I do not normally engage in politically charged subjects here.  I like to keep this nice and light, a place for musings that hopefully spread a little joy and the occasional bit of wisdom, but I read something this week that I feel needs to be shared.  Since this is one of the few places where I can get away with saying anything I want, I am going to use it to help put a face on a problem our country currently faces.  I promise to go back to my usual pictures, recipes and homilies in my next post, but I beg your indulgence and your patience as I look a little deeper into an issue that I had honestly never considered until this week.

I take a lot of things for granted, I always have.  I have been blessed by place and circumstance and most of my troubles can be directly attributed to my own poor judgement, so I tend to forget just how good I have things.  It is easy to forget just how fortunate I am when dealing with life’s little foibles.  A couple of days ago while I actively putting off ride my bike and quietly moping to myself because the aches and pains of impending middle age, I ran across a link to an article that reminded me again just how lucky I am to be in relatively good health, all things considered.  Of course, I am living with diabetes and have to deal with those issues, but on the whole things are pretty good.  Maybe that is why this article hit me so hard, without a team of doctors and specialists and all of the wonders of modern medicine, how would I be doing?  Even worse, what if I did not have the great health insurance that helps me afford this care?  It makes you think, or at least it should.  So without further ado I ask that you take a moment to read this article and give it some thought.  I’ll be back after the break to make a few more comments and maybe even have a little Paul Harvey moment…

I Am Not a Dog

Ian Pearl

“I am not a “dog.” That’s what health insurance executives called me because I have a disease. I’m also not a “trainwreck,” another term they used for members like me.

Soon after I was born in 1972, I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. By the time I was six years old, I was confined to a wheelchair. Doctors doubted I would survive, but I inherited my parents’ determination, and I proved them wrong.

I was the first wheelchair-bound student “mainstreamed” in the schools of Broward County, Florida. I became a poster child for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and president of my high school class. I entered college in 1990 with plans to work in politics and patient advocacy, but at 19, I had a severe setback and I was confronted with a stark choice. My survival would require a machine to breathe and round-the-clock nursing care.

A breathing machine usually means life in a nursing facility. But my father’s small business had health insurance from Guardian Life Insurance Co., which promised “Solutions for Life.” The health policy had no lifetime benefit cap and covered home nursing care. Relying on that contract with a 149-year-old company, I decided to go on a mechanical ventilator for the rest of my life.

Since then, I’ve endured life-threatening medical complications and long hospitalizations. I’ve lost my privacy and ability to travel. But I never regretted my decision to live, to continue to learn and write, and to share in the lives of family and friends.

After decades of medical emergencies, we still weren’t prepared for the latest crisis — this one created by the same insurance company that once saved my life. Guardian abruptly withdrew our health plan from all policyholders in New York where my father’s business is based. Guardian offered a ‘replacement’ plan with low benefits and no home nursing benefits. They knew that I would never survive with such a plan, but they didn’t care.

Suspecting that this action was related to the high cost of my care, we filed a lawsuit and have asked the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to enforce existing federal laws and require Guardian to continue my health plan. Without federal intervention, I will lose this insurance, and that would be a death sentence.

Our lawsuit uncovered insurance company documents that confirmed my suspicion that I’m a target of discrimination. The documents revealed Guardian had compiled a “hit list” of its costliest members, including patients with muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, brain injury, and paralysis. Guardian executives referred to us all as “dogs” and “trainwrecks,” and they debated how and when to dump us from the rolls. Laws prohibited the cancellation of the individual members with serious chronic health problems, so Guardian opted to cancel the plan for all members of this specific health plan in New York, an action that violates federal law.

Although my medical costs constituted a minuscule fraction of Guardian’s profits, the company had been trying for 15 years to sidestep its obligations to me. The insurer hired private investigators who searched in vain for evidence to justify canceling the policy. Guardian had similarly targeted the other “dogs” without success. Finally, Guardian launched the unprecedented strategy of withdrawing an established plan throughout an entire state in order to discontinue a few costly members.

When we checked the private insurance market to see my options, we discovered that benefits covering the care I need to survive are no longer available to small businesses. We learned that the insurance industry has replaced risk management with risk elimination, offering only benefits that guarantee permanent profitability. The human toll is not a factor in their calculations.

While all this was going on, Guardian reported $7.5 billion revenue, net income of $437 million, and available capital of $4.3 billion in 2008. Unlike small businesses, Guardian’s financial strength remained unscathed by the economic downturn.

The health insurance industry remains unchecked, unaccountable and uninterested in the health needs of Americans. Nothing is more important than profit.

Don’t think what happened to me was unusual. Insurance companies regard everyone as potential dogs and trainwrecks. They won’t hesitate to use similar tactics to avoid your claims if someone in your family suffers a catastrophic illness. Insurers don’t like it when sick people live too long and cost too much.

I know firsthand that America’s health care system has the capacity to provide incomparable, life-saving care. But I am living proof that insurance-company “death squads” meeting behind closed doors routinely make life-sustaining benefits vanish.

Without stricter enforcement of existing laws and the creation of a public health insurance option to keep private insurers honest, it’s only a matter of time before you or someone you love will become the next victim.

Ian Pearl, October 19, 2009″

Pretty amazing, huh?  I have to be honest, I was genuinely shocked when I read this.  I guess I was not too surprised to hear that an insurance company was making a financial decision that would impact a person’s quality of life, that has to happen everyday, by necessity.  I was a little surprised to find the callous “dog” and “trainwreck” references, but once again this is something that has to happen for people to be able to live with these kinds of decisions.  Dehumanization of the subject is pretty routine when people have to make decisions that impact other people negatively, it is way easier to “trim the bottom line” than it is to put a single mother out of work.  The thing that really shocked, was that I cared.  Normally, I would read something like this and think to myself, “Man, that sucks” and move on, but I could not do that this time, you see, I know Ian.

I guess I should really say, I knew Ian, since we haven’t spoken in over 20 years, but in middle school we were good friends.  We hung out between classes, ate lunch together, visited each others homes and got into most of the trouble that preteen boys will.  After I moved away from South Florida, I kept tabs on him for a while through a mutual friend and I knew of his setbacks after high school, but the last time I asked there was no news, so I assumed the worst.  To see that he is still out there fighting amazed and inspired me, to also see that he is being flanked by the insurance companies while fighting his disease made me deeply angry.

I do not pretend to know what the answers are, to be honest I have not given it too much thought, since the system has been working for me.  There has to be some balance between quality care for everyone and a self-sustaining healthcare system and I am pretty sure that we can figure out some solutions if we will just try, but that is not why I come before you today.  I am writing in hopes that my experience here may help you.  It is so easy to not care, all you have to do is, literally, do nothing.  Caring is tough, because it makes us feel helpless to change things.  I am terribly frustrated because I see a situation that I know is wrong and I have no idea how to help.  All I know is that people matter, so when talk of “public options” and “death panels” and political BS reigns as we all watch the debates raging on the news, just remember.  Remember that for every statistic there is a person with a family that would give anything to see their “statistic” made well.  Remember that these “numbers” have names and that each has their story to tell and that there is nothing in this world more important than a person, any person.  What would you do if that “number” were a childhood friend?  So do this for me, remember what we are fighting for.  Remember Ian.

