Friday Find: Seals and Stingrays

I recently took up rowing. There's a boathouse on the bay near me, and they offer a Learn To Row program. I've never rowed before, but I grew up on and around the water, and I was curious, and it was too tempting to pass up. I'm in love. It's hard and fun and hard and surprisingly complicated and there's something so primally satisfying about being on the water so early in the morning. Was this the time of day our ancestors used to hunt? I don't know. All I know is the early bedtime, the 4am wake ups, the lugging boats and oars and equipment up and down the beach, the two hour sessions you spend almost an hour of getting and carting and cleaning and putting away gear, are all worth it for the soft *swish thwoop* of your oars through the water while you watch the sunrise. 

(Well, on days you're rowing with a small group in small boats, anyway. Other mornings it's big boats full of lots of people rowing in sync in the dark and doing drills while coaches and coxswains yell through megaphone and you (me) worry that as the new person you're going to let your 7 boat-mates down.)

There's also the fun and thrill of experiencing nature close up. The three ducks - brown, black, and white - that are always marching around together, hanging on the beach by the boathouse (I've named them Harry, Mary, and Larry). The feeling when you near a group of birds, bobbing peacefully on the water, and they start taking off as you (*swish thwoop*) get closer. The first time a pelican flies a foot off the water and parallel to the boat for a few long moments, and you (I) have to close your mouth before something flies in it. 

This morning it was so quiet that when a bird flew low over the water near me I could hear its wings beating. And I thought that was stunning and surreal. 

Then a giant pelican perched on a nearby buoy and let me paddle close enough to see the detail in his gorgeously colorful bill. And I thought that was stunning and surreal. 

And then a seal ate a stingray.

Let's back up.

There's a lot to remember when you're rowing. So this morning as I worked on my sculling technique in a single boat in a calm area of the bay, the coach (who is possibly the nicest and most knowledgeable person in the world) followed me in the launch boat yelling through a cone helpful (truly) things like "Back straight! Push down on those pins, slow on recovery! I want your triceps to hurt! Just shy of 90 degrees on the release! RELAX those shoulders! Power on the drive! USE those legs!" and as I focused on all this, and keeping the boat steady and the oars in the right position, and remembering exactly where each finger goes - and did I mention that you row facing backward, so that as you're doing all this you have to figure out how to watch where you're going and keep an eye out for buoys? - and it was time to start making my way back to the boathouse, the coach suddenly said "Hey! A seal just caught a fish over there!".

I've lived in San Diego 8 months and until this morning had never seen a seal, even though I'd wanted to. So my attention was immediately rapt. The seal disappeared for a minute, and then came back up, playing and splashing. Except it turns out it wasn't playing and splashing, and it hadn't caught a fish. It had caught and was eating a stingray.

I think the stingray was giving him the what-for, hence the splashing and diving.

The seal won, obviously, in the end. 

Things I checked off my San Diego bucket list today: Seeing a seal. Seeing a stingray. Seeing a seal eat a stingray. That last one was added and crossed off at the same time. 

As a bonus, it reminded me of this video, which I secretly hope will happen every time I'm out in a boat. 

Oh, and as I paddled back to the boathouse with a giant grin on my face, I worked my way toward and around a buoy, which turned out to be not a buoy but that enormous pelican again, bobbing on the water and giving me the hairy eyeball. I got even closer this time. (And I wanted to shout DID YOU SEE THAT?!) 

It was a good morning.

Friday Find: Ear Candy

A few earworms around our house lately...

First, a little Dead.

Grateful Dead performing live at the St. Paul Civic Center, May 11, 1977

Second, I love Patty Griffin. If I'd heard her song Heavenly Day earlier, I think my husband and I would've used it at our wedding. I heard it a few months later and was a little crushed to have missed out, if we're being honest. Once upon a time when I took voice lessons (last year) it was the song I most wanted to learn, and practiced. ("This is my very first love song I ever wrote in my life...I wrote it for my dog, and that's the truth.")

Lyrics: [ Heavenly Day ] Oh heavenly day, all the clouds blew away Got no trouble today with anyone The smile on your face I live only to see It's enough for me, baby, it's enough for me Oh, heavenly day, heavenly day, heavenly day Tomorrow may rain with sorrow

Though I sure do love the song we chose, even if we forgot to tell the DJ to cut it down and it ended up being 5 long awkward minutes of dancing.

These are the days of the endless summer These are the days, the time is now There is no past, there's only future There's only here, there's only now Oh your smiling face, your gracious presence The fires of spring are kindling bright Oh the radiant heart and the song

But back to Patty. If you're a fan of Dar Williams or Brandi Carlile as I am, you need a little Patty in your life.

music video for "rain" by patty griffin

Even Kelly Clarkson would agree. I have had this performance on a loop since Martin Luther King Jr. Day. 

Kelly Clarkson sings Up To The Mountain in Idol gives back.

I've been playing the Sam Cooke Pandora station while I write & work, and it's perfect for me. It occasionally plays a song that pumps me up, which is great, but in general is perfectly mellow and isn't distracting. Come on, it doesn't get better than this.

