BingoFest

The Year of the Snake

February 15th, 2025

15 February 2025 Saturday

A couple weeks ago, 29 January to be exact, we witnessed the first New Moon of the year, the beginning of the Lunar New Year Festival, which ends this evening. San Francisco is home to the largest Lunar New Year Festival outside of Asia, and baby, it’s a doozy. Fireworks exploding in every direction, clouds of gunpowder smoke fill the air, the blaring brass of marching bands, dragons and lion dancers on every corner, traditional Chinese orchestras playing, fan dancers, and oh, did I say fireworks? And every bakery, dim sum palace, noodle house, and tea service is bursting with costumers, long lines, tills cha-chinging.

Before the parade, we found ourselves in the Peninsula Seafood Restaurant, the menu looked good and there was seating. What we didn’t know is that there was a back room with a party of at least a hundred. We could see into the back room, where all these older Chinese folks were standing for various toasts whilst every member of the wait staff carried steaming dishes of all kinds into the dining room in what was obviously a fairly elaborate ceremony.

We were seated immediately, and the server pulled the top layer of disposable tablecloth off our table to reveal an identical layer of disposable tablecloth, our layer. A complementary pot of tea. A menu sixteen pages deep in a hard brown cover. The prices have all been hand altered with a pen, where there were prices. Many of the prices were labeled “seasonal” or my favorite, ?????????? That’s how much the specials cost. These specials are so special, even the employees don’t know how much they are worth. If there is anything this boy from Ohio has learned about Chinese restaurants over the years is if the service is bad and the menu confusing, the food will be delectable.

Soon(ish), our table was covered with terrific dishes. At just this time, the ceremony in the back ended, and the party walked out into the noisy streets, the parade is soon approaching. As they walked slowly out of the restaurant, they smiled and greeted everyone, looked at the table and smiled in approval at our choices. They were happy. This the most important holiday of the year for these folks, and we could really feel it. They were so happy and well fed, and although most of them were much older than me and my company, we could see in their faces the joy and goodwill that the New Year brings to all of us, whenever we celebrate it.

Potstickers for good luck, Singapore noodles for longevity, greens for financial prosperity. BBQ Pork buns. Shrimp dumplings. Just as in Western food traditions, pork and seafood are symbolically important to the new year, because pigs root forward and fish can only swim forward. Chicken is generally not eaten because it scratches backwards, a symbol of rumination, regret and worry. So, we didn’t eat any chicken. Save that for the 4th.

And of course, chili oil. I have learned that most restaurants make their own chili oil, and even though it is a very basic recipe (chili and oil), many eateries can make a reputation over this simple sauce.

The greens pictured above are pea shoots in a broth which I think is just the water they were cooked in with a little garlic and ginger. There may have been a little Chinese bacon in it. I can’t recall that I ever saw pea shoots on a menu until I moved to California, but they are the most delicious and delicate green I have ever eaten. I will tell you, if you ever see them on a menu, you really need to love yourself enough to order them.

Oh, the Year of the Snake. Are you ready for it? It can be a good year for voluntary growth and change, letting go of the old way of living and thinking into a new way. But this wonderful transformation is not something that is going to happen to us, it is a chance for us to transform, to impose the change on the world instead of the other way around. That’s a choice.

Choose pea shoots, whenever available.
less is enough

February 3rd, 2025

3 February 2025 Monday

I know I’ve been requested to not post twice in a day because they can’t keep up, but I’m not quite sure they read this anymore. Here it is, in its second incarnation:

The clouds parted for only a moment, the sun shone through the window onto the plate of golden sunshine, which we put in our mouths. Sparkling and delicious, fresh and deep cooked, little salty fish umami, ginger zing, garlic eyebrows. The rain is falling now on 18th St. the streets are quiet because they are streets, they are always quiet. But the people on the streets, the vehicles, the gentle raindrops and laughing ladies, running to the car, beep beep, unlock and get in. This moment which is a picture of a snapshot of a moment in this life, let’s soften it, this life which has been filled with so many stir fries, too many stir fries.