I Am Not a Dog was originally published on The Huffington Post.  Here is an article by the Washington Times for anyone interested in learning more about Ian’s situation and a video segment featuring Ian on CNN.

Update:

In a move that reminds us of the sly smile on Mr. Potter’s face, Guardian has reversed it’s decision.  In a statement, Guardian’s president Dennis Manning admitted the company was wrong,  “Insurance companies are comprised of human beings and sometimes we make mistakes. This was one of them, but we also learn from those mistakes and we seek to correct them.”  It just goes to prove that even when people do not want to do the right thing, they will do anything to keep other from thinking they are the kinds of people who would do the wrong thing.  Thank you to everyone out there who lent their voice to this cause, and Ian, you keep on fighting.

Taking the slippery slope into organic gardening...

One of the best parts of Autumn is the harvest of the bounty of summer and the final payoff of all of those long hours in the garden.  It is a time when our kitchen kicks back into gear after it’s long summer break, at time for baking and best of all a time for soups and stews.  There is little more welcoming than coming home to the smell of freshly-baked bread and a pot of stew that has been simmering all day.  One of my favorite Fall dinners is my mother’s Tomato Basil Bisque with a grilled cheddar cheese sandwich on homemade sourdough bread, now that is serious comfort food.  Normally, by this time of year we have to rely on tomatoes that we canned earlier in the season, but here we are in the first week of October and we still have fresh tomatoes on the vine, so let’s take advantage of them.

It is safe to say that it has been one strange summer, meteorologically speaking anyways.  It was never terribly hot and we had more than enough rain, but I will get back to that later, first I want to talk about our garden.  This year we took up organic gardening, which is to say that we added no artificial fertilizers or pesticides, etc. to the garden.  We also avoided herbicides and if you do not count the initial turning and tilling of the soil, we used no petroleum burning machinery in the care of the garden this year, so our carbon footprint is way down. In fact, it is nearly non-existent, because, excepting the initial planting, we have done almost nothing to our garden this season.  I would like to say it is because we are terribly forward-thinking and eco-conscious, but the fact of the matter is we were lazy and it seems to have worked out for us.

Pa discing for us

We tilled the soil this spring with the best of intentions. We had made plans and diagrams, cut items that we never really enjoyed anyway, added items that we wanted to try out.  We expanded our tomato section to sixteen plants, focusing mostly on heirloom varieties and specialty plants.  We had Cherokee Purple’s, Mr. Stripey, Abraham Lincoln, Russian Red, Brandywines, Golden Jubilee’s and several other interesting varieties, in shades from deep purple to bright yellow and every color of red imaginable.  We added tomatillo to the mix and more varieties of pepper, while cutting back on corn and beans.  We spent a couple of days turning the soil and tilling down to a perfect consistency before laying off our rows and planting, being sure to add just the right amount of composted manure to each plant’s bed.  Ah yes, we had a garden to make my grandparent’s proud.

What the garden would have looked like had the rain gods not been so gracious.

A few days later the first shoots began to break the ground and we beamed with joy.  As our plants grew the rains came and watered our new garden and we were so proud and the rain kept coming and coming and coming.  For thirteen days in May it rained nearly non-stop, no storms, just a constant steady soaking rain.  The rivers around us rose and the fields were flooded and most of our carefully planted seeds were washed away.  After the sun came back from it’s spring vacation we found that the tomatoes had survived and our herb garden was in good shape, but most everything else was a loss.  The rest of the season has seen enough rain to make our garden a nearly impassable mud pit most of the time.  So, we did what any respectable family would do, we gave up.  Our garden now has a decidedly different look, the Johnson grass is as high as an elephant’s eye, and to the casual observer it is little more than a patch of weeds.  I’ve got a secret though, it turns out that we have one of the ugliest but most productive gardens ever.  If you arm yourself with a machete and bear spray and head off into the wilds of deepest, darkest garden, you will find a veritable cornucopia of harvest delights.  The tomatoes are thriving in the wilds and our basil looks more like trees than bushes.  So it looks like going full-on organic, albeit inadvertently, has worked well for us this year.

Our ultra organic garden

To take advantage of our bounty of fresh tomatoes and incredibly pungent basil, the wife and I decided to put together a pot of my mother’s Tomato Basil Bisque to share with friends last weekend.  Now, this is not a true bisque, the way we make it, because I prefer to dice the fresh tomatoes into fairly substantial chunks, where a true bisque would really puree them.  This recipe is still an excellent dish if you substitute canned diced tomatoes, but when you use homegrown tomatoes and fresh basil this one really sings.  I suggest serving it with grilled cheese sandwiches, preferably made with aged Irish cheddar on homemade sourdough bread.

Mother Monkey’s Tomato Basil Bisque

2 Tablespoons of Butter

1/2 Onion, finely chopped, I am fond of a Vidalia for this

2 cups of diced tomatoes, drained

2 cans of condensed tomato soup, I use Campbell’s

2 cups of whole milk, I actually usually use skim or 1% here, but Mom’s recipe calls for whole.

1 cup of cream

1/2 a bunch of fresh basil, that’s about 1 ounce finely chopped

Parmesan cheese to taste, I prefer shaved, but grated works if that is what you have

Cracked black pepper and sea salt to taste

Sour cream (optional)

Sauté onions in butter over medium heat for five minutes or so, until they are soft and translucent.  Add the tomatoes to the pan, mix with the onions and continue cooking for 5 more minutes, then reduce to low heat.  Blend in tomato soup, milk and cream and continue cooking for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until soup is hot.  Add freshly chopped basil, reserving some for garnish, and stir until well blended.

Serve topped with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil for garnish.  I will sometimes add a dollop of sour cream to each bowl to deepen the flavor and I always ad lots of fresh cracked black pepper.

Pa's Border Collies resting in the freshly tilled soil

As many of you know, I have a real passion for the game of geocaching, and in my world passion=obsession, which leads to over-achievement and eventual burnout.  But I will have to say, my passion for this game has far outlasted most other things in my life, so who knows, maybe I will stick with it.  Whether it lasts or not I have had a great time exploring all over the U.S. tracking down these hidden treasures and getting to see some really great locations that I would have otherwise missed and I have met a metric bunch of really great people.  As it turns out, if you do something hard enough for long enough, people begin to think that you have some great knowledge or wisdom to impart.  I am happy to say that my tendency toward bombastic showmanship is occasionally tempered by my true desire to share and teach, and I have been been asked on several occasions to share the “secrets” to my geocaching success.  So I am sharing here, a little piece that I wrote to answer some questions for a “soon to be released” guide to geocaching, and if you make it through that to the end, I promise to share the real secret to successful geocaching.

