Domestic Goddess

When I was in the throws of pickling the carrots (hands covered in garlic, jalapeños and vinegar, lovely) my friends showed up for a meeting I was hosting for the Boston Many Hopes leadership team. I thought I would be done with the carrots by the time they got here. Think again. One woman remarked as I was sweating and covered in garlic, "you are such a domestic goddess". Hilarious. Right J. So goddess-esque right now.

The Pickled Beets recipe I found on Epicurious only filled 2 jars. Undefeated, I took J's encouragement and I decided to make up my own beet pickling recipe. None of the ones I found online seemed to be what I wanted and I knew my grandmothers recipe would have me waiting for 6 months if I did it properly. I took on my new domestic goddess distinction and made a NEW beet recipe.

Pickling Spice costs a fortune at the grocery store for a tiny jar. Ridiculous. When I looked at the jar I realized that I had most of the ingredients, so I just made my own. Making my own spices. Another new thing. On. A. Roll.

{Tara's Pickled Beets & Eggs}

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sugar (I used turbinado, which made them more sweet, but just because I was out of regular Trader Joe's Organic Sugar)

1 tsp pickling spice (recipe below)

1/4 tsp pickling salt

2 bay leaves

1lbs fresh beets with caps cut off both ends

4 fresh eggs

1 sprig of fresh dill for each jar

1/8 tsp whole peppercorns 

Boil vinegar, water, sugar, spice, salt and bay leaves until sugar is disolved and let cool. Prepare the beets by boiling for about an hour and then letting them cool. I let mine sit on the counter during my meeting for about 2 hours and then they were cool enough to handle. Slip off the skins. They should just slide off if you boiled your beets long enough. Your hands could get stained, so where gloves if you like.

While you are slipping off the beet skins, put 4 eggs in a small pot completely covered in salty water and bring to a boil for 3-4 minutes. Then let sit in the water another 10 minutes or so. You want to make sure the eggs are hard boiled. No soft yolks. Run the eggs under cool water and remove shells.

Divide beets and eggs into 2 jars with a sprig of fresh dill and a pinch of peppercorns. Once the brine is cool pour over the beets and eggs. Seal up your jars and put them in the fridge for at least 2 days. The longer the better. Eat within a month. Delicious sliced on top of a salad with quinoa and feta or just plain with salt and pepper.

Epicurious on left. Tara's Beets on right.

{Tara's Pickling Spice}

2 tbsp black mustard seeds

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp ground cloves

2 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp whole cloves

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp dried red pepper flakes

1 bay leaf, crumbled or cut into small pieces

1 cinnamon stick (2 inches)

Mix it all together in a little jar and use as needed. Shake before using to make sure spices are well distributed.

I'm calling these recipes "Tara's" this or that only because I am offering to take all the credit if it is horrible. I just made these up, so I'll let you know in a few days what happens. 

bon apetite,
t

I Never

As my small group can attest, many of the thoughts I share begin with, "So I was listening to WGBH and ..." fill in the blank. Today is no different. Diane Ream's show this morning was on violence against women spurred from the 22-year-old woman shot in the back before an audience of men in Afghanistan last week. As most things are in our day, it was recorded with a camera phone which is why this particular incident (female executions are not uncommon around the world, especially in the Middle East) is getting a lot of attention. 

While Diane's guests talked about violence ending when women are empowered economically and otherwise and how ideas about masculinity need to be transformed to honor women, it made me so eager to do something. There are a lot of things to care about in the world, but this is the issue that lights a flame in me. I wish every woman could have a part of my freedom, respect and honor. 

I've never been raped.

I've never been illiterate.

I've never had to quit school because my education wasn't valued.

I've never been married as a child bride.

I've never been forced into an arranged marriage with my rapist.

I've never been forced into an arranged marriage at all for that matter.

I recently met a Middle Eastern girl who immigrated to the US with her family. She was not able to enroll in school like her younger sister, she must have just missed the cut off at 18-years-old. Her parents arranged for her to marry someone of the same nationality living in another part of the US and now she must go 1700 miles away from her family to be with her husband. Her English is sub-par and she is moving to the south. That is on a "new" on a scale I will never get close to. 