Now, it is quiet. I am contemplating many things, young ones. First, what theme should my Oscars party have this year? I was thinking Pennsylvania Dutch, I don’t know. I watched a show about the largest buffet in America, which is in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and looks amazing, with all of its chiffon and thick, gloopy sauces, and slow cooked cave man meats from ancients times. If we make all that crap light and airy and localish, I think we could invent something new, California Pennsylvania Dutch. I think I could make it chic, at least in Northern California. Fresh Dungeness Crab Corn Croquettes, and Potato Pancake Souffle with fish roe and pea shoots and no, wait, I get ahead of myself. Let’s all just relax. Let me think about it. In the meantime, go to bed early. Let the rain fall down and snuggle and cuddle for all your might. Winter too, passes and you’ll wonder where all the water went.
Mama lets her curries mellow

February 3rd, 2025

3 February 2025 Monday

I feel my sub-conscious absorbing the ways of the wok. Velveting is a wonderful thing, and I wonder how I can use it to tenderize other things. I toss the chicken breast slivers in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, and potato starch. Now, I have learned of the subtle and horribly disappointing differences between cornstarch and arrowroot (please read some post from the distant past). But I have had No such feelings for potatostarch. Could it be the starchiest starch in town, with everything you need for perfect velveting and battering? I will use potato starch going forward indefinitely, and if I do change starches, I’ll let you know. We’ve got too much in the trust bank for me to keep that from you!!

Mission and 18th, awaiting an “atmospheric river”. Another day, another curry. This noon: a chicken breast, potato starch, salt, fish sauce, red bell pepper, garlic, ginger, a Japanese curry blend, lime juice, eggplant, green beans, sugar, coconut milk.

Now, perhaps I was a little big for my britches that my last stir-fry had gone so well. And although the ingredients were the right ones, the proportions were not quite right. Also, a slight controversy around the coconut milk involved opening a second can. Pro tip-coconut milk separates naturally in a can. You’re supposed to blend it up. If it smells nice and tastes nice, it’s good. Lesson learned.

It tasted good, but it didn’t really come together the way I wanted it to. What was it? Well, I decided to leave it on the stove top and reheat it for dinner. It tastes much better. It just needed to mellow and come together. And I thought, that’s it, that ‘s what we all need-we all need to mellow and come together. That’s how the wonderful curry could community can happen! If community can happen, why not curry it in a gentle blend of spices? Now I know what you’re not thinking, you’re not thinking, BEN!!!! Why did you put Japanese curry in coconut milk like a Thai curry. I don’t know why I did that, but I did. It really is a Japanese curry, the coconut milk having lost its distinctive delicacy, meaning I can’t taste it at all. Anyway, it’s good, everything’s fine, and I’m not special. I don’t have a picture of today’s curry, but I do have a picture of last week’s pizza:

Now she’s a real beauty. My done-in-a-jiffy-crust, smothered in olive oil, blanketed with fresh pizza sauce, bespeckled with mushrooms, bell pepper, broccoli, and Genoa salame, the whole being suffocated in snowy hills of cheese. And it’s a good thing we like pizza around here because I was gifted this:

That’s a big bag of flour! That’s a lotta pizza! What’s your favorite kind?

OK, let that curry mellow friends,

Let it come together.

For we all taste better

after we’ve mellowed.
We all scream for parsnips!

January 11th, 2025

11 January Saturday

In these strange and surreal, hold-your-breath, is this really happening, hellshit nightmare of bleak mid-winter, let’s pretend that we are not horribly distracted and exhausted by the realities of the world fresh in 2025. Some enthusiasms may need to be manufactured. Now, I will tell you, I’ve made some lovely things since last I wrote, but nothing of note. Until the other day.

Little dramas like this, I can handle. While at a friend’s for dinner recently, we all went down a YouTube hole of beef. Steaks, chucks, marbled, butchered, cuts of all kinds and shapes and preparations. Bloody aprons, sinew, fat, and bones flying through the air. It was wonderful. I don’t know, it put us in the mood for beef. And for me, far preferable than steak, is stew, or today, pot roast.

