Indian Eggplant Stew

Simple and spiced.

Description in the fewest words possible:   For our most hectic times of our life, it pays to know a good vegetarian meal.   They are typically easy to make, relatively cheap, and usually relatively quick to make.  My go-to meals when I am in a pinch for time and financial resources is Indian food.  After making the initial investment into the array of spices needed for most every indian dish, the cost per meal is typically below $8 and and the food yields last for multiple dishes.

Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion

2 stocks of celery

2 carrots

1 large eggplant

1 tablespoon of ground ginger

2 cloves of garlic

2 cans of garbanzo bean

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 tablespoon of coriander seed

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 tablespoon sea salt

3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 tbsp of olive oil

1 beef bouillon

1.5 pints of water

1 bag of spinach

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.   Slice the eggplant in halves, coat the sliced faces with olive oil and bake for 40-45 minutes.  Once out of the oven, peal back the skin of the eggplant and discard,  slice in 1″ cubes, and keep set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan or dutch oven, coat the bottom with 2 tablespoons of olive oil.   Add in the chopped onions, celery, and carrots (mirepouix) and sweat on medium low for 10 minutes.  Add in ginger and garlic after 5 minutes.   I have seen this in many Indian recipes: I add in all the spices to the mirepouix mix after ten minutes when the ingredients are translucent.  After about 14 mintutes on medium low, turn the heat to medium high.  Add in the water, bouillon, and grabanzo beans and allow the water to boil.  Reduce the heat and cook for 20 minutes.  Add in baked eggplant.  Just before you aim at serving the meal, add in the fresh spinach leaves and toss them within the hot mash to allow them to wilt under the residual heat.   Serve over basmati rice or with some toasted naan.   Beer choice:  An Indian Pale Ale would fall great with tradition, but the spices of indian food are best paired with a belgium style beer (like a saison).

Win:   A filling meal.  Just because a meal is meatless, does not mean it has to leave you hungry.   Most of our satiety (the feeling of feeling hungry as opposed to being hungry) is directly linked to the amount of protein we ingest during meals.   Adding things like beans, legumes, and peanuts to any veggie-based dish will add the ‘man I am stuffed’ appeal to traditionally light dishes.

Loss:  Though I have it in the ingredients, this last dish is without a crucial ingredient: cinnamon.

Mono Lake Tufas

Sent to Los Angeles

Description in the fewest words possible:   Far up along the arid hills surrounding eastern Yosemite pools one of Los Angeles’ uglier unknown histories.    The city’s transformation from a small Spanish settlement to the ‘movie capital of the world’ is deeply tied to its quest to control a vast stake in the American West’s water resources.  Mono Lake is one of the many rivers or lakes that have been guzzled up by the effects of urban sprawl in Southern California.   Over a period of sixty years the lake has seen vast  fluctuations in its stored volume and surface water elevations –  at its worst 2.1 million acre-feet (2002) and at its best during this period 4.3 million acre-feet (1941).

Today, state laws regulating the water rights along the tributaries feeding the lake have allowed stabilization levels to rise.    Large calcium-rich rock springs or tufas extend above the water to offer refuge for many of the gulls and sparrows inhabiting the lake, as well as serve as an attraction for ecotourists.

Win:   I first learned about Mono Lake when my water resources engineering professor, Dr. David Hill, forced me to read Cadillac Desert.   I hit the chapter on Mono Lake while I was road tipping through New Mexico.   The book has definitely been a big influence on my academic pursuits.

Loss:   Our first night in the area we ended up not going to the right shoreline by accident.   Oops.

The Boardwalk.

You big tufas.

Mono Lake

A gull's life

Playboy

Tufa frame

LA's lake.

Grilled Peaches and a Steak Marinade

Grilled Peaches

Description in the fewest words possible:  Nothing compliments a steak like a… peach? Peaches are generally available at a reasonable price between June and September, which make them the perfect dessert through the summertime grill season.   At the grocery store or market, select peaches that are just before fully ripened so that they hold some of their firmness on the grill (when feeling the fruit, you should be able to lightly squeeze them but still feel some resistance due to unripeness).

Halve and remove the pit from the peaches, cut off then discard any overripe sections, then lightly add some oil to the face side of your slice.     Add the peaches to the grill just as the coals begin their cool cycle (e.g. when the coals are reduced to around 1/3 ashed).  It is best to leave these bad boys untouched until you go to remove them as they begin to caramelize and brown.   There is a a large misconception that things on a grill or stove much me constantly flipped, which is just not always true.   By keeping the peaches on the grill untouched, you allow the temperature differentials to crisp the touching side while leaving the unexposed side noticeabley more tender.    The result of being a patient griller is a very sweet and juicy post steak treat.   Recommended beer:  Mirror Pond Pale Ale or Dogfish 90 minute IPA.

Win:   This one is a 2-for-1.   Here is a quick secret to enhancing a steak marinade: mustard seed powder.   My roommate, a proud Texan, adds it to all of his steaks and it is absolutely a ‘what is in this, its so good’ ingredient.

Loss:   My taste of nostalgia.

