10 August Thursday

It was a day much like any other. I had spent the morning shopping for food, the afternoon planning dinner, going to the gym, and all the good things. I made my way to the life circus that is the Heart of the City Farmers Market at Civic Center, a Wednesday thing. Folks from all walks and runs of life gather at this festive marketplace for locally grown fruits and vegetables. It is also conveniently located right near our finest open-air drug markets and largest outdoor camping sites I think is the nicest thing to call them. I came into great bounty of produce goodness. Golden ears of corn, solid red early girls, peppers, onions, strawberries, blueberries, and tons of basil, Italian and Thai alike. And beautiful green beans. Home I went, ready and eager to cook and eat.

The task before me was a simple one- Stir-fried beef and green beans, boiled rice, corn on the cob with Five-Spice butter, peach and Thai basil granita with muddled raspberries. The granita I made before the gym, as well as the marinade for the meat-soy, rice wine, sugar, salt, ginger, garlic, cornstarch, and the compound butter.

This was a not at all complicated meal, perfect for a Wednesday night slightly higher elevation dinner, and everything was delicious. Well, almost everything. In my merry, devil-may-care state of mind yesterday afternoon I believe I skipped a vital step in the preparation of, of all things, the boiled rice, which ruined it. I did it the same way as always, except, except, except, except, except……I forgot to rinse it.

The helpful comment I received from my dinner guests, after the observation that the rice was horrible, was that its texture was both mushy and undercooked at the same time. With my morning coffee, I realized what the mistake was. Now, this was not a rookie mistake. I have made rice many times before and like many of you, had to become good at cooking rice, it really didn’t come naturally. It was the rinsing, the rinsing my friends. I didn’t rinse, so the starch stayed on the outside of the grain, forming a glutinous mush when boiled. I didn’t rinse the starch off the grains. Added to that the fact that the rice was undercooked, thus the crunchy kernel at the center of the mush, and you got yourself a real mess from which nothing can be saved.

The beef was delicious, and those green beans, culled fresh from the earth only yesterday morning (let us imagine), all triumphs. I must say, if you haven’t already done so, please buy some corn on the cob, boil it, and treat yourself to a little Chinese Five-Spice butter. It is out of this world and into the next good. You mix butter with salt and Chinese Five-Spice. That’s how ya come up with Chinese Five-Spice butter.

Anyway, I forgive myself, and I will pick up the shattered pieces of my life today, right after The Price is Right. Yeah, so that’s another thing. It is cold, windy, cloudy in the big bad city. Perfect weather for a hot bowl of chowder and a warm blanket, maybe watch a movie or start a series. It was summer yesterday morning, when I got all these fresh salad fixings. Raw fruit and iced tea, that was the way it was going to be. Now I can’t even have the windows open for gosh sakes.

So, afternoon arrived, the clouds parted a bit, it didn’t get any warmer. So I did what only one could do with these beautiful ingredients in such circumstances-

I made pasta. This dish is traditionally called Aglio e Olio, garlic and olive oil, a little red pepper, then a large two handfuls of early girl grape tomatoes, and a big heapin’ bunch a basil. Parm of course. It was so incredibly simple and yummy and the fresh tomatoes and all that basil. The recipe is a simple riff on a recipe from one of the all-time greats of all time, Mary Ann Esposito. I have been a fan of Mary Ann (a Mary Fan, if you will) since I watched her on my mother’s little black and white (screen) TV that used to live on top of dad’s dresser in their bedroom. Rainy Saturdays often meant cooking something in the kitchen whilst watching cooking shows on PBS. A great practice then, a great practice now. This is where I met Julia Child, Justin Wilson, Graham Kerr among others. Mary Ann Esposito is the jolly, supportive, forever-young Italian momma who does everything and many things you’ve never heard of or thought of. She’s terrific. I believe that she is the longest female host in television history or perhaps PBS history. I’d bet that she is at least the shortest host in TV history, move over Merv. Anyhoo, check her out, eat her food, read her books, watch her shows, be more like Mary Ann.