"Rob" is the pseudonym i've assigned to a former regular on Tuesday nights. I've posted about him before. I may not have said this explicitly before, but Rob is one of the main reasons I kept on doing this after I got stabbed. For the next 3-4 months, he assigned himself as my bodyguard at the park and was never more than 5-6 feet away, and even when we spoke, his eyes were always constantly scanning the space behind me. He'd originally returned to LA earlier this year with a goal of showing up on Tuesday nights and driving for Uber. But he took a job back on the road driving a truck since the quarantine hit - he just couldn't get enough work to cover expenses.
I got a call from him earlier this evening and he told me he'd be in town next week, but that he couldn't see me. It turns out that recently his company told him to take over a run for a driver that got sick and needed to be hospitalized. They tested that driver and he came up negative for the coronavirus, so Rob took the driver's cab and finished the delivery. The other driver has since tested positive, and Rob is showing certain symptoms consistent with the coronavirus as well.
Rob is going to get tested on Monday, and to be safe, he's exercising as much discretion as possible in terms of minimizing contact with others.
With my father passing away less than two weeks ago from this, this resonates at a deeper level than it might otherwise. But Rob remains hopeful; he's accepted a new route that would allow him to be in town every week, though not necessarily on Tuesdays. I'm hoping we'll be able to see him back with us from time to time in the future.
Thursday, July 9, 2020
Sunday, June 28, 2020
Video documentary
Last week i started filming of a video documentary where what we do on Tuesday will be included in a series documenting various ministries. Hopefully this exposure will lead to drawing more volunteers as well as funding.
We filmed a little of me cooking as well as answering some questions. This week we'll do some surreptitious filming of dinner at the park.
I've been pretty open about a lot of stuff in what's been recorded so far, Hopefully it will come out to its best advantage, but I retain full control over what material is in the video. More on this as it develops.
This could be huge.
We filmed a little of me cooking as well as answering some questions. This week we'll do some surreptitious filming of dinner at the park.
I've been pretty open about a lot of stuff in what's been recorded so far, Hopefully it will come out to its best advantage, but I retain full control over what material is in the video. More on this as it develops.
This could be huge.
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
Jambayala
I made my claypot chicken rice last week and included chinese sausage. Everyone enjoyed it except one person who doesn't eat pork - and there was pork in the chinese sausage. I decided to try a different dish with rice cooked in a mix of cooked chicken and sausage and came up with my take on a quick and easy jambalaya.
What make it relatively quick and easy meal to make for 30+ people was using a food processor, a 10 quart pressure cooker and and 32 cup rice cooker. I combined all the ingredients except the rice in the pressure cooker and cooked it though before adding it to the rice in the rice cooker.
12 cups long grain rice
6 chicken thighs (about 4-5 lbs), skin included
2 lbs. Louisiana style sausage
6 roma tomatoes
2 large yellow onions
6 anaheim peppers
6 jalapeno peppers
1 bunch of celery
1 oz paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano
You need to have celery/onion/peppers as part of your flavor base. Cajun spices typically include paprika, oregano, garlic, red pepper, among other spices.
Run vegetables through a food processor and pulse to a fine dice. Slice sausage into bite sized pieces.
Place all non-rice ingredients in your pressure cooker, seal cooker and cook about 15 minutes.
Remove chicken thighs and debone & chop meat into bitesize pieces. Return meat and bones to mixture.
You will have a great deal of liquid in the mixture. You want a ratio of about 2 parts liquid to 1 part rice. With 12 cups of rice, that'll be about 24 cups of liquid. Add water as needed to approximate 24 cups of liquid in the mixture and transfer mixture to rice cooker. Add rice, stir thoroughly, and start rice cooker.
That's pretty much it.
What make it relatively quick and easy meal to make for 30+ people was using a food processor, a 10 quart pressure cooker and and 32 cup rice cooker. I combined all the ingredients except the rice in the pressure cooker and cooked it though before adding it to the rice in the rice cooker.
12 cups long grain rice
6 chicken thighs (about 4-5 lbs), skin included
2 lbs. Louisiana style sausage
6 roma tomatoes
2 large yellow onions
6 anaheim peppers
6 jalapeno peppers
1 bunch of celery
1 oz paprika
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon oregano
You need to have celery/onion/peppers as part of your flavor base. Cajun spices typically include paprika, oregano, garlic, red pepper, among other spices.
Run vegetables through a food processor and pulse to a fine dice. Slice sausage into bite sized pieces.
