4 March 2010 I
spent the day yesterday with my parents making about a thousand ravioli (1,004 to be exact). Most had our family's
traditional meat and spinach filling, and I made about twelve dozen with a walnut-and-green-pea filling. As you can
see below, we rolled out the dough by hand and used one of those old ravioli rolling pins to make the individual ravioli.  27 February 2010
The news from Chile: shocking and very sad.
Farmers’ market report: blood oranges,
Marsh grapefruit, tiny kumquats, wild rocket, artichokes, frisée lettuce, a Pinkerton avocado, and yellow and pink
tulips. We had the grapefruit, avocado,
and rocket in a little salad for lunch, and I cooked some beet greens with garlic and then poached eggs therein (spread out
the greens, make a little pockets or nests and crack an egg into each one, and set over medium heat, covered, until the eggs
are done to your liking.) And then a few homemade hamentashen (a gift from a friend for purim/lunar
new year). Still no news on the job front,
alas. Must keep fingers crossed.
25 February 2010 I got an unexpected
call yesterday asking me to work at the restaurant. It was a good, but long, shift – I did the vegetables
for the main course – potatoes sautéed in butter and peas with lettuce and spring onions. I
decided that it would be good to turn the potatoes instead of peeling them – 300+ little spuds that had to be shaped
into beautiful little barrels. My hands are sore today from holding a knife and heavy pots for hours and
hours. Not used to that these days. I have been reading more Proust – starting out in French and then skimming the English translation (the new
Penguin edition) to see what I missed in French. Lots of nuances, as it turns out.
I’m looking for work, but taking it a bit
easy today. Waiting for the UPS to deliver my DSL modem so that I can get back on the internets at faster
than 48K baud. Thinking
about travelling again, too. Somewhere close, like L.A., Harbin Hot Springs, or even Esalen. It’s definitely Spring now.
Last night, on the way to the car, the air was heavy with the sent of plum blossoms, and today the birds are chirping
and the sun is shining through the open windows of my apartment. It could be worse, no?
23 February 2010 Well, hello
there. I’m not sure if anyone is still reading this, but perhaps that will change.
Where have I been? Africa, and then I got laid off
(by e-mail). And since then, searching for work. I was turned down for one job yesterday
and another one this morning. Still have a few irons in the fire. I’ve also been cooking a few shifts at the restaurant where I used
to work – it’s nice to do something I’m still good at. Reading a lot: Walter de la Mare’s Memoirs of a Midget, Tahar Ben Jalloun’s Partir,
Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries and his memoir, Toast, and also The Closing of the Western Mind, The
Myth of the Rational Market, Le Côté de Guermantes I, The Te of Piglet, New Orleans Cuisine: Fourteen Signature
Dishes and Their Histories, and a few other things. Farmers’ market report: it’s turning into spring! The first asparagus of the season,
cardoons, wild arugula, an odd Chinese green whose name I have forgotten (like choi sum, but with wider leaves), blood oranges,
Marsh grapefruit, eggs, and an Acme pain au levain. And things with Green Eyes are still going well. See you soon?
7 October 2009 Everything is fine. Just taking a break. See you around.
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