Easy Miso Soup

I rarely have time to think these days, much less spend a long preparing a meal. With the demands of being a super-daddy that I face every day, relaxing moments are sometimes hard to come by. So today I would like to present to you some simple-zen-in-a-bowl...
Easy Miso Soup
Ingredients
- 2 litres H2O
- 1/3 cup miso paste
- 1 pack (2 teaspoons) bonito soup base powder (available at Japanese grocery stores)
- 1 cube chicken bullion.

Throw in pot. Boil. Stir. Eat.

(If you want to get crazy you can cube up a little bit of firm tofu and throw that in along with some chopped green onion and some udon noodles, but don't break a sweat.)

Now that you are feeling all nice, chilled out, and relaxed, here is some irritating, sappy, kiddy J-pop (apparently extolling the virtues of miso soup) to snap you back to the harsh reality of life.

Pop Tart Martini

The last few days have been beautiful in Vancouver and it finally feels that spring has arrived. The sun is shining and the cherry trees are in bloom. I was in the mood for something festive last night so I whipped up something that was bubbly, but wasn't too sweet. However, it does go down very easily. Consider yourself warned.

Pop Tart Martini (It isn't made with toaster pastry but it pops, and it's a bit tart)
Ingredients
1 shot gin
1 shot pomegranate juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon simple syrup
1 dash bitters
ice
white sugar
2 shots sparkling white wine
2 shots Mountain Dew
Rim a martini glass with sugar. Put first 5 ingredients in a cocktail shaker over ice. Shake like you are having an epileptic fit. Strain into martini glass. Gently stir in sparkling wine and Mountain Dew. Make sure that you raise a toast to spring...

This recipe goes out to my buddies Lars and Phil who, at this very moment, are chatting on Facebook, joking about drunken heckling in the back of church tomorrow. You guys rule.

Speaking of Pop Tarts and Phil and Lars, I will leave y'all with this gem.

This last week has been full of disappointment and bad news so feeling really creative to come up with amazing gourmet dishes has been a bit of a challenge. But because my freakin' awesome wife, Joanna, IS SO HOT RIGHT NOW! she managed to do some serious menu planning and came up with a brilliant plan to make a delicious pasta dinner out of all the random things that we had laying around in our cupboard. This recipe comes from epicurious.com which is my web 2.0 ace card when I need a recipe. Check it out.

Palermo Pasta with Clam Sauce

• 5 tablespoons butter
• 6 caper-wrapped anchovies in oil, drained (1 1/2 tablespoons oil reserved), chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 10-ounce cans baby clams, drained well, juices reserved
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup whipping cream

• 1 pound spaghettini
• 1/2 cup (packed) sliced fresh basil
• Lemon wedges

Directions

Melt butter with anchovy oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped anchovy mixture and garlic and sauté 1 minute. Add clam juices and wine; boil 4 minutes to reduce slightly. Mix in cream and clams; set aside.

Cook pasta in pot of boiling salted water until tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Return pasta to same pot. Add sauce; toss over medium-high heat until sauce coats pasta thickly, about 5 minutes. Mix in basil; season with salt and pepper. Serve with lemon wedges. Turn on the Cure - Disintegration, slurp your delicious spaghetti, have a sip of wine, enjoy this one beautiful moment, and feel free to forget how much life sucks.

Thoughts about a tortilla...

I set up a Facebook group yesterday to let people know when I updated my blog and many of you have already joined and left kind messages and encouraging comments... except you Mary. Mary was bummed that I hyped up the taco's and did not actually give a recipe, so today this one is for you, Mary.

For me a good taco has to start with a good tortilla. My personal tortilla epiphany happened in the mountains of Guatemala in 1991. I was in the middle of nowhere on a missions trip and the local indigenous women made us fresh tortillas over the open fire. They passed us some little balls of dough and tried to teach us how to pat them out with our hands and then openly mocked us as the stupid gringos that we were. That day the scales fell off my eyes and my life changed forever because I tasted manna for the first time and I have been ruined for anything else labeled a "tortilla" ever since.