Place all non-rice ingredients in your pressure cooker, seal cooker and cook about 15 minutes.
Remove chicken thighs and debone & chop meat into bitesize pieces. Return meat and bones to mixture.
You will have a great deal of liquid in the mixture. You want a ratio of about 2 parts liquid to 1 part rice. With 12 cups of rice, that'll be about 24 cups of liquid. Add water as needed to approximate 24 cups of liquid in the mixture and transfer mixture to rice cooker. Add rice, stir thoroughly, and start rice cooker.
That's pretty much it.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Sad eyes
In a couple of days, I'll be moving out. Due to the quarantine, my roommates, who are both freelance musicians, had all of their booked gigs cancelled/postponed pretty much through the end of the year. Rather than accrue months of unpaid rent, they elected to give notice and move in with friends/family who can take them in. I had no choice but to give notice as well, and with no job and limited funds, it looks like I'll be prevailing on friends until I can start back to work or find a new job. Fortunately, I've been offered space to store my belongings during this sojourn. Still, I've gone through my stuff and have elected to leave some stuff behind, most of it knick knacks and souvenirs accumulated over the years.
Despite this (or perhaps more so because of it) I remain committed to getting a meal to Central Park every Tuesday since there's no one else serving a meal in the area (shout out to former roommate "D" who's offered to let me cook at his place - on his front porch - social distancing, you know). Apparently some folks travel out to Hollywood for a meal during the week because it's the only one they know of on that day of the week.
This week, I showed up at the park, got set up and starting serving meals. Most of the people now are regulars, but we're starting to get some new faces. One such person came after I'd served all the regulars. She said something to the effect that because of how we were helping, we were going to be blessed by God. We stuck up a conversation, and suddenly she asked how I was doing. I said I was OK, and she immediately replied: "You have sad eyes."
I was caught off guard. As I reflect on this, I can see that I've been attempting to motor my way through - I've slept in my car before - and I'm prepared to do it again, but clearly this has and will continue to affect me emotionally. I can't be in denial about this. But another part of me is responding to something I'm not sure I can articulate fully at this point. Having people comment on my emotional state in a caring way, is not part of my normal experience as I tend to keep people at arm's length. And having experienced it in the context of helping others adds a few more shades of gray I'm trying to differentiate. They say that caring is something you do where you and others both grow in the process. I guess this is how it's going to be for me.
Despite this (or perhaps more so because of it) I remain committed to getting a meal to Central Park every Tuesday since there's no one else serving a meal in the area (shout out to former roommate "D" who's offered to let me cook at his place - on his front porch - social distancing, you know). Apparently some folks travel out to Hollywood for a meal during the week because it's the only one they know of on that day of the week.
This week, I showed up at the park, got set up and starting serving meals. Most of the people now are regulars, but we're starting to get some new faces. One such person came after I'd served all the regulars. She said something to the effect that because of how we were helping, we were going to be blessed by God. We stuck up a conversation, and suddenly she asked how I was doing. I said I was OK, and she immediately replied: "You have sad eyes."
I was caught off guard. As I reflect on this, I can see that I've been attempting to motor my way through - I've slept in my car before - and I'm prepared to do it again, but clearly this has and will continue to affect me emotionally. I can't be in denial about this. But another part of me is responding to something I'm not sure I can articulate fully at this point. Having people comment on my emotional state in a caring way, is not part of my normal experience as I tend to keep people at arm's length. And having experienced it in the context of helping others adds a few more shades of gray I'm trying to differentiate. They say that caring is something you do where you and others both grow in the process. I guess this is how it's going to be for me.
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Recipe: The BK version of chicken claypot rice
Tonight's meal was very well received; I adapted a recipe for one of my favorite dishes: chinese claypot rice with mushrooms and bok choy.
Recipes vary: some call for the rice to be cooked and ingredients added later. I decided to go with combining all the ingredients allowing the flavors to meld and infuse the rice. I also deviated a bit with the inclusion of miso; I saw it included in a recipe from the now defunct luckypeach website.
The ingredients are as follows: (NOTE: i eyeball everything, proportions are relative.)
