your dish. It has quite a strong flavor. So far, I haven’t used it in anything.) Our sweet flavors are coming from fruits and vegetables—and the subtle sweet taste of whole grains, as well.

Have you noticed sugar is like crack? I mean, really.  Crackity-crack-crack.  Last February we did a trial month without cane sugar–still allowing ourselves to use honey, agave, and maple syrup during that month.  We realized we felt better emotionally and physically that month.  When the month ended, what did I do? I made a dessert that used sugar.  And we were back on the crack wagon.  Ever since then, we’ve been saying, “You know, we really felt better when we didn’t eat sugar. We should do that again.” For a YEAR we have been saying that.  Then we bake cookies or make waffles and push our resolve away.

When I posted about this on Facebook, several people asked me why we were giving up sugar.  I am not usually someone who is drawn to extremes.  Actually, that’s crap.  Naturally, I’m very drawn to extremes, but when I’m trying to live a life of balance, I always try to keep in mind that the healthy spot is usually somewhere closer to the middle.  I realized several years ago, the year I started this blog, that my extreme attempts at dieting (no carbs or no fat or whatever) didn’t work.  So why give up tasty, crunchy, baked-goods-enhancing sugar entirely? [Read more →]

May I introduce to you Lily Louise Lilliputian Parrott Ashbrook?

Lily is because that’s the name that stuck when we tried it out.  It was the name confirmed by everyone in PetCo. when we were picking up her basic supplies.

Louise is for my recently deceased grandmother, whom I miss heartily, and who dearly loved dogs.

Lilliputian is because at 14 pounds, she’s a far smaller dog than I ever imagined getting.  Yet when we met her, I simply melted, and then my husband did, too.  She’s a rescue pup two days out of one of LA’s highest-kill-rate shelters–a stray whose long Cavalier King Charles fur was so dreadlocked that the rescue group had to cut her down to not much fur at all.  But it’ll grow, and with a good diet, her fur should be healthy and shiny, too.

She’s hard to photograph by herself because if you’re looking at her with the camera, she wants to be closer to you.  So she’s in motion, or she’s too close to photograph well. But that’s okay. I’d rather have her curled up with me than anywhere else.

Well, and wandering with me–we walked about four miles together today.  We’ll try out running when she’s fully healed from her recent spaying.

Do any of you make your own pet food? I’m thinking about doing it for Lily and our cats since Cavs tend to have medical issues that I think could be mitigated by the best food.

Hello there.

Um, Happy Thanksgiving.
Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukah. Festive Eid. Etc.
Happy New Year.

This afternoon, I was sitting at the farmer’s market relishing a chicken and poblano tamale from a nearby stand when I overheard the two girls at the table beside me talk about how “definitely, yes, tomorrow” they were starting on new, extreme dietary regimens. They debated the reward versus difficulty of the Beyonce lemon-and-cayenne plan. One of the girls was determined, it sounded like, to start a new eating plan tomorrow that involved only greens, fruit juice, chicken, and beef. All organic, which was the only part of the diet that sounded reasonable. I mean, really? Can you maintain that diet the rest of your life? Would you want to? No? Then I suggest that you not take that route for weight loss, either.

What I want for myself this year, what I suggest for you as well, is more. Yes, more. How do you and I figure out how to maximize health and pleasure? How do we figure out how to include accomplishment and rest? How do we throw ourselves out there and also replenish ourselves?

I want more:

more exercise that I love, afterward if not while I’m doing it
more vegetables in each meal
more adventures in hiking, travel, cuisine
more cuddling with my husband
more heartfelt moments with friends

We can whittle life down to its meanest components. We can survive, for a time, on orange juice, kale, and broiled chicken. But there’s so much more to be had: nourishment, fulfillment, exploration. Let’s set goals and take paths that offer us more. Not a life of hedonism, but an attempt at balance with only occasional overkill. Aprovechando.

