charlotteann

I finally made it to the farmers’ market for the first time in weeks. I was even there early. After spending nearly $30 on some very crunchy celery, skinny asparagus, shrimp, and a new cactus (among other things), I was in the mood for some Chinese food. So I made some garlic shrimp with onion, shiitake, and asparagus served over broken jasmine rice. I have to say, I am getting rather handy with my electric wok and thoroughly enjoyed my creation.

I caught my own food! The hunt wasn’t quite like that described in Michael Pollan’s third chapter of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and I won’t be writing about it as well or in such detail, so if you want to know how a lobsterman works, there’s a Wikipedia page just for you. I didn’t actually pull my future dinner out of the water (I’m not strong enough to haul water-logged buoys) but I did pick it out of the bucket and held it briefly while I stretched two fat rubber bands onto its claws before dropping it into another bucket. Once a lobster is captured it spends the rest of its life in some sort of bucket filled with seawater, including the one in which it will likely be boiled to death. Ocean, trap filled with rotting fish, bucket, pot, stomach, … you know the rest.
This is what lobsters eat:

After my time was up in Maine, I took a bus down to New York City to visit some old friends. I ate pizza in two boroughs, a sno-cone from a street vendor in Flatbush, and drank my very first Skittle bomb. Tragically, I also had some camera issues. My neutral density filter - it served me well in Maine - was stuck to my haze filter. Being somewhat paranoid, I refused to just take both off and leave the lens surface vulnerable to the elements. Almost all my photographs from New York are as a result vignetted, blurry, and underexposed. Oh well!
The lovely lady I was staying with made some delicious guacamole for me and her boyfriend to enjoy after we played a game of Scrabble, which I lost by a wide margin. I met another friend at The High Line for lunch, but I was a bit late thanks to the Q train and we ended up walking from 16th St. up to 34th St. so she wouldn’t be late to work. This was okay with me as it placed me rather conveniently near B&H, where the sales associate I cornered could not help me with my filter problem. So aside from not being able to take good photos, losing at Scrabble, and sweating profusely on several journeys between Manhattan and Brooklyn, I had a wonderful time.

My flight back to San Francisco involved a layover in Austin, Texas. I chose to scarf down two BBQ tacos from a Salt Lick “truck” located on the other side of a security checkpoint from the food court version. I walked between these two establishments at least three times, debating the best way to get a good deal on my airport food. This is why you read my blog; I go above and beyond. The Salt Lick (food court) charges about $12 for a plate of food, and about $14+ for a sandwich. You can also buy an entire brisket to bring with you on the plane, presumably as a gift for whomever you are visiting. Turned off by the outrageous prices for a stupid BBQ sandwich with a mushy side and the thought of being gifted an entire brisket purchased at an airport, I wandered over to the cart that sells the same meat on a tortilla for $3.99 a pop. I bought two tacos - the brisket (!) and pork - and a jubilantly labeled iced tea from Sweet Leaf Tea for about $11. I could have spent the same amount on only one kind of meat, but instead I got two. I win! The pork, which came with a scant amount of green cabbage, was definitely better than the brisket (go figure) and the tea was indeed sweet. As far as airport meals go, this one was actually decent. If you find yourself in a similar situation and want to drink a beer with your BBQ, go to the taco cart (closes at 6PM) because it is located right next to a stage, which has a real live band playing real live music in front of a bar. Don’t mess with Texas.

And they are delicious. Last night I went to a Portland Sea Dogs baseball game and ate a lot of crap. I had a hot dog, popcorn chicken, french fries, a fish sandwich, popcorn, and an ice cream sandwich. They were all satisfying in some way, but the disappointing fish sandwich was just a phallic, soggy piece of fried fish in a hot dog bun. While I was away enjoying the culinary delights of Portland’s Hadlock Field, my mom and her fiancé (the wedding is soon, that’s why I’m here) ended up with 5 free lobsters. They may be lucky ducks but they can’t eat that much lobster in one sitting.
Then there were three.

What to do with all that delicious lobster besides taking its picture? Well, I used some green things (excepting the rosemary) from the garden…

… and some whole wheat linguine, garlic, and olive oil to make lunch. It was good, but my mom and I agreed it could have used a little spice, like red chile flakes, freshly chopped chile, or chile oil. Basically, anything chile-related would have helped.

Lobster and Swiss chard linguine
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped lobster meat (chilled)
• 1 serving linguine
• 1 small bunch of Swiss chard
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp extra virginolive oil
• 1 tbsp sweet or Italian basil, torn into small pieces
• 1 tbsp Italian parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper

Boil water and cook linguine al dente. Drain and set aside. I made my pasta as I was cooking the chard, but if you lack my amazing sense of timing or only have one burner, cook the pasta first. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil and the garlic in medium flat-bottomed pan or wok over medium heat until fragrant. Add the Swiss chard and stir occasionally until tender. Add the linguine, basil, lobster, and the rest of the oil (if needed) and stir until heated through. Avoid overcooking, as the lobster will get all tough and less delicious. Turn off the heat, season with a little S&P, transfer to a bowl or plate and garnish with the parsley.

Scallops are really yummy. Although oysters are my favorite mollusk, the scallop is a very close second. I picked up three medium-sized sea scallops from the UN Plaza farmers’ market last week ($2.40) and had them for lunch, prepared according to a recipe from Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything. There’s a variation that calls for Thai basil with a few substitutions and additions (fish sauce for the salt, pinch of sugar, chili) that turns into a very pretty, very fragrant green paste. I cut my scallops and stuffed them while my little oven approached broiling temperature. I decided to cook some somen noodles at this point, but in retrospect they weren’t a great choice. In fact, I really can’t think of a good starch for scallops. Rice? Pasta? Biscotti?

Everything was going great. I placed the scallops in my small cast iron skillet and popped them into the oven with gusto. Really. I was stoked about these scallops. The first time I made scallops they turned out like, hella good. I amazed myself at how well I seared them. And let’s just take a moment and appreciate the fact that my food photography has seriously improved since then.

Anyway, back to this tragic meal. I let them cook for about 4 minutes before flipping them, drained my noodles, and had everything on the plate 3 minutes later. I drizzled a little chili oil on the whole thing to add some heat and color (you know, for the photograph). Then I took a bite and was sorely disappointed to find that it tasted like a scallop with Thai basil paste. Ok, that wasn’t disappointing, just obvious. And absolutely boring. It looked so good on paper but in my mouth it was a disappointment. I have no idea if it was my fault or the recipe’s, which I followed closely.