Many is the day hereabouts when I have to wonder why anybody would be
addled enough to decide to stop here on their migration west in the
1800s.
"Wagon must have lost a wheel/Or they lacked ambition, one."
-- James McMurtrey
July and August are hellishly hot. The vegetation on the verge of the
highways is always toasted dry and often ignites, probably the result
of a cigarette tossed from a car. Late summer heat here can be truly
depressing. You just want to hunker down and ride it out.
The seasonal plague of crickets each fall is enough to make that
season disgusting alone, leaving the rains aside.
January and February are usually gray, damp and chill. The whole
world seems colored in a palette restricted to minor variations on
muddy butternut. By the first of March, I'm usually locked into a
steady "what's-the-use?" mentality that takes weeks to sweeten even a
little.
But then comes spring.
Today is probably the last really cool day for months. Tonight's low
is predicted to dip to 39. But yesterday we had sunshine and a high
of 82. It's heaven on earth. The sage is blooming. Culinary sage,
that is. The thyme is blooming. It's blooming time! The peach tree
has baby drupes a-drooping already. The fig trees are wholly leafed
out. My basil seeds have sprouted. Ditto shiso. The lemon grass
stalks I've had in a glass of water for weeks are finally developing
enough roots that I can imagine setting them in the ground after the
next rain.
And with this last bit of coolness, I'm doing a last batch of beef
stock. The bones are roasted and simmering in water with roasted
vegetables, pepper corns, thyme. Spring stock! I plan on simmering
it all evening and setting it in a 200 oven overnight. Tomorrow I'll
strain it, skim the fat, and slowly reduce it with minced shallots
till I have a demi glace of sorts.
D and I drove to the next county to a Mexican-run produce market this
afternoon and picked up a mango or four. Spring produce! And they
smell like sweetened sex! We also got jalapenos (going to try to
recreate Matt Martinez's roasted jalapeno vinaigrette for a chicken
salad tonight), onions, cilantro.
Here's what the vinaigrette plans look like at present:
2 jalapenos, roasted on a gas grill and steamed in a bag till the
skins pull off easily
2 Cloves of garlic
juice of a lime (maybe more)
scant handfuls of cilantro, chopped
pinch of sugar
salt
pepper
enough olive oil to emulsify
maybe an egg yolk (still contemplating that one)
I'll partially seed the chiles to control the heat. Toss it all (but
the oil) into a blender and buzz. Add the oil a little at a time with
the blender running to form an emulsion.
It might work.
modom
Only superficial people don't judge by appearances.
-- Oscar Wilde