Nothing else has ever came close but the following recipe is the best that we can hope for (unless you are harbouring a secret harem of indigenous Latin women in your basement to do your evil tortilla bidding.)
Ingredients
1 cup white flour
3/4 cup masa mix (mexican corn flour, available at Latin markets)
1/4 cup brown flour
1 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter or shortening
3/4 cup hot water

Directions
Mix together dry ingredients. Add shortening and use fork or pastry knife or even the tips of your fingers to work the fat into the dry ingredients until small pea-sized balls form. Gradually add hot water and mix until a stiff ball forms. Gently knead for 3-5 minutes, shape into ball, place in bowl, cover and let rest for 1 hour.
Then pinch off golf ball-sized pieces and roll into balls. Dust with flour, cover and let rest for another hour. When you are ready to cook, roll out into tortilla shape on floured counter with a floured rolling pin. Cook individually on a preheated super-hot cast iron frying pan until bubbles start to show on surface then flip over. (10 - 30 seconds/side) Eat while hot. Have a shot of tequila. Repeat. Listen to Pixies "Surfer Rosa" and continue alternating between fresh tortillas and tequila.

Taco Adventures

Over New Year's we were in San Diego to attend a wedding. Being the culturally sensitive types that we are, we had to search out some amazing tacos. Our friends Craig and Kay Charlotte hooked us up at their favorite place, Taco El Gordo.

Eleanor rockin' the quesadilla

Sophia drunk on taco awesomeness

As you can see from the pictures, Eleanor and Sophia ate their faces off. I decided to walk on the wild side and promptly ordered one heart taco, one brain, and one tripe.
The heart taco was surprisingly plain and boring.
The brain taco was bland and mushy. If you have texture issues, you should definitely steer away from this one.
But the tripe taco was AWESOME. It was a little bit crispy, full of flavor, and every time I bit into it, my tongue did a Mexican Hat Dance. Ole!

So next time that you visit your local taqueria, why don't you grab some cahones, be a man, and chow down on the spicy intestine. Make me proud, y'all.

They're gone!

Yep, I am natty no more but we auctioned off the dreads for over $2800! And all together we raised over $12000 for Sandra's expenses as she continues to kick cancer's butt.
A great night was had by all. (except for my neck, which is still really, really cold)

I guess I need to change my screen name now...

Yup, I'm cutting off the dreads...

Dear Friends,

I have some news. I have decided to cut off my dreadlocks. Yep. You read that right.

And here is why. I think it's time. I"m almost 40 years old and I have enough hair to weave a drag net. My dreads are heavy and they drag on the floor when i work concerts. But really, the reason is Sandra.

Sandra is our dear, dear friend. Godmother to Eleanor, doula to both girl's births, permanent dinner guest, family photographer, only one of 2 non-blood-family members to have a soap dedicated to them, and dreadlock technician. Yes, Sandra made my dreads in 2001 and has maintained "our hair" faithfully ever since, up until the last year.
Sandra, you see, has breast cancer, and she can't lift her arms to do the dread maintenance any more. She is also unable to work as a photographer now, her mainstay for income, and so we are throwing her a birthday party that is also a fundraiser next Sunday night.

And, at the party, I am going to auction off the right to cut off each one of all 45 dreadlocks to raise money for the woman who brought those babies into being.

You can buy a dreadlock, the minimum bid is $20 a dread, more if you like. If we sell them all at a minimum bid, it would bring San $900 but I think I have at least a $1000 head of hair, so spread the word.

If you would like to buy a dread but you can't jet up to Vancouver for this stylin' shindig, go to the www.happybirthdaysandra.wordpress.com and click on "Donate", fill out the Paypal and then send me and email saying that your donation is to buy a dread.

Sandra is nearing the end of her radiation treatments and is doing well, but would still appreciate your thoughts and prayers for quick healing and energy, especially to enjoy her own party.

There will also be folk and tango dancing, 80's trance remix, cash bar, amazing door prizes, a killer silent auction, and birthday cake of course!

See ya there!
~pwade