Hidden treasures along the Fiery Gizzard trail

OK, I am not that “technical” when I cache, but this will give you a pretty good idea of how I approach the hunt.  It is also important to bear in mind that once you get within 30-50 feet of “ground zero” your GPSr is more of a hindrance than a help.  I almost never look at a GPS once I get with 50 feet or so of the coordinates.  It is far more important to be “searching the area with your eyes”, then to be watching the screen on the GPS. When you approach “ground zero” make a detailed search with your eyes, before you dive in.  A hiding location is in many ways, similar to a crime scene and if you rush in flipping over rocks and disturbing the area you are likely to destroy “evidence” left by the hider and previous finders of the cache.  While searching with your eyes, make note of any signs of use.  Not necessarily a trail to the cache, but broken branches or flattened undergrowth leading to an area.  Also be on the lookout for rocks or sticks that are not disturbed, I have found that while searching many hunters will take the utmost care to place the cache back the way they found it, but they will often leave stones and sticks from fruitless searches overturned.  So when you find an area, where all of the stones have been overturned, except one, the cache is probably behind that one perfect stone.  Of course this technique works just as well in an urban setting, if you watch you will notice signs of wear on a pole from having a cover moved, or that a “sticker” is a little crooked or even that a bush seems to have an opening on one side, where the branches have been pushed back repeatedly, all of these indicators are clues that can narrow down your search area.

Don't forget to hunt in three dimensions.

Learn to search with your eyes constantly.  The techniques used by trackers are also useful to geocachers.  Learn to keep your eyes open and find evidence of previous visitors to a cache site or just track them along the trail.  There are numerous books, online educational resources and even schools that specialize in tracking training, and I have found that tracking is a great way to pass the time on the trail, while honing a skill that will not only help you find more caches, but can also prove invaluable in the woods.  You will find that with practice, you will become more aware of your surroundings, which will make the trail, however faint, and man-made symmetry and order of many cache hiding spots very easy to spot.  You will also find that you are surprised by fellow hikers and game less often, I often notice that we are following someone or something on the trail, so when we catch up with them it is less of a shock.  In extreme cases you can also use your tracking skills to find your way back  out of dense woods or a swamp.  On one occasion I had to track myself back out of a strand in the everglades, when a massive equipment failure left us lost over a mile from our vehicle.  It was terribly frightening to be lost in the everglades, but confidence in a long practiced skill made it possible for us to find our way out again.

Some tracks are easier to follow than others...

Tracking skills are just a small part of the arsenal of knowledge you should have with you anytime you venture into the great outdoors.  If you are going to go into the woods, it is imperative that you learn the skills that will make it possible for you to survive for a short time there.  Anytime you enter the woods, you must be prepared not for the short 1 mile hike to the cache site, but for the things which might go wrong during that short hike.  Even if you are close to town or in a large urban park, you must be prepared to deal with injuries or other unforeseen difficulties.  Many “emergencies” can be avoided by proper planning and a thorough knowledge of the skills needed to survive in the woods, including first aid.  Once again there are numerous educational resources to help you learn these skills, take advantage of them before you need them.  Once you have acquired these skills they can save your life or the life of someone you find in danger on the trail.

Speaking of that, know when to say when.  All of the knowledge and gear in the world will not help you if you don’t use them.  During the thrill of the hunt, it is easy to “push too far” in order to find “just one more” cache.  Even if it is just one more mile, take the time to make a proper assessment of yourself and your group to make sure that you have sufficient supplies, time and energy to go not only that mile but to come back again.  The great outdoors is a wondrous place full of beauty, but it is also a cruel master that can and will punish the unprepared.

Caching at Umbrella Corporation

Learn hiders habits.  Some hiders have a preference for large trees, some like to hide caches in the thickest brush possible and some prefer an easier location, but just like in poker all hiders have a “tell”.  As you search for caches in your area make mental notes about hiding styles and preferences.  You will find that you are able to develop a very good feel for where the cache is likely to be just from a thorough knowledge of the hider.  I have used this technique to my advantage many times, particularly when dealing with a particularly difficult FTF.  For example, there is a hider in my home area who hides very tough micro caches.  He passes the time while averaging his coordinates, by snacking on sunflower seeds, and although he is usually careful to pack out the hulls, I have been able to find a sunflower seed or hull on more than one occasion, which let me know that I was very near to where he averaged the coordinates for the cache.  I will have to admit, though, that once he found out how I was tracking him, he fooled me by hiding a very difficult cache and then scattering sunflower hulls near a likely hiding spot about twenty feet away from the cache.

This technique of looking for “tells”is also useful for entire geographical areas to some extent.  I have found that there are regional preferences for hide styles and containers, etc.  While using this technique for an entire area is less useful, it will still give you a good basis to begin your search, just keep your mind open and don’t develop tunnel vision.  On the same note it is important to get a feel for regional differences in terrain and difficulty ratings, a 1.5 difficulty in Miami may be a three in your hometown, or vice versa, be aware of regional differences and take them in to account in your hunting and planning.

Speaking of tunnel vision, do everything in your power to avoid it.  Becoming focused on a preconceived notion of where a cache should be hidden is the largest hindrance to finding a cache.  While it is useful to develop a list of places to check when you first approach an area and “search with your eyes”, focusing on one location or hide style or container will cause you to overlook even the simplest of hides.  I do not know how many times we have made a cache harder than it is because we decided that it simply must be a fake leaf in a tree, when it turned out to be a simple match container under rocks at the base of the tree.

Beauty is everywhere, even at a 1/1 micro.

Another huge advantage is to go caching often.  I know that seems silly, but the fact is that the wider your range of caching experiences is, the better prepared you will be when you run into something new. Remember, even the much derided “lightpole cache” was a challenging hide, the first time you saw it.  That is the nature of the game and life, the more you experience the better prepared you are for new things and even the most exciting things can become old hat with time.  I remember being amazed by the first “fake bolt” that we found, now it is one of the places I look when I run through my mental checklist of possible hiding spots.

OK, so there you go, all of my great monkey lore and wisdom, when it comes to the “technique” of hunting caches, but since you hung around to the end, I will be true to my word and let you in on the “secret”.  The real secret to being a successful geocacher is to enjoy it.  It is as simple as that, just have fun with it.  If that means finding a group of like-minded friends and traveling all over the country with them hunting, then do that.  If it means going on crazy 24-hour runs to find as many as possible, then do that.  If that means hitting the trail and hiking all weekend for one cache, then do that.  Sit at your desk and solve puzzles for weeks or focus on 1/1 parking lot caches, it really does not matter how you play, as long as you are enjoying yourself.  I have approached the game from many directions and have hunted for pleasure and competition, for a while it was even like a second job for me, so I speak from experience when I say, do what feels right to you.  Play your own game and when it quits being fun, find something else to do.  That is the real secret to successful geocaching, it is what I do and you all know how happy I am.  In fact, you may find that this secret will work in other aspects of your life as well, if that is the case then I am glad to have shared.  Ya’ll stay sane, I’ll look forward to seeing you out on the trail…

Keep seeking those smilies...

UPDATE: After voting  closed we were lucky enough to be selected as one of fifteen finalists.  Our design went on to win Second Prize in this international Green Design competition, pretty cool, huh?  I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who supported this project, we could not have done this without you.

I know I should not use this site for my own evil schemes, but since I am asking other people to help support this project, I figured I had better support it myself.  So here I am asking for your help, trying to mobilize the Monkey Nation for the greater good of simians and simian enthusiasts everywhere.  So what do I need?  I need your votes.

