Welcome to my Epic Polynesian Adventure

The view from a previous, care-free vacation to Maui in 2012. 

The title of this blog just got way more relevant. Sure, I studied tropical cyclones as a graduate student, but now it's about to get REAL: I will be starting a post-doctoral research position at the University of Hawai'i, Manoa, on August 25. Though, as I am a stickler and always correct my friends, Hawai'i is not in the tropics, but the subtropics. STILL. I am super excited for a number of reasons, but also incredibly stressed out. Trust me, just because I'm buying a one-way ticket instead of a round-trip, this move is neither cheap nor simple. So to document my adventure, I am resurrecting this blog (yes, again).

FAQ's so far:

1. When are you leaving and where are you going??
I leave approximately August 20. The Manoa campus is on Oahu, right in Honolulu, up the hill from Waikiki and Diamond Head.

2. Can I come visit you??!! 
Yes! I plan to have a futon, if not a second bedroom (OK, with rental prices, that's unlikely). But I probably won't be all settled until October, and please bring a tub of Trader Joe's dark chocolate peanut butter cups with you as tribute (there are NO Trader Joe's in the state of Hawaii!).

3. So you're just going to get rid of all of your stuff and take off, right?
No. I am shipping my favorite pieces of furniture. They go by boat and I'm crossing my fingers that the container doesn't fall off the ship on its 4-6 week journey (and buying insurance). Don't try to talk me out of this. I have a very expensive and beloved mattress, and when you add in my couch, desk, TV, kitchenware and other miscellaneous items, replacement cost is comparable to shipping, and I won't have time to do all of that shopping when I get there. But I am selling my car, and a few other things, putting cold-weather stuff in storage with my parents, and getting rid of many things, as one does when one moves.

4. What's going to happen to Whiskey?
Whiskey, my cat, is coming with me. Or rather, she's being shipped to me once I get there and find a place to live. It's expensive for me and traumatic for her, but she's my responsibility. Re-homing options are very thin right now and I think it's downright cruel and inhumane to abandon a pet when moving if you have the means to take them with you. She's moved before, over long distances, and she has a short memory. The good news is that Hawaii has developed a direct-release program if you follow certain protocols, so she will not be subjected to quarantine.

5. Wait, there's no Trader Joe's in Hawaii?
Ugh, no. And there's no Ikea or ZipCar, or Car2go, either. But the local Safeway does have eight types of fresh poke in the seafood section...

Poke (poe-kee) is a marinated raw fish (or octopus, or shrimp, or imitation crab) salad, kind of like ceviche. They have one called THE TSUNAMI.

Sunday Dinner: Stuffed Zucchini and Lemon Pasta

Oh look what I found: A post from six months ago that I never published. I remember this dish. It was good.

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I am trying to use up odds and ends that are cluttering my fridge in anticipation of filling it with all sorts of lovely fall foods like soups, pumpkin pies and the cold-weather crops like radishes, turnips and kale that I have sowed in my garden. Today: what to do with a leftover shallot-pine nut breadcrumb mixture and one large zucchini? Not to mention the heavenly meyer lemons that my parents schlepped up when they visited this last week? How about some italian-tinged stuffed zucchini with a simple lemon pasta?

I scooped out the zucchini halves (lengthwise) and sauteed the scooped out flesh with some marinara sauce and some garlic and italian seasoning. Boiled the scooped out halves for one minute, then put them in a baking dish with a little marinara in the bottom, put the cooked flesh back in and topped with the breadcrumb mixture*.

With really good ingredients, like homegrown meyer lemons, it's best to keep it simple. I heated the juice and zest of half a lemon with a little butter and black pepper and a tablespoon or so of the pasta water. Mix in the pasta and top with parmesan.




*Breadcrumbs: Start with the pine nuts and roast them in a cast-iron skillet on the stovetop or on a cookie sheet in the oven. Then saute finely chopped shallots and parsley in a touch of olive oil. Mix panko breadcrumbs, shredded parmesan cheese, the shallots and pine nuts with a dash of salt and pepper and lemon zest in a bowl. I also sauteed the chopped mushroom stems with the shallots. For amounts, basically use the proportions that you'd like to eat. It's flexible.

Yet Another Triumphant Return and Ethiopian

Oh yeah me? I'm still here. I had to write a dissertation proposal, sit my general exam (passed! Whew!) and actually *gulp* get results so that I could start writing that dissertation, all while tentatively beginning the job search. I also got to go on a fun trip to Washington, D.C., to participate in the American Meteorological Society's Summer Policy Colloquium. I learned about all the different positions that scientists have in the government and their role in the policy process, and how policy applies to atmospheric science. Very interesting! I also had Ethiopian food for the first time, and now I've been obsessed with it ever since I got back. It's a really amazing cuisine for vegetarians and vegans because it's veggie heavy and many of those veggie dishes are hearty.

The vegetarian sampler at Das, in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. 

It turns out that I had had Ethiopian before Washington, D.C., though. I actually cooked it myself! Food & Wine magazine had an Ethiopian feature in November, 2012 and tasting the cabbage and carrots at Das I had an odd sense of deja vu... 

Tonight I recreated the cabbage and red lentil (misir wat) dishes from that original article, along with a quick injera recipe from another one of my favorite cooking magazines, Saveur. One thing to keep in mind with all of these recipes is that they take time - yes even the "quick" injera, which takes an hour or two (or four as the recipe calls for) but, hey, that's compared to three days. I think it is really worth it to get the cabbage to that perfectly soft, silky-but-not-mushy consistency which takes about 40 minutes of low heat. I made my own berbere spice blend this time - but I suggest you just work with whatever spices you have to make it spicy, warm and hearty.