Now there are two types of beef stew I may get a hankerin’ for, when I get a hankerin’ for beef stew. The first is the French daube type, usually made with wine and thickened with Beurre Manie, or Old Fashioned All American Beef Stew, made with Beef, water, salt, carrots, potatoes, and that’s it. OK, maybe a little more fancy. Green Peas. Pearl Onions. And Parsnips.

Parsnips! Think of them as white, sweet carrots with a slight anise sort of flavor. You can do so many fun things with these little guys. They make good “fries”, soup, purees, and are great roasted with their friends, the carrot, turnip, and potato.

Parsnips! I exclaimed as we strolled through Whole Foods on that Tuesday mid-morning. “Parsnips are essential. Nature’s candy.” I said. “Really? Who is going to notice parsnips, and then appreciate them after noticing?” Well. We did find parsnips. They were tiny, withered, wobbly and miserable. I wondered if we happened upon a pod of partially decayed alien babies. I grabbed a giant handful, and threw them into the basket. There is no way I am making a beef stew this week without these little horrors. And what a cool funky taste that goes so well with beef, especially beefy beef. I love a good Beefy piece of beef. I cook that baby low and slow. Low and slow, for say, 5 hours, at 300F. I know it sounds nuts, but I think you can’t go wrong with low and slow. That is! if you love your beef absolutely fork tender beyond beyond. When you pull the lid off the pot, we beheld the beef undulating like jello, that’s just how tender it was. The knife slid effortlessly through the meat, which melted away in tender slices.

The guests assembled at the table. The dish of rich, sumptuous meat, surrounded by the noble sentry of vegetables, and enrobed in hearty jus was set forth to oohs and ahhs. The plates were passed, the cutlery clicking, and the wine glasses clanking. The knife tapping against the plate while the drink is slurped. Someone, swallowing, clearing the throat, made a HMM sound and asked, “Is there cinnamon in this?” I could have giggled with delight. “No,” I said. “But you have detected the magic ingredient.”

Parsnips! Parsnips! Everyone shouted in unison, and we all had a jolly laugh, raised a toast to the parsnip, grabbed the hands of the people next to us, and danced around the table till we all fell to the floor in a heap of rags!

Well, it didn’t really happen that way. I said “Oh, that’s parsnips” and everyone said “Oh.”

“Parsnips are good, you don’t always get them in things. They’re nice.”

And so, our year begins.
The new moon

December 1st, 2024

1 December 2024

Something sad about eating with the seasons- we become acutely aware, more than with anything else of the passage of time. Weren’t we just eating the summer peaches? The ripe tomatoes? And why didn’t we get more of them and savor each bite? Why did we forget that they would be gone soon, and we’d have to wait for another summer? Has Thanksgiving past already? I was there, right?

A new moon, today 1 December. The first day of the liturgical year, Advent 1. A Sagittarius new moon. What does all this mean? Well, nothing. Or almost nothing. It means the same as everything else, which is also as meaningless as you wish. Most stories, I find, have only a sliver of truth. But if you put those slivers together, well, you might have something there.

Much has been made of that most famous Sagittarian, Beethoven and his being deaf. There have been many well known blind musicians and composers, but a deaf one? What futility! To write one’s own music but never be able to hear it. Sagittarius lesson #1-we must work as hard as we can and bring that work to fruition, even if we ourselves can never fully enjoy that produce. The marvelous, joyful futility of our lives. A season to celebrate our own passage. The futility of our own work. In the tarot, Sagittarius season corresponds to the 8, 9, and 10 of Wands, the defense, exhaustion, and confusion of continuing on with our futile quest. Yet, we continue on, because, what else is there? Isn’t it funny, that this is time of year we are most likely to go into our attics, rummage around, pull out old decorations, and seemingly “waste” time putting up wreaths and lights and thotckes? Aren’t we like Beethoven, making all this music we can’t really hear? Sagittarius- Art for its own sake. Sagittarius-eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow……Sagittarius-to make a fire in winter snow will keep us warm, if just for this moment. Scorpio-to mourn, remember, and accept. Sagittarius-to accept our mortality with creativity and celebration. Capricorn- to take the creativity and contain it for the winter ahead-life goes on and the days begin to lengthen.