Here is the deal.  When I am not working on real work or GeoWoodstock or writing this blog or taking pictures or coming up with other crazy schemes, my hobby is working on real-world problem solving, on a small scale.  A couple of months ago, my friend, Seth and I were trying to find a way to recycle or reuse 55 gallon drums from my work and hit upon several things, but among those we designed and built some pretty cool chairs.

On Monday April 20th our chair design was featured on Instructables.com and the same day we were added to the MakeBlog and featured on the front page of Make Magazine’s website.  This is the “holy grail” of the maker subculture, so I am extremely proud of this.  We have since been featured on DailyDIY.com, unconsumption.com, re-nest.com,  the Discovery Channel’s planetgreen.com and several other environmentally friendly and design related websites.  As I said before, I am very proud of the fact that our little project has enjoyed such widespread popularity and exposure.

This exposure brought us to the attention of the voters in the Epilog “Green” Design Challenge and I am proud to say that out of the 485 projects selected for the competition, we are currently ranked 11th in the voting, with only three days to go.  The top ten vote-getting projects are automatically finalists, so I need your help.

So, PLEASE, if you can take a minute to go to:

Recycled 55 Gallon Barrel Chair

or if that link does not work go to:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Recycled-55-Gallon-Barrel-Chair/

and take a minute to look over our project. If you think it is worthy please vote for us in the Epilog challenge. You will have to register to do this, but it is free, only takes a moment and they do not spam you. This is a fairly small contest so EVERY vote counts.

It would also be helpful if you will take a moment to “rate” the post, mark it as a favorite and/or leave comments. They are grading on lots of different criteria, so every little bit helps.

So pretty PLEASE with sugar on top, take a moment to look over our post and give us your vote, forward this link on to your friends, post it on discussion boards, bribe people, stuff ballot boxes, anything you can think of to help get the vote out. I would really appreciate it.

And I apologize in advance to you all for the hours of time you will spend looking through Instructables.com once you get hooked, it is worth it though, there is some really great stuff out there.

and like the old guys on the Bartles & James commercial always said,

We thank you for your support.

Addendum: Well, we did not win it all, but we were awarded Second Prize in the Epilog Green Design Challenge, and that is cool enough for me.  A few months later, we got an even better award.  Our chairs were chosen as the seating for the Instructables Restaurant, the world’s first open-source eatery, located in Amsterdam.  To see our design in use, is the best reward of all.  So, if you get to Amsterdam be sure to stop in and check them out.

Barrel Chairs in Amsterdam

Look at all the barrel-ly goodness.

I got older this week.  OK , I understand we get older every second of every day and that I am older now than I was when I last typed the word “I”, but we don’t mark the passage of time that way.  We tend to take it in nice sizable chunks, usually years, and we count from zero.  So this week, I turned over another year on my internal odometer, which tends to make me more introspective and reflective than usual.  It is funny that I am more childlike and playful than I was 10 or even 20 years ago, particularly as I have reached an age where my Peter Pan routine is becoming a little unbelievable, even to me.  So as I lay in bed just after dawn Sunday morning, contemplating the last thirty seven years I suddenly remembered the best birthday present I ever received, the one that changed everything…

OK, let’s set the scene:

April 5, 1979, a Thursday

Southeast Nashville, near the banks of Mill Creek

It is midafternoon, sunny and clear, off in the distance we see a shape, as it gets nearer we are able to make out colors, brilliant red, flashes of silver, deep blue, all mixed together in a blur of motion.  Suddenly, a man cries out, “Look, there on the street!  What can it be?  Is it a bird?  Is it a plane?”.

"Red" April 5, 1979

Nope, it is a seven year old Monkey on his shiny new red Western Auto bike complete with butterfly bars and banana seat, smiling for all the world to see.  I can see how you might have thought it was Superman, though.  Besides the fact that we share devilish good looks and an unmatched purity of heart, I was also sporting my new supermanesque satin cape that my Grandma had made for me.  So, how is that for the best gift ever?  It was my first bike that was actually mine.  I had already learned to ride a borrowed bike, but this one was mine, and that is the key to everything.  You see, the gift  that had me smiling at the ceiling 30 years later was not the bike, it was the freedom to see the world on my own terms.

April 5, 1973

Before I got my own bike, my world consisted of a few blocks and surrounding fields, as far as my KangaROOS could take me, but that red bike was a serious range extender.  Suddenly, the entire neighbourhood was my domain, from the time I got home from school until the streetlights came on, anyway.  A little later “Red” was retrofitted with BMX bars, a straight seat and knobby tires as we moved to the country and I suddenly found myself with miles of dirt roads to ride and rule.  Sadly, “Red” fell victim to a wayward tanker truck that turned around in our yard, crushing my stallion without even noticing.  It was a dark day, I was back to borrowed bikes, until a year later when “Son of Red” the Supergoose once again gave me wings.

Of course, as they say, “the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys” and as I got older my freedom came at great and greater costs.  Bikes passed into ATV’s, then motorcycles, gave way to jeeps, cars and trucks, but the thing that never changed for me is the freedom to strike out and wander, to see new things and explore for exploration’s sake.  With each change of vehicle and evolution, my playground grew, from the Nashville streets, to the trails of Florida and eventually across the country.   I guess that is what transportation has always meant to me, the freedom to escape, to get out and play.    Ever since “Red” came into my life I have been wandering, trying to find out how far those wheels could take me, so it is funny that for my 37th birthday, I gave myself another vehicle, a new pair of boots.

April 5, 1975

I have heard it said that your family gives you two things, roots and wings.  I have been given both, in spades, and I sure do appreciate it.  So, after mowing the yard, yep adulthood is funny that way, I celebrated another year of freedom by hitting the trail with my wife.  Wandering through the woods, exploring, seeing a side of the world that few people bother to check out anymore, finding another special place.  So here I am 30 years later, still out there, grinning from ear to ear, exploring for no reason other than to see what is out there, looking for adventure, sometimes with my wheels, sometimes with my boots, but always with the freedom to “go”.  I guess that is what Tolkien was talking about when he said, “It’s a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”  I always loved that image of the road as a flowing river ready to carry you along, that is a nice metaphor for time as well, I think.  In many ways on the day you are born, you are dropped into a swirling current of time that you ride until you finally reach the sea.  All we can hope for is that we ride one current long enough to come to the end of the other and that we share the journey with people we love.

Still exploring...

Addendum:  While there is no denying that my body is decidedly “out-of-warranty”, and that having things I remember clearly that were 30-something years ago is certainly sobering, I guess you could say I am still a kid at heart.  I recently found “Son of Red” hiding in the back of one of our barns, in pretty rough shape, but after looking around, I have found some replacement parts online and I am planning on putting her back on the road again.  I’ll keep you posted.

"Son of Red" the 1982 Supergoose II

Here comes the sun...

