Beer and Peaches Mingle

 

Last week while at the library I sat next to a man who wore fishing waders and laughed periodically as he read the latest issue of Scientific American. Also seated next to me was a man who was dressed like he was a Game of Thrones extra. Occurences like this are common in Lawrence, KS., and it's one of the many things I love about this town.

I've never told anyone this before, but I feel a certain kinship with such folk. I know I'm only a few steps away from being the guy in the library who wears a chef's apron while reading back issues of Bon Appetit and singing Woody Guthrie songs in a French accent. I'm a fragile soul whose mental health sometimes hangs by a thread. Fortunately, I have a lot of touchstones that keep me grounded and mentally healthy. Writing this blog is one of those touchstones. For the past six months or so, I've been debating whether writing a blog - especially a food blog - is worthwhile. I admit that writing a blog is a silly, ridiculous, frivolous, and a priviledged activity, but it keeps me from living inside my head too much and it's helped me find some kindred spirits. So I guess I'll just keep writing this blog.

 

This spring I loaned a copy Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams by Jeni Bauer to six people, and all six promptly ran out and purchased their own copies. This is the best cookbook I've purchased in two years, and you need to clear off a space on your cookbook shelf for your own copy. I've shared her recipe for Coffee Ice Cream on this blog, and the book's also contains some wonderful sorbet recipes, like the following that uses a lambic beer. I knew nothing about lambic beers before I encountered this recipe, and I still don't know a lot about these beers, but all you need to know is that it's a slightly fruity beer. I used a lambic brew my Lindeman's; however, I think, there are better lambics out there. I think New Belgium brews a lambic as part of their Lips of Faith series. I think it would be worth checking out. Anyway, here's the recipe:

 

Peach Lambic Sorbet

• 1 pound fresh peaches
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 3/4 cup lambic beer, chilled

1. Peel and pit peaches. Puree fruit in food processor until smooth.
2. Combine the pureed fruit, sugar, and corn syrup in a saucepan an bring to a simmer, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and chill in the mixture in a refrigerator for two hours.
3. Add beer to fruit mixture. Pour the sorbet base into ice cream maker, and spin just until is is the consistency softly whipped cream.
4. Pack the sorbet into a storage container, Place airtight lid on it, and freeze for at least four hours.

I enjoyed this sorbet, but it's not my favorite in the cookbook. You need to buy the book and try the influenza sorbet, a soothing, healing mix of orange juice, whiskey, cayenne pepper, and other ingredients I can't recall at this time. Last winter anytime I felt puny, I ate a spoonful or two of this sorbet and it kept illness at bay. You should keep a quart of influenza sorbet in your freezer, and we can broaden our research of this sorbet's healing powers.

 

This land is your land,

muddywaters

 

Posted with Blogsy

Dang Me! I Lack Discipline

I'm still struggling to find the discipline to blog regularly.  I've been thinking a lot about how I talk much less than most people I know and I wonder how all those people find all those words.  I wonder if writing is easier for garrulous folk.  I don't speak a lot because I don't know if I what I have to say is worth hearing, which I guess is the case for most things said in this world.  I'm still going to stick with this blog because I know that the switch will click and soon I will be a writing machine.  For now, I'm resorting to cheap tactics to post regularly.  Today I went through some posts I started but never finished.  Here's one from March of this year: 

I've been reading a lot of Raymond Carver and thinking about drinking gin.  I've also been trying to write and make sense of the thing I do called blogging.  I've also spent a lot of time reading about writing and different methods writers use to write, which allows me to avoid actually writing.

A while back, I read this anecdote from Johnny Cash's autobiography.  I copied the passage down because it meant something to me at the time.  In the passage he shares this incident about driving in the California desert with Roger Miller:

Out in the middle of the desert he told me to pull over, then jumped out, and ran off behind a Joshua tree with a pad and pencil.  When he came back he had a fully written song.

It was "Dang Me."  He'd hidden behind that tree to write it because he knew it was just too hot a song to be created with me or anyone else anywhere near him.  He had to bring it into the world all by himself, like an Apache woman giving birth.  When he came back and sang it to me off the pad, I saw his point.

That's all I wrote, so now I will finish the post.

I guess, I was intrigued with what this anecdote says about writing.  It's a solitary process and sometimes you have to distance yourself from everyone and everything to for the wheels to start turning.  I guess, generally this is true.  During the past few weeks I've been experimenting with just writing whenever I can because it's not always possible to set aside chunks of time to write.  I've taken to scribbling down words or phrases that tickle my fancy.  

Did Navajo women really give birth alone?  Or is Johnny Cash is full of shit?  Saying Johnny Cash is full of shit seems blasphemous in my world.   

be good and do good,
muddywaters

Sausage in Wilson, Kansas

Most out-of-staters see Kansas via I-70, and the interstate is no way view a state. To appreciate any state, it's best to leave the interstate and explore. The next time you're out on the highway and you're looking for adventure, visit Wilson, KS. There in the Czech Capitol of Kansas you'll find two of my favorite things in the world: kolache and sausage. As soon as you step inside the downtown grocery store and the scent of wood smoke working it's magic on the store's sausages hits you, you'll know the two-mile detour off the interestate was worth it. Load up on sausage, it's the type of treat that can physically and spiritually sustain you all the way to the west coast.