In a New Jersey State of Mind

I suffer from what I call "The New Jersey of the Soul." (No offense, New Jersey.) This affliction causes me to feel, no matter where on the globe I am (Manhattan, Seoul, Hawaii, some parts of Beijing) as if I were in New Jersey.

Although when I was in Charlottesville, VA, I did feel more like I was Nyack, so I’ve got that going for me.

And the banks of the Yellow River were pretty awesome. Shanghai too sci-fi to believe.

A brief culinary interlude: Coconut vanilla ice cream with strawberries in it

I know dessert is not paleo. Sadly, we can’t all be Kurt Harris! (I mean that, I would love to be Kurt Harris.) This is for special occasions. 🙂

Ingredients:

• 1 can full fat coconut milk (13.5 oz)
• 1 can light coconut milk (13.5 oz) – I find that the inclusion of light coconut milk helps create a more scoopable texture if the ice cream is not all to be consumed at once. If you and yours will consume all the ice cream as soon as you are finished making it, or if you have the forethought to take the container out of the freezer a half hour before you plan to eat some, or if you don’t mind nuking the whole shebang in a microwave for 20 seconds, feel free to go with 2 cans of full fat coconut milk.
• 2-5 egg yolks (This is an arbitrary number of egg yolks. I’m sure the lecithin helps add richness and mouthfeel, but I just do it for the lovely golden color.)
• Sweetener to taste (I used 8 packets of Truvia, but no doubt a bit of honey or soaked, pulverized dates would work well and be more paleo)
• Pinch of salt
• 3-4 TBSP vanilla extract
• A cup of chopped strawberries, possibly sprinkled with a bit of wine vinegar or lime juice, if you’re feeling sassy

Method:

• Whisk the eggs for a minute or so
• Add the sweetener and salt and whisk until eggs and sweetener are combined
• Add the coconut milk to the egg-sweetener mixture, as you continue to whisk
• Add the vanilla while whisking away
• Adjust the amounts of sweetener and vanilla to suit your taste. When the mixture tastes good to you, pour it into your ice cream maker and freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.
• When the ice cream maker signals that it is done, use a spatula to incorporate the strawberries into your ice cream
• Serve and enjoy!

Anthropomorphism

What does it feel like to be a tortoise
in the moment when an eagle has latched onto your shell
and bears you upwards
There you are
Above the earth
You never knew you assumed was flat
Millennia of evolution tells you to keep your head retracted
To shut your eyes against the brightly spinning world
Do you listen?
In this moment before the plunge before the black
As every organ protests that this should not be
Do your reptilian eyes glimpse the unanswerable
The unfathomable curve of the horizon
Beneath the infinite sky?

And I thought

I cannot fix this.
My parents, having imported me from Asia, will never have grandchildren.
Whatever purpose they imagined for me will go unfulfilled.
It has all been for nothing.