Spring is a time to retire the heavy stews that kept away the winter’s chill and celebrate the season of the sandwich and nothing says comfort food like pimento cheese.  Now if your experience with pimento cheese involves picking up a pot of the processed grocery store stuff, then I can understand your lack of enthusiasm, store-bought spreads are like the movie adaptation of a book, they often share a name and precious little else.  Likewise, if you are reading this north of the Mason-Dixon line then there is a good chance you are unaware of this delicacy and therefore “don’t know what you are missing”.  It seems hard to believe, to anyone raised in the South, that this ubiquitous potluck dinner/church social/picnic/afternoon tea/school lunch staple is a “regional” dish.  To the rest of you I am preaching to the choir, but stick with me and maybe I’ll find some scripture you haven’t heard yet.

It is hard to explain something as simple as Pimento Cheese.  On the surface it is simply a cheese based spread with pimento peppers added, but then, on the surface, barbeque is simply meat cooked slowly over a fire and cornbread is a cake made with cornmeal.  The statements are all true, but they don’t tell the whole story.  Just like barbeque and cornbread, pimento cheese is made with hundreds of variations in technique and ingredients with every region giving it’s own spin on this treat.  Those variations are part of the charm of pimento cheese, whether you go for a straightforward “government cheese”, mayonnaise and pimento spread on Wonder Bread or a gourmet mixture featuring imported cheeses, minced garlic, onions and watercress on soda biscuits at tea time, you are part of a Southern culinary tradition that ranges from the farm fields of Appalachia all the way to the manicured greens of the Masters Golf Tournament, where Pimento Cheese sandwiches are a time-honored part of the experience.

Well, I declare...

I think it is important here to get some facts together.  There has been some confusion regarding the word pimento.  In this case, we are talking about a pepper and I daresay, one you are already familiar with, here is what Wikipedia has to say about it:

The pimento, pimiento, or cherry pepper is a variety of large, red, heart-shaped chili pepper (Capsicum annuum) that measures 7 to 10 cm (3 to 4 inches) long and 5 to 7 cm (2 to 3 inches) wide. The flesh of the pimento is sweet, succulent and more aromatic than that of the red bell pepper. Some varieties of the pimento type are hot, including the Floral Gem and Santa Fe Grande varieties. Pimento or pimentão are Portuguese words for “bell pepper”, while pimenta and pimiento  refer both to chili peppers and to black peppercorns. It is typically used fresh, or pickled and jarred.

These sweet pimento peppers are also the familiar red stuffing found in prepared Spanish green olives. The pimento was originally cut into small pieces and hand stuffed into fresh green olives to complement the strong flavor of the olive.

See, it is the red stuff in the olive in James Bond’s Martini, I told you that you were already familiar with it.  Now, the confusion comes from the fact that pimento peppers share their name with a tree, specifically the Pimento tree of Jamaica, also known as allspice, that gives Jerk seasoning it’s flavor.  So there you go, two very different ingredients both called pimento, used in totally different ways to give unique flavor to very different foods, that share a name, kind of fitting, huh?

Keeping with that theme, trying to find the origins of this spread has been a little tougher, once again I have found a couple of very different explanations for the prominence of this treat as a Southern staple.  The first story goes that rural Southeastern cheeses, were typically softer “white” varieties, that are simpler to make on the farm, and that pimento cheese is made with a harder Northern yellow cheddar that had to be brought in from elsewhere.  Therefore, to serve this spread at a party was a bit ostentatious, it showed that you could afford to serve “imported” store-bought cheese.  The other side of this coin tells that this recipe is an attempt to make depression era “government cheese” more palatable, by mixing it with mayo and pimentos to make it softer and give it more flavor, much like the local cheeses of the area.  So you have two explanations of why this spread was served, from opposite ends of the social spectrum, wildly different, but perfectly plausible.  Well, at least as plausible as the fact that apparently pimento cheese is also a popular dish in the Philippines, but I digress.

I am going to share two vastly different riffs on the PC groove.  First, my version of a recipe I have seen touted as “The World’s Best Pimento Cheese Recipe” followed by my own Grandma’s tried and true recipe.  They are about as far apart as you can get, but they are both wonderful in their own ways and they show the culinary evolution of this great dish.

We’ll start with my “gourmet” variation on TWBPC, I took the basic recipe and selected high-end ingredients to make it extra special.

Hunger Among Plenty

The Monkeyman’s High-Brow Pimento Cheese

(Suitable for framing)

1/4 cup of mayonnaise, I use Duke’s, the best mayo on the market, period.

1- 3 oz. package of American Neufchatel, softened.  You can use cream cheese, but this tastes better and is better for you.

1.5 teaspoon of minced garlic or 3 cloves, minced

1/4 cup of chopped parsley

1/2 teaspoon of hot sauce, I use Captain Rodney’s Corazon del Fuego Hot Sauce.

1- 2 oz jar of diced pimentos, undrained

3 cups of finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, this is where you can really make you PC special.  I am partial to Kerrygold cheese, so I take 2 cups of their aged Reserve Cheddar and mix it with one cup of their Ivernia, this is an Irish cheese lover’s dream

1 cup of roasted pecan chips, I take whole pecans and toast them in the oven, before chopping them up with a couple of quick bursts in the coffee grinder.  Don’t chop too much though or you will have pecan meal.

Combine mayonnaise, neufchatel, garlic, parsley and hot sauce in food processor and process until smooth.  Add pimentos, cheddar/ ivernia blend and pecans chips and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate overnight so the flavors can blend.

More ingredients + More steps = Increased Complexity

To really tart this one up while keeping true to it’s Southern roots you can serve it on fresh from the oven beaten biscuits.  Hardly anyone takes the time to make beaten biscuits anymore and it is a shame, because they are mighty tasty, and they bear little resemblance to the biscuits we think of today.  Here is how Bill Neal describes them in his book, Biscuits, Spoonbread and Sweet Potato Pie:

“Beaten biscuits are, like grits, very much of a mystery to the uninitiated. They may be the forerunner of the modern raised biscuit, but these chewy, unleavened morsels resemble more the hard tack produced by early European bakers for armies and navies than anything else served up in the modern South.  At the most traditional fancy parties and weddings, biscuits no bigger than a quarter are invariably served up with baked, cured ham sliced as thin as imaginable sandwiched inside and spiked with mustard. Otherwise, beaten biscuits are rarely seen anymore. They sound harder to make than they are…those who enjoy a physical relationship with their doughs should be in heaven here. There is no getting around the activity. Fifteen minutes of heavy, consistent abuse is the minimum. You can use a rolling pin, a hammer, the side of an axe; whatever, it must be heavy.  When properly beaten, the dough will blister at each blow. it will develop a strange plastic quality and be smoother than any other bread dough you have ever seen…The biscuits, when done, will be dry throughout, yet soft in the middle.”

So there you go, a truly wonderful, gourmet pimento cheese, suitable for company.  Now to the other side of the coin, Grandma’s Church Social Pimento Cheese.  After spending your time at Whole Foods looking for the ingredients to my recipe, the shopping list on this one is going to seem awfully simple, but you should be able to get what you want at any grocery and make a whole batch in a matter of minutes.  Don’t let the simplicity fool you, though.  I don’t know how many platters of little sourdough finger sandwiches made with this golden treasure have been served at picnics, potlucks and church socials across the county, and I have never seen a single leftover.  This recipe is much sought after and is even used by a couple of local delis as the crown jewel of pimento cheeses.

