Solstice Delight

Solstice Delight

chocolat

It seems to me that the most à propos food to take in on this solstice night is : Theobroma cacao—”food of the gods.”
I don’t know if the Mayans got their calendar from the Olmecs too, but it looks like they got they got the Kakawa, that is chocolate, from Olmec.

“The Maya derived a lot of their high culture from the Olmec,” said Coe, also professor emeritus of anthropology at Yale. “Even the word ‘cacao’ is not a native Maya word—it’s Olmec.” The Olmec lived in the southern Gulf of Mexico between 1500 and 500 B.C., and their influence extended to Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, and El Salvador.

“The new find is hard chemical evidence that the Mayans were drinking chocolate in 500 B.C.,” said Coe, suggesting that people were cultivating the cacao tree long before the Maya civilization, which flourished in southern Mexico, the Yucatán, and the highlands of Belize between 500 B.C. and A.D. 1500. source

& this is how I made our heavenly solstice Xocalatl —the original hot chocolate in Aztec culture:

1/2 bar of  organic 80% cacao
1 cup of home made almond milk
1 tbsp arrowroot
Raw agave nectar to taste
1 cup of whole milk

Melt cocoa with almond milk, add arrowroot & bring to a boil & whisk. It will thicken, add the milk, bring to a boil again. Whisk again. Strain and serve.
Happy Solstice everyone!

 

 

Fire at the FireHouse

Fire at the FireHouse

Here are some videos of our gig on Saturday September 15th. I had a magnificent time diving whole-heartedly into impro-land with master double bassists Michael Bisio & Ken Filiano. They had set high standards with a very inspiring first set. After the break  we did three pieces with my visuals:

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DRAGON LAND BAKERY & RIDE THE LINE / CHEVAUCHER LE TRAIT —both featured on my CD:  “La Garbure Transcontinentale / The Bi-continental Chowder  —  for which Firehouse artistic director Sandra Sprecher joined in & added relevance on piano.  RIDE THE LINE / CHEVAUCHER LE TRAIT just came out in an anthology edited by Erika Lutzner: Some Stories Are True That Never HappenedYou will get a chance to set it live again at the book party on January 5th  at Modca 103 N 3rd street, Brooklyn.

We closed with PINKONOCLASTIC, a piece that literally whisks to emulsion: icons, politics & La Vie en Rose. To help us reflect on these complicated issues, we had the great honor to have the magnificent Grande Dame piano improvisor Connie Crothers  joining us. Then we hung out most pleasurably eating the mean black bean chili, the corn bread, the pescajos & the stage -vanilla flavored- whipped cream (see video 3). Truly “thank you” for playing, for being there — & also thank you Pierre Joris for filming & Françoise Bevy for the still photos!



Dunch du Jour

Dunch du Jour

Cranapple sauce

We don’t brunch, we don’t lunch, but between 3 & 4 p.m. we do DUNCH!
After our daily walk we have a very copious breakfast —will be featured in a near future post—, that sticks to the ribs until early afternoon. We also found out that the eating pattern works very well to regulate our weight without feeling deprived at all. Our evening snack is usually very light: few slices of cheese w/ apples, a little bread, maybe a bowl of miso soup… but for now voilà le Dunch today:

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Dunch du Jour
Cheese Polenta (delicious NYS grown corn & US cheeses) with Shitake Mushrooms
Simple Salad w/ Fennel & Roasted & Soaked Almonds
Prune Sweetened CranApple Sauce topped with Sheeps Milk Yogurt
Vegan Bars (made with fibres saved from juicing & delightfully called turdies by our son!)

Bon App!

Cheese Polenta & Shitake

 

 

Beignets for you!

Beignets for you!

pescajous

These delicious little pyrenean beignets (pescajous) are for you!
YES! COME TOMORROW night (Sat December 15)
The Firehouse Space — 246 Frost St. Brooklyn, NY 11211  (Williamsburg)
A STEAL or better: a Christmas present to you!
for $10 you get:
8PM – The most sought after bass players in the world in a DUO: Michael Bisio & Ken Filiano
9:30PM – Filiano/Bisio/Peyrafitte with voice & video & food!
Ingredients courtesy of Sandra at Firehouse & cooking by yours truly! ( & I’ve been at it all day & the chili smells mighty good)
http://www.thefirehousespace.org

Ken Filiano : Critics have called him a “creative virtuoso,” a “master of technique” . . . “a paradigm of that type of artist. . . who can play anything in any context and make it work, simply because he puts the music first and leaves peripheral considerations behind.”

Michael Bisio : “His personality, his technique, his skills are all there, but fully in the service of the music, real music then, with a depth that transcends the physical aspect of sound : it is so full of deep “human-ness”. An absolute joy to hear, … ” Stef Gijssels
freejazz-stef.blogspot.com/2011/02/michael-bisio-travel-music-self.html
“His Playing appears to be produced by sorcery.” Frank Rubolino Cadence Magazine

 

Passion Cabbage

Passion Cabbage

I am very passionate about cabbage and a few years back I dedicated two blogs to it.
Cabbage: a winner for the winter (I)
Cabbage: a winner for the winter (II) 

Today I came up with an other version of cole slaw. So bright, so crisp, so healthy that I can assure you,  this dish will make you smile on the dreariest foggiest winter days.
Try it!
Ingredients:
Finely chopped green cabbage/onion/ celery/ apple/ parsley
add fresh pomegranate &  satsuma
Dressing:
Fresh grated ginger & clove of garlic
juice of 1 Mayer lemon
rice vinegar
soy sauce
mostly sesame oil
a little olive oil