Going gluten-free, casein-free, egg-free, and soy-free this Thanksgiving? Here are some suggestions of dishes you can create to make your celebration fabulous:

Hors d’oeuvres/Soups/Starters
Carrot Soup
Pumpkin-Sweet Potato Soup
Ginger Sweet Potato Soup
Guacamole With Pomegranate Seeds (with gluten-free, soy-free tortilla chips—soy lecithin okay)
Roasted Red Pepper Hummus (with cut veggies)
Fried Chickpeas & Spiced Nuts With Olives & Radishes (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Pumpkin Soup with Red Pepper Mousse (using MimicCreme in lieu of heavy cream)
Roasted Chestnuts
Carrot Soup With Toasted Almonds (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Cashews With Crispy Sage & Garlic

Starchy Sides
Wild Rice With Butternut Squash, Leeks, and Corn
Jeweled Rice With Dried Fruit (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Moscatel-Glazed Parsnips (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Potato-Parsnip Puree (using MimicCreme in lieu of cream and ghee or olive oil in lieu of butter)
Potato, Chestnut, & Celery Root Puree (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Autumn Millet Bake
Cornmeal Crunch (using nutritional yeast with a bit of salt instead of Parmesan)

Veggies
Creamed Leeks (using safe bread and MimicCreme plus 1 tablespoon of tahini in lieu of cream)
Brussels Sprouts Hash With Caramelized Shallots (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Crisp Haricot Verts With Pine Nuts (using olive oil instead of butter)
Brussels Sprouts With Buttered Pecans (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Baby Peas With Bacon & Crispy Leeks (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter and MimicCreme + 1 tablespoon tahini instead of cream)
Kale With Garlic & Cranberries (this dish is super-easy and amazingly good)
Sauteed Broccolini With Garlic
Shredded Brussels Sprouts With Maple Hickory Nuts (or Pecans) (using ghee or olive oil in lieu of butter)
Green Beans With Ginger Butter (using ghee or olive oil in lieu of butter)
Brussels Sprouts With Shallots & Wild Mushrooms (using ghee or olive oil in lieu of butter)
Braised Kale
Caramelized Broccoli With Garlic
Kale With Currants, Lemons, & Almonds
Roasted Broccoli With Ancho Butter (using ghee or olive oil instead of butter)
Sweet & Sour Catalan Spinach

Bread
Skillet Cornbread With Green Chiles & Cinnamon

Desserts
Dark Chocolate Bark W/ Walnuts & Dried Cherries (use dairy-free chocolate, soy lecithin okay)
Chocolate Sorbet (made with dairy-free chocolate, perhaps with OJ instead of water?)
Plum Crumble (made with an egg replacer and ghee instead of butter)
Pumpkin-Pecan Cookies
Apple Cake With Cranberries
Chocolate Cupcakes with Coffee Icing
Mexican Chocolate Cake
Flourless Chocolate Cake
Cranberry & Vanilla Bean Sorbet
Warm Pumpkin Cake (using Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour + 1 teaspoon xanthan gum, flax egg replacer, and ghee or coconut oil instead of butter)
Baked Figs in Lemon Syrup (using ghee or coconut oil in lieu of butter)

Here’s the email I just sent out to my Sally-created-Atlanta-events mailing list:

The holidays are often hard for people with food restrictions, but we can take away the anxiety and sadness and bring back the joy! I have a variety of upcoming private parties, and I would love for you to be my guest.   These parties will all be in a hands-on, small-group format (min. of three, max. of six participants) in my house in Kirkwood (a neigborhood on the eastern side of Atlanta).  Sometimes the scariest thing about going gluten-free or allergen-free is getting in the kitchen and just doing it. Getting you over that hump and into some delicious eating will be what we’ll do at these parties.  Of course, we’ll also have lots of time to talk through any issues you’re having with your cooking techniques and food restrictions—and we’ll be able to simply enjoy each other’s company.

The suggested donation is included with each description.  To reserve your spot at the parties, either Paypal me at this email address (sally.parrott@gmail.com), including the party/parties you want to attend, or send me an email to say you want to sign up but would prefer to mail me a check.  We’ll figure it out from there.  Once I hit the maximum number of attendees for a given party, I will send out an email and decline any future Paypal money that comes in for that party.