8 cup rice
4 lbs boneless dark chicken meat (but you can use regular chicken thighs)
(optional) 4-6 chinese sausages, sliced diagonally into bite sized pieces
4 oz dried slivered shiitake mushrooms (available at most asian supermarkets - you can whole dried mushrooms, but this saves prep time, and pre-cut mushrooms are much more affordable. You can substitute any other type of mushroom, but shiitakes have a unique taste and texture. Some places sell fresh shiitakes, but shiitakes are unique in how well they retain their flavor when dried.)
oyster sauce - sorry but this is essential it comes in bottles that are the same shape as glass ketchup bottles, available at any chinese supermarket.
miso (i typically have brown miso in the fridge, along with another container with half miso, half butter that i sometimes use in place of butter. it's really good.)
rice wine- you can substitute cooking sherry, i suppose.
garlic -about 4 cloves minced, to taste
a large white onion, diced
bok choy, about 2 lbs. that seems like a lot, but it's not.
corn starch - about 1/4 cup
sesame oil
Some of what I do is optional, but I believe each of these steps contributes to the flavor.
- If you have dried mushrooms, soak them in warm water for about a half hour. Drain the mushrooms, but retain all the soaking liquid - there's flavor there that should not be wasted.
- Put about half the dry rice in the rice pot, enough to cover the bottom. This allows a crust to form on the bottom as the rice cooks. Purists will object to my not washing the rice. I can live with that.
- Sear the chicken. Usually the fat on the chicken is sufficient, but add oil as needed. The browning adds flavor, but more importantly, it works like the technique of japanese tataki in that searing the outside firms it up and makes it easier to cut into bite size pieces compared to cutting raw boneless chicken. If you elect to use whole chicken thighs, you can leave them whole (one thigh per serving) or use kitchen shears to cut off bite size pieces, and place the chicken and bones to the rice pot. If you just put raw sliced chicken in the pot, it will still be good, just not completely fantastic.
Add oyster sauce & miso (about 1/4 cup each) a splash of rice wine and 4 minced garlic cloves, salt & sugar to taste. Some folks like to add sesame oil here, I find that the fragrance cooks off and prefer to add it later.
- (optional) - if there's a fair amount of fat left in the pan, add the remaining (dry) rice to it and stir over medium heat. The rice should change color slightly reflecting the absorbing of the fat as well as a little bit of browning of the rice. A small detail, but I think you can taste the difference. Either way, add the remaining rice to the pot. This should effectively bury the other ingredients
- (optional) - sauteing the diced onion in the pan used to sear the chicken - especially if you haven't browned the rice, this effectively deglazes the pan, loosening the browned bits which you then add to the pot. Otherwise, simply add the onion to the pot.
-Wash/clean the bok choy and cut into 2" lengths, stalks and leaves. Place on top of the other ingredients.
- I normally use a ratio of 3:2 liquid to rice. For this recipe I account for the amount of moisture in the bok choy and add 8 cups of water to the pot. If you have the soaking liquid from the shiitakes, include this. You may need to adjust this depending on your ingredients and your cooking pot.
- Use the "white rice setting" (if there is one), and start the rice cooker.
- If you haven't done anything with the pot since you seared the chicken, here's your last chance to take advantage of this flavor source (and also if you forgot to use the soaking liquid from the mushrooms) - place about 4 cups cool water/soaking liquid into the pan, along with 1/4 cup of cornstarch and a tablespoon of soy sauce (mainly for color). Dissolve the corn starch thoroughly (no lumps), then bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring and loosening anything left stuck to the pan. Add the gravy (& sesame oil to taste) to the rice pot after the rice has finished cooking, stir thoroughly, Let sit for a few minutes, then enjoy.
Recipes vary: some call for the rice to be cooked and ingredients added later. I decided to go with combining all the ingredients allowing the flavors to meld and infuse the rice. I also deviated a bit with the inclusion of miso; I saw it included in a recipe from the now defunct luckypeach website.
The ingredients are as follows: (NOTE: i eyeball everything, proportions are relative.)
8 cup rice
4 lbs boneless dark chicken meat (but you can use regular chicken thighs)
(optional) 4-6 chinese sausages, sliced diagonally into bite sized pieces
4 oz dried slivered shiitake mushrooms (available at most asian supermarkets - you can whole dried mushrooms, but this saves prep time, and pre-cut mushrooms are much more affordable. You can substitute any other type of mushroom, but shiitakes have a unique taste and texture. Some places sell fresh shiitakes, but shiitakes are unique in how well they retain their flavor when dried.)
oyster sauce - sorry but this is essential it comes in bottles that are the same shape as glass ketchup bottles, available at any chinese supermarket.
miso (i typically have brown miso in the fridge, along with another container with half miso, half butter that i sometimes use in place of butter. it's really good.)
rice wine- you can substitute cooking sherry, i suppose.
garlic -about 4 cloves minced, to taste
a large white onion, diced
bok choy, about 2 lbs. that seems like a lot, but it's not.
corn starch - about 1/4 cup
sesame oil
Some of what I do is optional, but I believe each of these steps contributes to the flavor.