So, what to eat then with all this other stuff swirling around? Of course, with this cold, all taste is compromised. That’s no excuse! If Beethoven can write a symphony being deaf, I can make a meal without a sense of taste! Well, perhaps after a nap.

We’re in leftover land, and of course, the turkey was savagely massacred leaving nothing but bones, gnarled twisted knobs with little scraps of meat and flabby skin. A pan of green beans, mountains of mashed potatoes, absolutely no gravy (which makes the whole thing really lamentable). I think I’ll make a green bean, mashed potato casserole and keep it moist with human tears. Then, we gonna go wacky.
What do the birds know?

December 1st, 2024

28 November Thursday

I’m not gonna do a blow by blow, step by step timeline and update of everything about this Thanksgiving dinner. We know how to do this, and as the afternoon advances, I am likely to dribble off in the narrative and soon after go silent. As I often do, I took my hot cup of coffee outside to breathe the cold fresh ocean air and watch the sun rise on 18th street. I have learned that the resident birds have a highly evolved society which includes communication, education, and some form of justice. This morning when I went out, there was some counsel of seagulls on the roof of the buildings across the street.

The seagulls are generally the largest birds that live in the neighborhood. Most of the birds are of course the rock doves we frequently call pigeons. There are many hummingbirds in the flowers out back. Sparrows, finches, redwing blackbirds. The seas gulls watch over these smaller birds, particularly in Spring when the hawks are looking for chicks. The hawks visit whenever they please, which is to say when they are hungry and have cleaned out the nests on the hill. They live in the big trees in Dolores Park, where they can swoop out of the sky, tearing a pigeon to shreds in a poof of feathers and blood. If the meal remains alive after the brutal attack, no worries, the falcon will takes its favored tallon and drive it into the pigeons face, crushing its head.

Well, it turns out that the hawks are not the only ones eating birds today, and I think the seagulls must have sensed that many of their albeit distant cousins would be cooked and eaten today. Ha! Can you imagine if had to catch the turkey with my hands and could only kill and process it with my fingers? That’s what hawks do. More to come, it is a beautiful day.

I’d add some pictures, but how many pictures of roast turkey do you need to see?

Well now, it’s several days later. I told you I’d drop off, who knew it would be four days! In addition to having a wonderful Thanksgiving full of food, wine, and song, it also came with am energy draining chest and head cold. So, I am laying low now.

The dinner was lovely and everything turned out great, end of story. In my next post, I may be trying something a little different. More to come.
The night before

November 27th, 2024

27 November Wednesday

The pie is finished. The cheese ball is mellowing next to the mashed potatoes, also nestling in for the long night. Next, green bean casserole, then stuffing, before finishing the day with prepping the turkey, whatever that will be and I haven’t decided yet. More on that earlier. Sticks of butter used so far: 1. Containers of cream:1. Packets of cream cheese: 3 and counting. Cream cheese must be the most used ingredient in the Thanksgiving meal, no shit. I never buy cream cheese, and yet around the holidays I buy probably 10 lbs of the stuff and it goes into everything. Cheese ball, obviously, sauerkraut balls, the pumpkin raisin tart, and whatever else. What do you think would happen if we ran out of cream cheese? Let’s not even contemplate it. Don’t mention it at the dinner table.

The tart is resting in the oven, hoping to avoid the great holiday crack. You know what this is if you bake, when a pumpkin pie splits open in the middle with a huge, eye-shaped, canyon. The other great fear is the undercooked bottom. That’s the worst thing ever. The oven temperature was right, the custard is just set, the oven is now off, and the oven door is slightly open, which should slow the cooling and thus the chances of the piequake. No piequake. Somehow, it always happens to me. Everyone says, “that’s OK cause it still tastes good!” and yes, i understand that, but still and all, I want people to look at my pie and say, “wow so smooth and peaceful looking, no scars!”. OK, time will tell. I will take photo of it in thirty minutes or so.

