I discovered Niu Life Kitchen a few weeks ago walking downhill on Main Street. It’s a vegan sandwich shop baking on premises spelt focaccia bread (their specialty)and making brilliant fillings of bio-life food like tempeh katsu with moringa pesto, coconut teriyaki glazed with nori sauce, and loaded falafel plate New York-style (the chef in back I hear is from there; the other day when I was at the café on my work lunch break he peeked through the cracked door of his kitchen and said hi.) I ordered a few things for the weekend so I don’t have to cook, I just wanted to focus on relaxing and reading, the weather is so gorgeous on the island this time of year it’s like a postcard but as real and as large as life with volumes of trade winds charming up the azure. So why work.
…
I haven’t read Sifton lately, Clark had filled in he must be on sabbatical break, and this morning his piece in The Times had an interesting recipe I could actually use incorporating my extra bread from Niu stored in my freezer. It’s an Iranian classic salad called Dooymaaj using old lavash (flat) bread to mix with herbs, greens and dried fruits in a buttermilk and lemon dressing. I thought that the spears focaccia I didn’t eat could be toasted and cut in cubes, and instead of herbs I have Maui-grown watercress and heirloom okras from Tamura market, and I say, Why not toss these all up in a large bowl and create my own version of dooymaaj? And I did. (For dressing I used coconut milk and olive oil and very black peppery nuance to absorb in the bread and slather my unusual salad greens with “beyond” spiced buttermilk profile, drizzled with Mexican bar limes and garnished with fresh-picked basil from Rick the Duck’s farm, my plant food purveyor.) Clark loves Euro-acidity in any of her home dishes, Sifton loves Asian savory in his, and in mine I do both - in honor of these culinary teachers of mine.
…
My old books had finally arrived from New York from years in storage, I’ve been waiting for them dearly, and now that I’m ready with space for them in my new cottage on the island near Iao Valley, I could at last say: “The pain of separating is nothing compared to the joy of meeting again” (Charles Dickens). I will be busy building my humble “library” abode this holiday season now fast approaching, I won’t be traveling anywhere this Christmas and will just be happily staying home and making it one. Taking it easy, of course, eating my life-food as they bless my life, of course, for writing’s sake.
Post a Comment