Grandma’s Church Social Pimento Cheese

1 lb. of Velveeta.  Yes, I said Velveeta.  Yes, I know it isn’t even really cheese, it is technically a “pasteurized processed cheese food”.  Yes, I know that it has become one of the symbols of what is wrong with the US food industry. And yes, as much as I would like to maintain my usual cheese snobbery, it actually tastes pretty good, just don’t look at the ingredient list.

3/4 to 1 cup of Mayonnaise, Grandma usually chooses Hellmann’s, but I have seen her use Kraft as well.

1- 4 oz. Jar of Pimentos, undrained.  Here is where she beats us all, instead of buying the little tins at the grocery, she grows her own.

Grate the entire block of Velveeta into a large bowl, add mayonnaise and pimentos, mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for 4-6 hours and you are done.

Could it be simpler?

I told you it was easy and I did not lie.  Well, now I am telling you it is awfully good.  So you can go my route, hunting all over for occasionally hard-to-find ingredients, spending time roasting pecans and chopping and mincing, etc.  or you could make Grandma’s Pimento Pasteurized Proccessed Cheese Food, and have time to read a comic book.  On top of that you can make several pounds of Grandma’s for about the same price as 2/3 of the cheese used in mine.  Here is the kicker, if you take Grandma’s and spread it on her homemade sourdough bread, slice it into triangles and add a little garnish, people will choose it 2 to 1 over my gourmet recipe.  Even those who claim to be more cultured, folks who would walk out of the house if they thought it contained Velveeta or non-electronic Spam, will rave over these cute little tea sandwiches and beg for the recipe.  For my own tastes, there is nothing better than Grandma’s PC on her homemade sourdough bread, topped with a couple of her homemade sweet pickles.  If you can’t convince her to share her pickles, Bainbridge Sweet n’ Crisp Pickles are an acceptable substitute.  It is also pretty good on a plain old saltine cracker, but don’t tell anyone I said so.

So there you go, a tale of two pimento cheeses, one is a needlessly complex mixture of many simple ingredients, the other a simple mixture of few ingredients, including an overly complex “pasteurized processed cheese food”.  Do yourself a favor and try one or both of these recipes, you will be glad you did.  On a warm, Spring Sunday afternoon they are a little slice of heaven, now that’s good eating.

Mmmm, mmmm good!

When March rolls around and Spring begins peeking at us from behind the trees, I begin to long for fields of green.  Soon enough the flowers begin to raise their heads from their long winter naps and the signs of the turn of the season become impossible to ignore.  It is about this time that one of my favorite holiday’s rolls around, when everyone gets to put on the green and pretend that they are one of the blessed people, if only for a day.  For me, St. Patrick‘s Day is not about drinking and carousing, although I have been known to do my fair share of that, it is really about the change of the year, a celebration that we have made it through another winter and that the time of bounty is ready to begin again, the polar opposite of Thanksgiving, if you will.  A time to consider what lies ahead and what this new year will bring.  Of course, if you would like to celebrate that with a raised pint, well as long as the beer is black and stout,  then who am I too judge.

This time of year always makes me homesick as well, for a place I have never lived, but the place my family came from on the wild, western shores of Ireland.   It is strange to visit a place and feel as if you have finally arrived where you have always belonged.  Walking along fields that my ancestors plowed and harvested touched something deep in my soul, and I would give better than even odds that Laura and I will land and replant our roots there someday.  But rather than try to tell you of my love of the rugged west coast of Hibernia, I will try my hand at what they call a photo essay.

One of the things I remember most fondly from this trip was waking up every morning to the scents of bread baking and then making our way down to a traditional Irish breakfast.  Now Irish breakfast is no simple affair, it is a substantial meal that will keep you going all day.  We typically began with a glass of juice and some oatmeal, followed up by rashers of bacon, sausages, a fried egg or two, both white and black puddings, a fried tomato and mushrooms, all the brown soda bread and butter you can eat, washed down with a pot of Irish Breakfast Tea.  Now that is a breakfast that will keep you going all day.  It is the scent of that bread that woke us up in the mornings and it is the taste that haunts me still.  If you would like to try it yourself, here is a simple recipe adapted from Mary Kinsella’s excellent book, The Irish Country Kitchen.  On the advice of an innkeeper, we picked up a copy at a small shop in the village of Terryglass, and we have found it an invaluable guide to Irish cooking.

Brown Soda Bread

2.5 cups of plain flour, not self-rising

pinch of salt

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1 level teaspoon of breadsoda, we call it baking soda here.

1.25 cups of buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400°

Sieve flour and salt into a bowl, add the whole wheat flour and breadsoda, making sure to break up any lumps.  Make a well in the centre and add almost all of the milk; mix to a loose dough.  If necessary add more milk.  Turn onto a floured board and knead for five minutes, until smooth.  Shape dough into a circular loaf, make a cross-cut on the surface and place on a floured baking sheet.  Bake for 40-45 minutes @ 400°, the bread is ready when it sounds hollow when tapped on.  Remove from oven and place on rack to cool.

When cooled, slice and serve with a big dollop of Kerrygold butter.  We sometimes add oats or bran to the recipe and we have even been known to throw raisins in there as well.  I haven’t found a way to mess this great recipe up yet, but I will keep trying.

I hope you enjoyed this little pictorial stroll through my memories of Ireland.  If you really want to learn some fascinating things about the contributions of this island nation and the real St. Patrick, pick up a copy of Thomas Cahill’s, How the Irish Saved Civilization, you will be glad you did.

A snow angel's view of the world

Big Agnes Encampment +15° Sleeping System
$159.95 @ REI

When it comes to your sleeping arrangements, you can’t be too careful when it comes to climbing into someone else’s sack.  This is especially true, out on the trail, where your choice of sleeping arrangements can be the difference between life and death, or comfort and discomfort in my non-mountaineering world.  I have searched far and wide for a truly comfortable cold-weather bag at a reasonably backpackable weight and I now own a rack full of failed contenders.  They are all great bags, but they fall short somehow.  My 6’3″ more than amply padded frame requires more space than most off the shelf bags allow for, so it has been a challenging search at times.   Like a trailbound Goldilocks I would go from bag to bag, this one was roomy and warm but too heavy;  that one is lightweight but too constrictive and not warm enough.  So the search continued until I finally found one that is, just about right.

Enter the Big Agnes Encampment a 15° oversized bag, that I got in the long model.  Big Agnes has a different philosophy when it comes to their bags.  They know that the insulation on the bottom of the bag gets compressed and does little good anyway and that we all use sleeping pads to add comfort and to insulate us from the ground.  So they did a surprisingly logical thing, they removed the insulation from the bottom side of the bag and added a sleeve to hold a sleeping pad.  This makes for a lighter bag that packs smaller, while still providing the same heat rating.  It also has the added advantage of making it very difficult to roll off your pad in the night, since it is an integrated part of this “sleep system”.  I was dubious at first, but it seems to work very well.  I have heard from other people that this bag is not rated properly and that it does not keep you warm when the temp is down in the twenties, but every time I hear that a few minutes later it becomes clear that they are not using this bag the way it is designed to work.  When used properly this one will have you nice and toasty.