If you have other food restrictions than gluten, soy, dairy, and eggs, and you are planning to attend a party, please don’t hesitate to let me know what they are so I can make sure the recipe choices will be geared toward including you.  That said, I can’t promise my kitchen is completely free of any traces of ingredients other than gluten, soy, and eggs.

SOLD OUT Sunday, 11/22, 4-7 p.m.: Holiday Sides SOLD OUT

Figuring out how to make the best parts of Thanksgiving—the amazing side dishes—can make you feel panicky when you’re eating free of gluten, soy, dairy, and eggs.  We’ll prepare and eat a variety of fabulous, mostly vegetarian side dishes that are allergen/gluten-free but will make your mouth and stomach happy. Featuring locally grown, usually organic produce.  $45

Sign-up deadline: midnight on Thursday, November 19th, or when max (6) is reached (SOLD OUT)

Saturday, 12/12, 3-7 p.m.: Turkey & Trimmings

A whole holiday meal plan—soup to dessert—that we’ll cook, mix, and bake together! Then we’ll sit down to enjoy it, and you’ll go home ready to prepare wonderful dishes for your family and friends. Free of gluten, soy, dairy, and eggs, and featuring locally grown, usually organic produce. $60

Sign-up deadline: midnight on Wednesday, December 9th, or when max (6) is reached

Saturday, 12/19—two sessions at 12-3 p.m. and 4-7 p.m.: Holiday CookieFest 2009

Going without gluten, soy, dairy, and eggs at the holidays doesn’t have to mean going without delicious cookies.  We’ll make, bake, and even decorate a variety of cookies that are allergen- and gluten-free. After our tasting of the finished products, you’ll have a variety of recipes, great holiday memories, and a half-dozen cookies to take home with you.   $40

Sign-up deadline: midnight on Wednesday, December 16th, or when max (6) is reached

Sunday, 12/20, 4-7 p.m.: Leftover Heaven

How are you going to make good use of the money and effort you put into that leftover turkey, ham, or other holiday food? We’ll explore delicious gluten-free, soy-free, dairy-free, and egg-free ways of using holiday leftovers.  Come and find out how to make satisfying, stomach- and heart-warming dishes from soup to tetrazzini. (Buying turkey on sale after the holidays can also be a bargain!) Featuring locally grown, usually organic produce.  $45

Sign-up deadline: midnight on Thursday, December 17th, or when max (6) is reached

~~~~~~

During the week before Christmas, I’m also available during the day to hold a private party with your friends and/or kids (at your house or mine) for cookie baking and/or decorating.  The cost will vary depending on your desires, so just get in touch if you’re interested.

If you want to give attendance at one of these parties as a gift for someone, I’m happy to make up a gift certificate for you, as well.  Just let me know.

And if you would like assistance in other ways, get in touch, and we’ll discuss it.

Let’s take back our enjoyment of the holiday season!

Together with Laurie Moore of Moore Farms & Friends (a local CSA),  on August 22nd, I’ll be teaching a local-foods-based cooking class that’s free of gluten, soy, dairy, eggs, peanuts, fish and shellfish. The recipes will not be free of corn or tree nuts.  The class will be held at Cooks Warehouse in Midtown Atlanta.* The class is being partially sponsored by Return to Eden, which I consider Atlanta’s best grocery store for the gluten-free. (They even have a staff member whose job is the gluten-free market!)

The menu, designed around the idea of a Labor Day picnic, will include barbecue made with pastured meat; macaroni and ‘cheese’; fresh bread; roasted veggie salad; and berry galettes—all made with as much locally grown, pesticide-free produce as possible.

If you’re interested in attending, you can reserve a spot at the Moore Farms special events page. Rumor has it that it’s going to sell out pretty quickly, so if you’re interested in attending, I’d encourage you to sign up in the next couple of days.  The cost is $40 with an additional $10 if you also want a pre-made bread mix using the recipe we’ll utilize in the class.

I’d love to see you there!  We’re going to cook up some great food and share some lovely recipes, but we’re also going to have a wonderful discussion about gluten-free and allergen-free lifestyles, including their pleasures and their challenges.

*The demo kitchen will be thoroughly cleaned, and we’ll be using my safe pans and utensils, but we can’t guarantee the kitchen will be free of traces of the offending foods.