FOOD LAB

Greetings!

I hope you are well.  The momentum of Spring continues to build.  The lilac and rhododendron are fully in bloom.  It will all soon crescendo before life settles down into the slower pace of Summertime.

It was a lovely week in my world - an engaged mix of work, play and family, with more on the horizon.  The days ahead look sunny and glorious, perfectly timed for the end of the school year.

Lately our older son has been doing things in the garden and kitchen on his own, with no prodding from anyone.  It has been fun to watch.  Every time I see him with his hands in the dirt or watering some plants, my heart warms because I know his grandmother would be over the moon to see what I am witnessing.

The other day I came home to find a massive, half-gallon jar full of a slurry of water and grated fresh ginger.  I don't think I've seen so much fresh ginger all at once.  He's trying his hand at making homemade fermented ginger beer.  Something like this, I believe.  A couple of days later, I see he is infusing coconut oil with lilac petals, freshly collected from a bush by our garage.  Some sort of skin care item, I believe.  The flowers are so fragrant right now, just amazing.  

I don't care how well any of these projects turn out.  I just love to see him engaging in them.  He tries to clean up after himself, but a bit half-heartedly, knowing that I am the backstop that will tie up all loose ends in the kitchen.  I don't care.  I'm just playing it cool, watching from the sidelines, happy to be supportive.  Soon he'll be in Durham, and probably won't have the time for such boondoggles.  So let's indulge in them now.

Sunday Supper
I made these fun Salmon Muffins this past week.  The recipe has the details, but basically you just use a muffin pan, lining each recess with nori, top the nori with sticky rice, then top the rice with diced, marinated salmon and bake.  Serve with this Thai Mango Salad for a great one-two punch.

Sunday Music
My online explorations for new and fresh music to share with you has belatedly landed me on a YouTube channel that clearly has built a large audience - they have had over 360 million views of their work in the channel's 7-year existence!  Scary Pockets is a two-man rhythm section made up of Ryan Lerman (guitar) and Jack Conte (multi-instrumentalist).  They perform cover songs with a wide range of famous and otherwise talented musicians.  Here is a link to the channel, and here is a link to their most viewed performance, featuring Maiya Sykes and Ben Folds.  Lastly, here is a great cover of Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive, featuring Mario Jose.  I can't promise to not feature more of these cover songs as I dive down this fun new rabbit hole.  Interesting side story - Jack Conte is the co-founder and CEO of Patreon.

Have a great week ahead!  Offer support to others.  Make good use of this day.  And let me know how I can help.

Peace & Love,

Neal