The cheaty injera? It's hard to get the right consistency, and it doesn't have the right flavor. After adding some vinegar and baking soda I started to get the bubbles right, but it's got a nutty flavor from the whole wheat.  It's still a little gummy, too - maybe from the gluten (tef, the grain that authentic injera is made with, has no gluten in it). I am far from declaring victory - seems like there are no shortcuts where injera is concerned.

What I learned about coconut pies

Every Thanksgiving for the last three years, I have brought the same thing to my classmates' massive potluck feast: Wild rice and chestnut vegetarian stuffing, pumpkin pie and green beans. So this year I changed things up! I decided on roasted brussels sprouts, a corn pudding and... a coconut cream pie! No one would expect coconut on Thanksgiving. They all turned out pretty well, but I did learn some things about making a coconut cream pies:

• The filling is super easy. The person who blogged the recipe was so surprised that there were no eggs in the coconut cream, but if you've made pudding before, you know that that is normal. Cornstarch and milk somehow become magically silky without the help of eggs. Have I mentioned how easy chocolate pudding is? It could easily go into the pie shell instead of coconut.
• But speaking of coconut filling, a shot of some spiced rum would have really kicked it up a notch.
• Meringue - definitely not so easy. This was my very first time making a meringue and it basically failed. Everyone should know that you should not attempt to whip egg whites by hand unless you want to get carpal tunnel, but even with a hand mixer, I just couldn't get enough volume. I think I may have added the sugar too fast. I recommend making a few practice batched of meringues first before topping your pie with it. 

And as for that corn pudding - I would not add ANY sugar and add a dash of chipotle or paprika or chili powder and cayenne instead. I also had to bake it much longer than the recipe called for. But it was a hit!

So I hope everyone had a happy, filling Thanksgiving. Sorry there are no pictures but we just demolished everything - all 16 of us!

What I Learned About Custard Tarts

Whenever I go to Berkeley to visit my parents, I haul back as many meyer lemons from their garden as my carry-on can fit. They last a very long time in fridge, which how I found myself wondering what to do with the last few lemons that I brought home back in June. Ah ha! Lemon curd! No wait - lemon curd tart! For something as traditional as a custard tart I went to my copy of The Art of Simple Food. My experiments turned out pretty well:

I learned a few things:

• Tart crust and pie crust are similar, but not the same. Tart crust is sweet and harder to work with than pie crust, but it is still important to chill it a bit. I thought there would be enough butter in the crust so I didn't oil the tart pan, which was a mistake.
• Custard is pretty easy to make! A double boiler (jury-rigged is fine) helps ensure gentle heat. The lemon curd called for a whole egg as well as yolks, and the whites from that egg did curdle a little bit but once the tart was baked I couldn't tell. Pastry cream (plain custard with a little vanilla) is even easier.
• It's best pre-bake the tart shell a little, gently push down any bubbles, and then bake the custard in the shell. My second project was to make mini berry tarts with pastry cream and I interpreted the recipe as saying, bake the shells completely, then add the cream. They tasted fine but the custard was very runny. Baking the custard in the shell for ten minutes or so would have helped, though could have made it hard to get them out of the cupcake pan.
• Custard bonus: Egg white omelets for days afterwards!

Quick Yogurt Veggie Dip

It's one of those nights when I already ate half of a vegetarian hawaiian pizza (replace the canadian bacon with peppadew or piquillo peppers) and was still hungry and didn't want to eat the rest of the pizza because then I wouldn't have any for lunch tomorrow. Ever have one of those days? But I did have carrots and celery and one last radish left in my fridge and I needed some veggies in my system. Not being a rabbit, I'm no fan of plain, raw veggies and it just so happened I also had half of a cup of plain greek yogurt in the fridge as well. A little googling and blending later and I had some quick yogurt veggie dip. 

QUICK YOGURT VEGGIE DIP

1/2 cup plain greek yogurt'
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp white or black pepper
2-3 tsp of whatever dried herb you like
1 tsp white vinegar 

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender.

I used dried fresh thyme (yes it makes sense: I picked it out of the garden yesterday and it dried overnight hanging in my kitchen), dill and fennel seeds. I think dill tastes especially good in this. I may add a little horseradish next time for a kick.

PS: What the F is with blogger inserting links in my posts that I don't want and can't change? Sorry about that, will think about changing platforms soon.

Totally Unintended Hiatus

The garden as of several weeks ago - radishes, kale, bush beans, yellow squash, basil, thyme, several varieties of hot pepper and lemon cucumbers

No, you're not imagining it, I haven't updated the blog in over six months. It's terrible. I know. Life has been busy: I went on vacation with my family (in Hawaii!), wrote a manuscript for peer-review at work, went to a conference in Florida, started working on the prospectus for my dissertation, visited my family again (this time in California), got revisions (significant revisions) back for my manuscript, planted a garden, joined a gym and started multiple knitting projects. And I cooked a lot. I will try to highlight the successes soon - I took a Thai cooking class which got me really excited to take more cooking classes, experimented with a gazillion different dry rubs for salmon, cooked a Passover dinner for eight (I even custom painted my own seder plate!) and am still trying to get my bread to rise just right.

Sliced watermelon radishes from my garden