Coast Trail to Alamere Waterfall

The hike down (We got swarmed by the SF Hiking Club).

Cascade 2

Alamere Waterfall

Hello, Charlie.

Lunch 1

Lunch 2

Lunch 3

Lunch 4

Bay Area Climbs

Are You Experienced Boulder, Standard Route, V2

The Old Man Boulder, The Old Man V1-V5

Working some problems (Here you go Dad!)

Stinson Beach

Hawk Falls; Hickory Run State Park, PA

Welcome to Colorado, Butch.

Lehigh River Gorge, PA

South Tahoe roads.

Wasting time in Stone Valley

Alumni Center; University Park, PA

The Dagwood Sandwich.

The Ohio Deli
Description in the fewest words possible: A minor theme of our cross country tour to California was influenced by Chris’s love for the Food Network show, Man versus Food.   As the ride progressed away from State College, a little food smack talking ensued and we wound up at the site of the Columbus, OH MvF challenge to settle all doubts.  Even though Chris was the main proponent for trying the challenge, he admirably backed out a few bites in the serve as my support as I engulfed the first half of the sandwich in 5 minutes and was well on pace to finishing on time.   Since it was in Columbus, OH (home of those fine gentleman buckeyes) and since the winner get’s their photo on the wall, Chris would state many times through the painful ordeal, “do it for State.”

Win:   A new appreciation for MvF host Adam Richman.  This challenge was incredibly deceiving.   I felt great and was chowing down like Takeru Kobayashi, and then all of a sudden I felt that with each bite I was slowing filling the upper brim of my stomach and on the fringe of breaching my esophagus.

Loss: The ride afterward…  in pain, feeling disgusting, unable to puke since I drank zero water during the challenge (I now know that its suicide to not drink water during these challenge.  Without water, the food essentially turns to cement in your stomach),  and unable to live up to my PSU reputation.

Skinny:

2 1/2 lb Sandwich and 1 lb of fries

Chris is out early after a weak performance!

Time: 23 Min. I doubt I will ever eat mayonnaise or deli ham ever again.

Great experience, but stomach trama.

The cheapest challenge in all of the cities we stopped in!

Gateway – The Film

Description in the fewest words possible: My former high school classmate and pretty awesome guy, Tim Attewell, is writing and directing a horror/Sci-Fi movie and could use some generous people to help him with production!    Tim is a very talented guy and I will leave it to his words to hype this movie since he is the man behind the mayhem:

Scientists Craig and Allen are preparing for the first human tests of a machine that’s designed to stop death. As they approach completion, the moral and ethical questions surrounding the project create a rift between them. With the well being of his daughter on his mind, Craig aggressively pushes for the completion of the project whereas Allen fears its darker potential. With the first human test, they quickly find there are deeper ramifications to tampering with life and death.  – From the Director

Win:   You could give yourself a huge ego boost and become a producer for the film… with a needed contribution that is.   Tim and all who are involved are soliciting the public’s help to get this project off the ground.   Check out more about the film Gateway and what you would be getting in return for your financial support.

Loss: If you can’t donate, “like” “tweet” or “stubble this page and Gateway’s fbook page to spread the word.

Skinny:

Gateway - The Film

Tim Attewell, JTAHS '06

Photos via Shannon.

Stinson Beach

Description in the fewest words possible: I met up with my roommate and her friends for an afternoon of lounging, grubbing, drinking, and climbing just north of the city in Marin County.  Although the warnings of a shark spotted from a patrol helicopter kept us out of the water for most of the day, we found ways to make this a very memorable Sunday.

Win:   Stinson Beach has the most visually-epic (heck yea I made that word up) bouldering spots.  Win goes to getting four moves in on a problem, while the waves were braking just 20′ from the rock.

Loss: Oh, the sun burn.

Skinny:

Steve's solo frisbee skills.

This washed up sea lion was a bittersweet muse.

sure, why not.

Bocce goers

Booyeah.

CA Sun.

Aboard the Blaze.

Sailing Around the Bay

Description in the fewest words possible:  Over the past weekend I was fortunate enough to be welcomed aboard the Blaze by Captain (or skipper?) Chris and my two new friends Callie and Ian.   Since it was my first time aboard, I wasn’t put too hard to work by the three experienced sailors.   I spent most of the time snapping pictures, eating ginger to settle my stomach from the at times 10′ swells, and enjoying what will undoubtedly be a lifetime story of how I was given the best tour of San Francisco.

Win:  The visual overload of the whole experience.  Alcatraz, Golden Gate Bridge, porpoises, the city, the rolling fog.    The only experience to top this one was Mt. Washington.

Loss:  There was a moment when I looked around the boat and all four of us were definitely feeling sick from the sloshing and turning of the 40′ boat.

The Skinny:

The Bay Bridge and the City.

Callie, Chris, Ian.

Captain Chris of the Blaze.

Ian preparing the sail. The nonmenclaure of boating is bit to handle, but I now know about booms, lines, and stays.

A different vatage point of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Into the Pacific .

The happy couple.

A pack of kite- and windboarders.

Alcatraz Island.