Yes, there’s our lovely tart. OK, it’s going on 9PM now, what have I got left in me tonight? Hmmm…..I may be done. But that’s OK, because the turkey is all thawed out and I can get to it first thing. I’m not serving it till 6:30PM so, we good. I’m gonna go with that great method from last year, bone the leg and thigh wrap em’ in butter and sage and keep the breast on the bone and roast it separately. This will cut the cooking time in half, and the breast needs to go in first.

Tally: Eggs used 3, Sticks of butter: 2, Packets of cream cheese: 4, Sticks of celery: 6, Carrots: 6, Onions: 3 .

Perhaps I’m feeling a little sentimental, perhaps I need a little Christmas, right this very minute. Tomorrow, Macy’s Department store celebrates 100 years of the grand Parade down 5th Ave on Thanksgiving. Macy’s is closing its flagship store in San Francisco. So, this will be the last year of this:

OK, friends, I’m tired. Tomorrow morning early, I finish the food. Then, I sweep and clean, and I hope hope hope that I have time for a long morning walk and a nice hot bath before the guests come over. Yes, that’s a tall order, but we must set our sights high.
The magician’s table

November 22nd, 2024

22 November Friday

There’s a lot going on here. We are in the midst of a bomb cyclone, which sounds fun till you go to take the trash out. Ankle deep water, it is impossible to get to the grocery store even. Good thing I am nestled safely in my home, surrounded by piles of garbage. The above photo is the groaning board of ingredients. You got your fennel, you got your egg (just one!) your mushrooms. What is that on the stove you don’t ask? Or that mysterious bright light over the sink? Is that a bright light over the sink? On such a rainy and cold day as this, not even hot soup will cheer our drooping sprites. No! We need the miracle that is Sauce Bechamel, and her gentle lovers. Tonight, a thick Sauce Veloute, thick with a wonderful Spanish sheep’s cheese, will enrobe the royal crepes, which themselves will be pregnant with creamed spinach and duxelles.

I pulled out the table for the first time this season, I’ve made space for the tree, we’re using cloth napkins, the whole thing is coming together, sir.

First, I am still on my arugula salad kick. Tonight, arugula, pomegranate, pumpkin seeds, fennel, apple, champagne vinaigrette. An oldie, but a goodie.

Oh my goodness, these crepes are so delicious. I used Julia’s method, to blend it in the blender. The pancakes are so light and fluffy, you can’t even tell they are light and fluffy. All you get is a warm solid bite of butter and salt, with a little toast thrown in.
Feelins about peelins

November 20th, 2024

20 November Wednesday

The wind doth howl, and the rain doth blow, our first atmospheric river of the season. I’ve had a few off dishes lately. Things that should have worked but didn’t. More mushy rice. Why can I not get this right on a consistent basis? I know exactly what I am doing, but something goes amiss. It’s like if it’s even slightly off, good-bye. To make matter worse, I tried to make fried rice with. Double disappointment!!

A cornbread that went South. Now, this one is a real mystery. The only reasonable explanation is that oven thermometer has gone all goofy-da-kattywompus. The cornbread was burned to a crisp in under twenty minutes. It would have been tasty. OK, let it go, Benji. Breathe deeply. These things happen.

These little things are so annoying. Like potatoes cooking unevenly. Has this happened to you? The potatoes are about the same size and type, they are all cooking at the same rate (or so it would seem to the naked eye), yet some potatoes make be more chunky than others. And are these just excuses for my carelessness? Slow inhale. Slow exhale.

Today, a joyful soup for the rainy season that has just begun. Sweet Italian sausage. Hot Italian sausage. Red wine, tomatoes, duck stock, garbanzo beans, onion, celery, carrot, four cheese tortellini. An old family favorite. Delicious. It pairs well with this old flick by Doris Day and James Garner. It’s amusing, and boy, is she terrific. They don’t make hairdos like that anymore.

Soup, when other voices die. It’s wild, the wind hitting the side of the building and all the attendant creaking and cracking and rattling of windows.