It's been fun to do all these new things (today I pickled), but this season of my life is about a transition to helping others have a new experience of value, respect, dignity, empowerment. That is the new thing I am most excited about right now. So while all these new things are great, the new thing I want most is to be a tool that helps set the captives free.

I started The Divine Hours today. It was only a partial fail. I started strong at 7am, but the hours are 4 services of prayer throughout the day. I only got to the first one. Oops. There is always tomorrow. If you have never heard of The Divine Hours (like me until a month ago) here is a brief introduction:

“Asking me why I keep the offices is like asking me why I go to church. One, granted, is a place of bricks and mortar, but the other is a chapel of the heart, as powerful a place, albeit one of the spirit. The Offices open to me four times a day and call me to remember who owns time and why it is, as a part of creation. All that means really is that four times a day the watchmaker and I have conversation about the clock and my place as a nano-second in it. All The Divine Hours does is fill the ancient and fixed order of that conversation with the vocabulary and rhythms that are natively and unpretentiously ours as 21st Century Christians. There is nothing new here except a newness of accessibility and a new ease of glory in the doing of it."
― Phyills Tickle

{ Spicy Pickled Carrots }

5 pounds of full-sized carrots, peeled and cut

4 jalapenos peppers, with seeds, halved lengthwise down the middle

14 whole cloves

2-1/3 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

7 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed slightly

5 cups distilled white vinegar (5% acidity)

2 cups apple cider vinegar

1-2/3 cups granulated sugar

5 Tbsp. pickling salt

Directions are here and they are really long, so I'll just tell you what privileges I took with the recipe and let you click the link if you are so inclined. I actually followed the recipe for the most part. I did add fresh red onions cut into long slabs. I think that the Boston Food Swappers will appreciate that. I also minced the garlic instead of crushing just because I didn't read very closely. So I hope that minced doesn't turn out so garlicky that I ruin relationships. I actually have a tiny little date after the Boston Food Swap (not a blind one, so keep thinking about that!) so maybe I should pass on my own creation. 

The last office of the day is set before sleeping, so with that I will retire for the evening and practice the last divine hour.

Here's to a new ease of glory for us all,

t

Vegplosion

Thanks R. for giving me your CSA this week. For the few people who may read this, you are in for a treat. Vegetables have exploded out of this unassuming little box to cover my kitchen counters. That means I'll most likely be making amazing deliciousness all week and posting it here because, hey I'm a blogger this month. Get ready for green smoothies. 

Bright orange carrots, crisp little cukes, lots of yet to be identified leafy greens and my absolute favorite of the bunch. Beets. Oh how I love beets. I love beets fried. I love beets roasted. I love beets on salad. Most of all I love beets pickled. Jars of pickled beets lined my grandmothers cellar, were on the table at every Easter dinner, and are in many dangerous stained finger memories from my childhood.

Magic is going to happen and the beets are the object of my affection.

To make this box of veg joy even better, I discovered that the Boston Food Swap July meeting is this Saturday. I will be pickling and brining and cutting and jarring all week because doing a food swap is on my list.

I'm fairly certain that a miracle of science will occur in my kitchen. I will keep you posted.

First things first: fava beans. Recipe courtesy of my fave cooking gal pal, Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks. My roommate M. and I enjoyed these little treats last night and I won't lie, I was pleasantly surprised. They will be making many more appearances in my kitchen. So without further ado, I give you grilled fava beans.

{ Grilled Fava Beans }

fresh fava beans, still in their pods

a couple glugs of olive oil

a few pinches of kosher salt
optional: crushed red pepper flakes, lemon zest, and or chopped fresh herbs.

Toss oil, salt and beans together. Add your herbs or pepper flakes if you wish. Grill in a single layer on an outdoor grill or on a grill pan. You can also pan fry like I did, just use a little more oil and watch the heat so you don't burn the pods before you steam the beans inside. Heidi says 4-5 mins per side and that worked for me. You are trying to steam the beans inside. You'll start to see little burn bubbles toasting on the pods when you are ready to flip. I eat them like giant edamame pealing the bean from the pod with my teeth and getting lots of salt on the way. You can also pop the beans out and take off the little shell inside which is a bit more lady like.

bon apetite,

t