- If you have dried mushrooms, soak them in warm water for about a half hour. Drain the mushrooms, but retain all the soaking liquid - there's flavor there that should not be wasted.
- Put about half the dry rice in the rice pot, enough to cover the bottom. This allows a crust to form on the bottom as the rice cooks. Purists will object to my not washing the rice. I can live with that.
- Sear the chicken. Usually the fat on the chicken is sufficient, but add oil as needed. The browning adds flavor, but more importantly, it works like the technique of japanese tataki in that searing the outside firms it up and makes it easier to cut into bite size pieces compared to cutting raw boneless chicken. If you elect to use whole chicken thighs, you can leave them whole (one thigh per serving) or use kitchen shears to cut off bite size pieces, and place the chicken and bones to the rice pot. If you just put raw sliced chicken in the pot, it will still be good, just not completely fantastic.
Add oyster sauce & miso (about 1/4 cup each) a splash of rice wine and 4 minced garlic cloves, salt & sugar to taste. Some folks like to add sesame oil here, I find that the fragrance cooks off and prefer to add it later.
- (optional) - if there's a fair amount of fat left in the pan, add the remaining (dry) rice to it and stir over medium heat. The rice should change color slightly reflecting the absorbing of the fat as well as a little bit of browning of the rice. A small detail, but I think you can taste the difference. Either way, add the remaining rice to the pot. This should effectively bury the other ingredients
- (optional) - sauteing the diced onion in the pan used to sear the chicken - especially if you haven't browned the rice, this effectively deglazes the pan, loosening the browned bits which you then add to the pot. Otherwise, simply add the onion to the pot.
-Wash/clean the bok choy and cut into 2" lengths, stalks and leaves. Place on top of the other ingredients.
- I normally use a ratio of 3:2 liquid to rice. For this recipe I account for the amount of moisture in the bok choy and add 8 cups of water to the pot. If you have the soaking liquid from the shiitakes, include this. You may need to adjust this depending on your ingredients and your cooking pot.
- Use the "white rice setting" (if there is one), and start the rice cooker.
- If you haven't done anything with the pot since you seared the chicken, here's your last chance to take advantage of this flavor source (and also if you forgot to use the soaking liquid from the mushrooms) - place about 4 cups cool water/soaking liquid into the pan, along with 1/4 cup of cornstarch and a tablespoon of soy sauce (mainly for color). Dissolve the corn starch thoroughly (no lumps), then bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring and loosening anything left stuck to the pan. Add the gravy (& sesame oil to taste) to the rice pot after the rice has finished cooking, stir thoroughly, Let sit for a few minutes, then enjoy.
Sunday, July 7, 2019
Handicaps
We provide meals as a means of coming alongside people who need and want help. We sit and talk and hopefully we get an idea of what kinds of hopes and goals they have and encourage them and give suggestions on how to pursue some of those goals.
We've got a regular who is so unique using a pseudonym would be pointless; you'll recognize him the first time you see him. He's got palsy and is confined to a motorized wheelchair. We allow him to sit next to the serving table and he usually gets served first. The palsy also causes a speech impediment that makes him difficult to understand. We're about the same age so I was stunned when he approached me a few years back and told me that he'd started going to church and had been given a Bible. The thing was, he didn't know how to read. Apparently his family assumed that his speech impediment was associated with being mentally handicapped so he was never properly schooled. I looked into getting him into a volunteer reading problem. The results of that effort will be the subject of a long rant some day. I've tried to help with other things over the years.
There have been nights when he's waited for everyone else to leave so he can ask me questions. . One that stuck up in my mind was how to find a way to volunteer at his church as a greeter or some other way. That led to a discussion that helped me understand how a lot (not necessarily all) about how disabled/handicapped people perceive a fine line between helping and... babying, for want of a better way of putting it. There's no malice in it, but I began to see how annoying it can be over time. I hope I'm explaining this well.
The bottom line is that while i still accommodate some of his physical limitations I sometimes include a bit of tough love. If he asks for seconds, I might just look at him and tell him that he's got a perfectly good motorized wheelchair that works, and he can get them himself. You should the looks on the faces of people who overhear that and can't believe it. Then they see us both laughing - and he's laughing harder than I am.
I guess that the overall point is this: people with disabilities do need to have the disabilities accommodated to some degree, but they still want to be seen as people just like anyone else. How that looks is going to vary from person to person though.