Having been asked earlier about peelers, I have developed the following treatise. I’ll call it The Spirit of the Peeler. The peeler is in my case a Trinity three peels in one, one in three. They are stuck together through the magnetic power of magnets. One is smooth, one is serrated, one is a shredder. The smooth one is used for things that are easy to peel like potatoes, broccoli, apples. The serrated one is for tender things like tomatoes, peaches, grapes. blueberries. Just kidding. Have you ever tried to peel a blueberry? The shredder is wonderful for getting bite sized tidbits for salad, garnish, or stir-fry. Shredded carrots. Just right. It’s actually super handy because your guests with think you’ve got mad knife skills when you don’t.

It can be a lot of fun to peel things. But be sure that the peeled is comfortable with the peel feel. All we have is feelins, feelins about peelins. These feelings require verse.

I like to peel apples, sure.

I like to peel pears.

The half-peel cucumber’s allure.

and shave the peaches’ hairs.

The shy bell pepper removes her gown

and celery is freed.

The kiwi is no longer brown,

but green and full of seed.

Asparagus so delicate

you may chop off her leg

And no matter dear how deft with that

you cannot peel an egg.

I peel and peel with all my might

I peel until I’m sore

I peel the fruit and veg all night

and then I peel some more.

Ribbons of peel fly through space

Ribbons of peel fill the air.

Ribbons of peel all over the place

Fruit and Veg peel everywhere!!

St. Joseph Art Society, Howard Street, San Francisco

A building in the Mid-Market neighborhood in SF with every single light on. I can only imagine they are doing this on purpose for some reason. Like public art, or some political statement. Unless it’s the same person forgetting to turn off every light in every room they walk in to.

And that’s it kids. Doris and James have been reunited, and the two little girls too! Aw, what a flick. What a night. What a life.
Duck Soup

November 14th, 2024

12 November Tuesday

Hail, hail Freedonia, Land of the Brave and Free! Oh that Groucho would come back and make mockery of international diplomacy. Anyway, here we are. What does a man do? Well, last night we celebrated a friend’s birthday. Roast Five-Spice Honey glazed duck. It was lovely, with stir-fried vegetables and a less than perfect but tolerable fried rice. With what remained of the carcass and neck, carrots, spring onion, ginger, garlic, star anise, cinnamon, cloves, and 12 hours of cooking- a deep golden brown broth, glistening with tiny quivering bubbles of nutrient rich fat. It is so delicious, I will probably enjoy it alone in a mug. Just drink it. Something so delicious should not be wasted on others.

It also might be really nice to clarify it, a consomme, and put some very thinly sliced spring onion and carrot. How lovely can that be?

OK, now it’s time to talk about cakes. I made a beauty of a cake. In what has become an unintended, emergent theme of this season’s deserts, I made another cake with crumble topping. What made this cake so special? Some of it is technique-the butter must be well whipped and the sugar must be thoroughly dissolved in the butter. The eggs are added one at a time and whipped thoroughly into the butter. It should have a certain sound, I think. I’ve called it the clabberclabber. Once you hear that special clabberclabber, fold the flour and liquid in very gently, you’re done with the whipping.

I might have mentioned a moment ago that this is an improvised recipe, and I used yogurt as the liquid. When I added the last of the flour, it was too dry to be a batter. I paused and had a thought. WWJD? What would Julia do? Well, I have no clue. But, I remembered an old trick from a recipe for chocolate mousse. I mixed in three tablespoons of water, and whipped it on high speed for twenty seconds. It produced fluffy clouds of beautiful whipped batter. I tossed in many chunks of apples, poured it into the pan, baked it, and oh. Oh so lovely. A moist texture, a gentle crumb, a little cinnamon and the crunch of toasted pecans.

It’s time to move on. It’s time to dream of what may be. You know the iconic scene, where Groucho is not sure if he is looking a mirror or not, and Harpo is dressed just like him, mirroring his actions. It takes him awhile to figure out that it is indeed another person and not a mirror. Sometimes we look at things and can’t tell if they are real or not. This scene reminds us that everything is real, including the imagined. This will be important to remember in the coming months. In the meantime, Duck Soup.