I had put off reviewing this one until I had a chance to not only sleep in it on a truly chilly night, but also to carry it in my pack for a couple of days of real trail work.  We carried it on a couple of car camping trips in the fall, but the nights were not cool enough to give this bag a workout.  My wife and I recently hiked in to camp for Valentine’s Day at Raven’s Point Overlook along the Fiery Gizzard Trail in Southern Middle Tennessee and it provided a perfect opportunity to really put this one to the test. The February night saw temps in the low 20′s, but once I got into the bag and warmed it up, I stayed warm all night long.  It was one of the first times that I slept all night long actually bundled up, mummy bag style, and I discovered that filling the built in pillow pocket with extra clothes made such a great pillow that I ended up not using my usual inflatable.  It also has a great draft collar to keep air from escaping the top of the bag and fully insulated zipper backing.  The zipper was fairly easy to operate from inside the bag, but I did sometimes have trouble finding the single tongue and it did catch on the insulated backing if I was not careful.  On the other hand it was always easy to work out these snags.  All of the adjustments around the head were easy to operate from inside the bag and it cinched down comfortably.  My biggest complaint is the lack of a built in pocket inside, but that is easily worked around.

On the whole, I was pleased with it’s performance.  I have no problem recommending this one, just be sure you are using it with a decent sleeping pad and I am sure you will be happy.  I love the fact that it is roomy enough for my ample frame and that it is possible to roll over inside the bag comfortably.  It comes with a cotton storage sack and a stuff sack for packing, although I did not use the stuff sack.  I tend to just shove my bag into the bottom of my pack, it will compress there nicely and expand to fill the gaps, rather than having a fairly hard stuff sack in there leaving gaps around it.  I am not saying this is better, it is just how I do it.

I picked mine up at REI where it normally retails for $159.95, but I caught it on sale for $109.95, so keep your eyes open for deals.  I am currently using it with an REI Trekker 1.75 sleeping pad, but after doing some research I now fully intend to purchase the pad that is made for it.  I like that you are not tied to using their pad, but the more I look at it, the more I like the design of the Big Agnes Insulated Air Core.  In fact I have one on order, so I will keep you updated when I get a chance to check it out.  So there you go, I have a wall full of sleeping bags to choose from, but when the weather warrants it, I look forward to climbing in the sack with Big Agnes.

Big Agnes Encampment +15 Sleeping Bag – Long

Here is the “official” description from REI’s website.

• Underside insulation has been eliminated and replaced with a sleeve for the Big Agnes REM Air Core Pad, or any 20-in. wide pad (sold separately)
• Three-season modified mummy sleeping bag features Climashield™ HL insulation and shingle construction for reliable warmth
• Climashield HL retains much of its warmth even when wet; A-Flex™ construction increases loft and maximizes heat retention
• Continuous oversized draft wedge insulates the connection between the bag and pad to prevent cold air from entering
• Nylon ripstop shell is treated a Durable Water Repellent finish; soft, breathable nylon taffeta lining cocoons you in comfort
• Two-way, full-length, locking zipper with big, easy-to-grab zipper pull
• Large draft tube located behind the zipper prevents warm air from escaping and cold air from entering
• Pillow pocket allows you to stuff extra clothing or travel pillow inside
• Includes a nylon stuff sack and large storage bag

Keep warm, Spring is almost here...

Industrial Grade Creativity from the Mind of the Monkey

It is often said that the best projects come from scratching an itch you have and that is certainly the inspiration for this one.  My wife and I love to cook, and we are both gear heads, subsequently we have way more pots and pans than we need, or than our small farmhouse kitchen can store.  We considered cutting back on our gourmet accoutrement, but just could not bear the thought of parting with our fajita griddle, extra No. 6 cast iron skillet or monkey-shaped baking pan, so a new storage option was in order.  A quick survey of the kitchen revealed that we had some unused space along the wall under our kitchen table so we set out on a quest for a new pot rack.  We searched high and low, but could not find anything that used the available space well, except for a $200 dollar model from Williams-Sonoma.  So we abandoned that quest and headed over to Lowe’s for some lightbulbs.  While picking up a pack of spiral CFL’s, suddenly a metaphorical lightbulb went off and we decided to make our own Pot Rack, custom designed and built for our available space.

We started off looking at existing shelving and racking options, but we were not happy with any of those and customizing them seemed more trouble than they were worth.  So I decided that I could build a simple rack out of the same aluminum blanks that I used for the campstove pot stand, but when I looked at the metal options I found just what I was looking for and a new project was born.  So what do you need to make this Monkey Tested, Frog Approved Wall Mounted Pot Rack?

Ingredients:

1- 6 foot section of 1.25 X 1.25 inch, 12 gauge, perforated angle steel

8- 1.5 inch screws with drywall wall anchors

8- 13/16″ washers

10- #60 stainless steel “S” hooks

Tools:

Hacksaw

Grinder or heavy file

Drill with 1/2″ bit

Phillips Screwdriver

Hammer

Where did that monkey pan go?

This is a super simple build, but sometimes simple is better.  In fact I am almost embarrassed by how easy this is, once you find the correct materials, but it works so well, that I just have to share it.  I wish I could think of some great, needlessly convoluted way to make this process more complex, but the simple, utilitarian design of this rack, just will not allow for it.

We had a space of roughly 36″ to work with under the table, between the legs, so we opted for a dual level 36″ rack.  We began by cutting the angle steel in half, leaving us two 36″ pieces.  I used a hand hacksaw for this cut, but you could use a jigsaw with a metal cutting blade, a cutting torch or Richard Kiel’s teeth, in a pinch.  Technically, you could go mount these on a wall at this point and have all of the functionality, but I did not like the unfinished look and I was concerned about safety issues.  To solve both of these problems I decided to make a diagonal cut from the corner of the “L” to the outer edge of the “shelf” portion of the bracket.  After making the first cut with a hacksaw, I switched to a portable bandsaw for the next three, as that was much easier.  After making these cuts, I used a rotary grinder to smooth out the sharp edges, finishing up with a wide file for a nice finished look. Making these angle cuts and finishing the edges is time-consuming, but it  is far more aesthetically pleasing and it makes for a much safer rack, which is important since this is mounted low enough for children to get to.

Kid Friendly Corner

So, that is it for construction, buy perforated angle steel, make five cuts and finish the edges, pretty simple, huh?   Good, because it is supposed to be easy.  To install your racks, measure the space and decide on the proper height.  In our case it was 22″ for the bottom rack, so we measured up and struck a line, held the rack in place and marked where to drill our holes.  I opted to go with four supporting screws, basically because I thought it would be prettier that way, but also because when hanging heavy pots and pans, more support is better.  So drill your four holes and install the wall anchors, then mount the rack using the screws and washers.  I chose these washers for two reasons, first, because you need something to keep the screwheads from passing through the perforations in the angle steel, and secondly, because these large diameter washers with small center holes give this a more finished look.  Although the final product has an industrial look, the angled corners and attention to details like these washers, give it a definitely designed flair.