We've got a regular who is so unique using a pseudonym would be pointless; you'll recognize him the first time you see him. He's got palsy and is confined to a motorized wheelchair. We allow him to sit next to the serving table and he usually gets served first. The palsy also causes a speech impediment that makes him difficult to understand. We're about the same age so I was stunned when he approached me a few years back and told me that he'd started going to church and had been given a Bible. The thing was, he didn't know how to read. Apparently his family assumed that his speech impediment was associated with being mentally handicapped so he was never properly schooled. I looked into getting him into a volunteer reading problem. The results of that effort will be the subject of a long rant some day. I've tried to help with other things over the years.
There have been nights when he's waited for everyone else to leave so he can ask me questions. . One that stuck up in my mind was how to find a way to volunteer at his church as a greeter or some other way. That led to a discussion that helped me understand how a lot (not necessarily all) about how disabled/handicapped people perceive a fine line between helping and... babying, for want of a better way of putting it. There's no malice in it, but I began to see how annoying it can be over time. I hope I'm explaining this well.
The bottom line is that while i still accommodate some of his physical limitations I sometimes include a bit of tough love. If he asks for seconds, I might just look at him and tell him that he's got a perfectly good motorized wheelchair that works, and he can get them himself. You should the looks on the faces of people who overhear that and can't believe it. Then they see us both laughing - and he's laughing harder than I am.
I guess that the overall point is this: people with disabilities do need to have the disabilities accommodated to some degree, but they still want to be seen as people just like anyone else. How that looks is going to vary from person to person though.
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Strider
i'm hesitant to share this story because I want to respect this person's privacy, If I provide sufficient detail, you'll understand why. Anyway, the subject of this story has been coming to dinner for a number of months now. After a series of talks, he confided his real name and through Google I've confirmed who he is (by photographs) and that he was once, among other things, national press secretary for a member of the Cabinet (in the White House).
We've met to help me continue to develop a vision/mission state that I can implement into fund proposals and frankly, seeing him listen to me voicing thoughts off the top of my head and turn them into phrases such as:
creating an."environment in which people feel comfortable/safe to explore options without ridicule and within the parameter of mutual respect among its members (among a wide range of world/cultural viewpoints)"
"The organization will not act as an enabling body. Participants must demonstrate a strong willingness to effect positive change. The organization's output is a function of the participants' input. An underlying vision of the organization is to help participants realize their value and self-worth through a model of rewards and "exponential returns" to match and surpass participants efforts. Throughout the "process" it is the hope and goal of the organization to teach about the symbiotic benefits of host and organism (community?). Ultimately, through this organic process, new levels and achievements will be reached and realized with while teaching the inextricable-intertwined nature and virtues of "getting more" from "giving more."
"Organization strives to make funding and investment decisions that have immediate impacts while also paving the road to self-sustained living (participants not dependent upon a "hand-out" or organization's monetary distributions."
has got me feeling pretty excited. In particular, I'm hoping to see these goals realized in how we work together. As he continues to help me find my voice, perhaps this will galvanize him to re-find himself.
He currently fixes bicycles and calls himself 'rider'. But I've told him that I'm going to start calling him Strider, a reference from Tolkien: "All who wander are not lost."
We've met to help me continue to develop a vision/mission state that I can implement into fund proposals and frankly, seeing him listen to me voicing thoughts off the top of my head and turn them into phrases such as:
creating an."environment in which people feel comfortable/safe to explore options without ridicule and within the parameter of mutual respect among its members (among a wide range of world/cultural viewpoints)"
"The organization will not act as an enabling body. Participants must demonstrate a strong willingness to effect positive change. The organization's output is a function of the participants' input. An underlying vision of the organization is to help participants realize their value and self-worth through a model of rewards and "exponential returns" to match and surpass participants efforts. Throughout the "process" it is the hope and goal of the organization to teach about the symbiotic benefits of host and organism (community?). Ultimately, through this organic process, new levels and achievements will be reached and realized with while teaching the inextricable-intertwined nature and virtues of "getting more" from "giving more."
"Organization strives to make funding and investment decisions that have immediate impacts while also paving the road to self-sustained living (participants not dependent upon a "hand-out" or organization's monetary distributions."
has got me feeling pretty excited. In particular, I'm hoping to see these goals realized in how we work together. As he continues to help me find my voice, perhaps this will galvanize him to re-find himself.
He currently fixes bicycles and calls himself 'rider'. But I've told him that I'm going to start calling him Strider, a reference from Tolkien: "All who wander are not lost."
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