Uploaded by Clay More on 2009-09-06.

And because St. Patrick's Day (aka The Day of My People*) is coming up next week, and because my husband purchased and brined a brisket especially for the occasion then presented it to me and said "For my Irish* girl" and this made me happy, the gift of a bag of raw meat in salty liquid that would have to sit in my fridge ten days before being consumed, I'd be remiss to leave out this classic. Happy Friday, friends. 

(*American, but Irish by heritage, in case the blue eyes, freckles, and curly hair didn't give it away.)

What's for dinner?

Ahhh, dinner ruts. When life gets hectic, it seems like cooking is the first thing to go. I don't feel like it, my husband the chef is burned out from it at work, and we can't be bothered with the planning and the prepping and the following through. We end up eating a lot of salads, scrambled eggs, takeout, whatever is in the freezer, and other quick (lazy) meals. Lately, though, I've gotten it together and have been cooking a lot. I've missed it. I enjoy it. Here are some things we've enjoyed lately. 

- Skinny Taste Eggplant Rollatini. I made this because Sarah said to, and she always has great food suggestions. Like Sarah, I am not a fan of the "skinny" label, but I love the technique for making this rollatini. The techniques and recipe outline are really what I followed, and I sort of improvised/embellished the rest. I added ground beef, mushrooms, and a ton of extra ricotta, like a total of half a container. (Zach was appalled at the low amount of ricotta, though he's a traditionalist and we weren't so concerned with making it 'skinny' so do what's right for you.) I added some extra mozzarella and sauce on top. Also, it turns out I don't like pecorino - too salty. Speaking of salty! I over-salted the eggplant. Careful with that. I ended up rinsing the eggplant before rolling and it was still a tidge too salty. 

If you are friends with me then you too can enjoy receiving bad food photography texts from me while I am in the middle of cooking! Sauce and cheese was added on top.

- Chicken and pesto orzo skillet. An easy and quick weeknight meal. I made this because Jennie recommended it, and obviously I only make things my friend tell me to. I've made it a couple times and it's easy, tasty, and comes together quickly. I've also improvised a bit and the recipe is flexible enough to take it like a champ. I've made it with both parm and feta and both work very well. I just use whatever greens I have on hand, and when I don't have enough pesto, I've stretched it with an extra bit of olive oil, a little butter, some extra basil, and maybe a little more cheese. Also, there's a typo in the recipe: it says in two places to add the spinach. Add it later in the recipe, so the greens are bright and freshly wilted when served.

Photo from chronicle.augusta.com.

- Easy rigatoni with squash, sausage, and greens. I saw Giada make this on the Today show and immediately wanted to try it. Giada says this is five ingredients, but it's really five main ingredients (sausage, butternut squash, greens, parm, pasta) plus other stuff (olive oil, salt, pepper, etc). It is easy and delicious though. I used the greens I had on hand (a mix of baby spinach, kale, and chard) and it was delicious.

I didn't use rigatoni, I used what I had.

- I don't have a picture of this, but about once a week we eat some type of sausage with baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli or a different green veg (green beans, asparagus, maybe brussels sprouts). This is a holdover from when we did Whole30 a few years ago: one of the biggest lessons we learned was to not be afraid of fat, and not just go for lean protein. This meal is easy, satisfying, super tasty, and pretty well balanced. Also, paleo. Sometimes I put a pat of Kerrygold on my sweet potato, depending on how hungry I am and mmmmm. Zach's been making sausage lately so we have that, but we also really like kielbasa and Italian sausage by Applegate Farms (no weird ingredients, humanely-raised meat). Aidells sausages are good too.

- A favorite treat meal at home has long been Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken, which we serve with rice and steamed broccoli. However. I recently tried the orange chicken from Crazy Cuizine (again with the silly names!), and I have some news for you TJs devotees: It's better. It's all white meat (I enjoy dark meat, but in this application white meat is way better), there's a bit more sauce, and it's a zestier, better sauce at that. The chicken crisps up better and faster in the oven as well. All in all, it's a winner. Available at Costco and grocery stores.

- Pretty much any combination of healthy protein + carb + veg is a dinner I can get behind. I am always looking for different combinations but often feel uninspired (see above re: regular sausage/broc/yam). Sometime recently though, Zach and I made this: Chicken breasts with honey mustard sauce, and a quinoa/broccoli salad of sorts (man, we love broccoli). Sear chicken breasts, and you can either just throw some honey mustard on top, or make a quick pan sauce. Either way, finish in the oven. If you do the sauce, while the chicken is in the oven (in a different dish) sauté shallots in same pan, deglaze with white wine, add honey mustard, cook down. For the 'salad': cook quinoa according to directions, throw broccoli florets (to steam) and a handful of raisins or craisins (to plump up) at the end of cooking. Dump in a bowl, fluff with fork, toss with salt and pepper, throw in a handful of toasted pine nuts. If I'd had more time the night we made this I would've also had sauteed some greens on the side.

Alright, that's all I got. What are you cooking and eating lately?