After mounting the first rack rail, we decided to go ahead and mount the second at 27″ and to place our screws in the same positions as the first for a finished look.  With both rails in place, we began hanging pots and pans in the existing holes using our purchased “S” hooks.  Once the rack was stocked we slid the table back into place and marveled at how much better things looked without pots and pans stacked everywhere.

What's under your table?

I am far more proud of this project than it’s simple construction allows for, but it solved a problem that has plagued us for a while and it did so in a particularly elegant way.  We are now utilizing an easy to access yet hidden storage space, in a clever and economical way.  The materials to put this together cost about $30.00 and we got far more storage out of this space than any “store-bought” option could provide, with a design flair that should satisfy even the most discerning recessionista.  If you don’t care for the industrial look of raw steel, a quick coat of spray paint will make this match any decor and I think it is pretty enough to display, even though I hid mine under the table.  So there you go, a simple wall-mounted pot rack for around $30.00 and less than an hour’s work.  This is an itch that has been well and truly scratched.

Bear in mind that I was building this for a specific space under my kitchen table, therefore the dimensions are for my available space.  You should feel free to size this up or down to fit your own space or artistic bent. I can envision making several shorter racks and then hanging them at varied heights on a wall in the kitchen to make the display of cookware more like an artistic installation.  I have too much art and not enough wall space for that, but that won’t keep you from running wild with this.

It's poetry in motion...

My wife was giving me a hard time last week, apparently I have been slacking in the cooking department lately, so I decided to treat her to my take on a recipe she made last week, with mixed results.  Since it was Mardi Gras, I decided to revisit a recipe for Cabbage Jambalaya that Mary R. gave us while we were in Thibodaux at the first of the year.  My take on the Jambalaya was great, although I did get it a little too spicy, I have learned, though, that making the exact same dish, only better, is probably not the best way to keep peace in Monkey Manor.  Which got me to thinking about cooking, following recipes and deciding when to blaze your own trail.

We live in an age where simple cooking is becoming a bit of a lost art.  I have friends and family for whom making dinner means grabbing a box out of the freezer or a can out of the cabinet and applying heat to it’s contents.  There is nothing wrong with this, I am all for our brave, modern world filled with such conveniences, but it’s kinda like watching the movie instead of reading the book, it is sort of the same only not as good.  Grandma is on the other end of that spectrum, she almost always starts with a bunch of raw ingredients and uses her experience rather than a recipe to craft her meals.  I settle somewhere in the middle, and here is why…

She blinded me with…

I am always wanting to experiment and make things better, plus I have a tiny little attention span.  So, I will often look at a recipe as a sort of map  with a clear trail that will guide me to the final goal, and just like a real map, I look at it and see if there might not be a better way to get to the goal or a more interesting place to visit along the way, although I still get horribly lost occasionally.  The good news is, I am one of those souls lucky enough to be surrounded by great cooks who took the time to make sure that I learned the arcane arts of cookery.  Sounds funny, but that is how they treated it.  I was taught to make cornbread from scratch without a recipe, the same goes for gravies, greens, beans, you name it.  Now to any mildly accomplished cook this sounds like nothing, but to folks who have not been schooled in the dark culinary arts, the idea of approaching ingredients without a recipe and adding cornmeal until it “feels” right is an impossibility.

But that is beginning to change. The chef, Alton Brown has done a really wonderful thing with his unique approach to cooking and baking in his books and his show Good Eats.  Teaching people the science behind cooking he strips away some of the mystery, opening the kitchen to a new generation who have the opportunity to learn to cook unfettered by the impenetrable arcana of the old kitchen.  By exposing the scientific principles behind each ingredient and dish he is essentially explaining the hows and whys of your Grandma’s cooking in terms that we are now comfortable with.

Golden Age of Wireless

I once read an article by Bert Hansen called “The Complementarity of Magic and Science Before the Scientific Revolution,” which appeared in the magazine American Scientist in March of 1986.  I have searched the interwebz far and wide but have not been able to find an online copy of this remarkable work to link here, if you can track it down I recommend it highly.  I have an old battered Xerox copy of it at home that I re-read from time to time.  The basic premise is that many of the scientific principles which we take for granted today, were the highest forms of magic during the Middle Ages and that early witches and wizards were in fact the forerunners of our modern scientists, fascinating stuff.  Anyway, that is exactly what Mr. Brown’s work is doing for us today.  In the same way that Julia Child peeled back the curtain and exposed the secrets of French cuisine to the American and British mainstream in the 60′s, Alton Brown is explaining the mysteries of cooking and baking in a way that our more scientific minds can manage and interpret.  This is also having the interesting side-effect of making science, particularly chemistry, more accessible to the layman.  After all if cooking is only science in action, then isn’t science just cooking with a lab coat on.  I am surprised that more educators do not begin teaching chemistry by having their students bake cookies or make Kool-Aid.  Why not break them in with some easily accessible household chemistry?

OK, so what was my point?  My point is that two people who are both good cooks can start with the same recipe and by applying their experiences and preferences, have wildly different results.  Laura took the base recipe, but used only ground beef, more rice and she went light on the seasonings.  I followed the recipe and used both beef and pork, but then I added more cabbage, used whole grain brown rice, sauteed onions and garlic, some celery and a healthy dose of Cayenne pepper.  They were both great, but we agreed that mine was the more flavorful, and that it will serve as our departure point for the next batch.  That is when it hit me that this recipe is a great opportunity for new cooks to try their hand at “blazing their own trail” culinarily.  So I am including it here, not only because it is a great dish, but also as a bit of an assignment.  Make this one according to the recipe once, if you don’t like it, feed the rest to the dog and quit taking advice from monkeys, but if you do like it, then make it again next week, only this time do something to make it your own.  Throw in some bell peppers or stewed tomatoes or try it with chicken, boiled shrimp or sausage.  Maybe you want to use barley or quinoa instead of rice, or add too much Captain Rodney’s Mango Fire hot sauce, as I am apt to do, just let your imagination run wild and have fun with it.

The key is to not take things too seriously and to be willing to experiment, just like anything thing else you make.  Sometimes you are going to make a bad dish, and you will learn from that.  Sometimes you are going to make something new and wonderful, you will learn from that too.  No matter what, you will be playing in the kitchen, honing the skills that will take you beyond the slavery of recipes into the freedom of the true cook.  So get out there and blaze your own trail, you will be amazed at the places it will take you.

Mother Mary’s Cabbage Jambalaya in it’s original form

1 Head of Shredded Cabbage

1 pound of ground meat (1/2 pork, 1/2 beef)

I large chopped onion

1 cup of raw rice

1 and a half cups of water

Season to taste

Brown meat in large pot and drain fat.  Add rest of ingredients, cover and cook on low heat for an hour until rice is cooked.

An element in harmony...

For the record, Laura is an excellent cook and handles most of the day to day meals around the house, but we love to cook together and the opportunity to take each other’s work and improve upon it.  Working together in the kitchen is good practice for the rest of our lives, it’s poetry in motion.  That’s a pretty good recipe, too.