Mexican Rice and Brothy Beans

I remember reading a funny little quote that said something to the effect that the definition of family is a group of people, no two of whom like eggs cooked in the same way. The challenge of food preference is real! I try not to be a short order cook but it happens all too often that I make something for dinner and end up fixing something different for each of the kids because they won't eat it. 

Mexican rice and beans is one of the few that we will all eat, so that's frequently on the dinner menu. This is also an example of how much I use my Instant Pot- I have two IP inserts, and with this meal, they both get used one after the other- making the rice first, and the beans second, as the latter can have a long natural release. These are also dishes that you can make in some quantity for meal-prep purposes, and my daughter will eat cheesy rice and beans in her lunchbox. She takes one of those insulated food jars. 

The beans: I forgot to soak pinto beans overnight, but a 6-hour soak in boiling water did the trick. Canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce do all the heavy lifting here as far as flavor is concerned. I followed this recipe loosely, adding a whole dried Pasilla chili too, since I happened to have some in the pantry. 

I used this recipe for the Mexican/Spanish rice, adding some mushrooms this time. And to go with the meal- a creamy cucumber and avocado salad. This is such an easy and satisfying dinner.

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A group of friends were meeting up at the botanical garden- we have boys of similar ages who were in the same daycare center years ago- and I thought of baking a snack cake to take along. With a box of ripe bananas stashed away in the freezer, I made this marbled banana cake. 

Other than cutting down the amount of sugar, I followed the recipe closely. It is different from other marbled cakes that I have made before because instead of mixing cocoa powder into a portion of the batter to make the chocolate portion, you swirl ganache into the batter. I pulled the cake out of the oven, recklessly turned it out after just 10 minutes and took it straight to the play date in a cake carrier. The warm slices of fresh-baked cake were a treat.

No pic of the cake- it was devoured quickly- but here's a picture of the bundt pan (the preciousss)- one of my prized baking tools and one that I bought at the Nordicware factory in Minneapolis. 

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Media round-up: My son asked me a surprising question: when and how did the universe begin? The question surprised me because his usual preoccupations are Pokemon and video games, and our conversations rarely involve topics of great mystery such as the birth of the universe. The other reason it surprised me was that I had been listening to a podcast episode on just this topic, so I could impress him by saying with great confidence that the universe is 13.8 billion years ago. ("I thought it would be trillions and trillions of years", he said.)

• The podcast episode I listened to was Episode 1: The First Fraction of a Second of Crash Course Pods: The Universe. It is fantastic- "We are made of big bang stuff". 
• We watched this <6 min National Geographic video on YouTube and it is such a great, succinct explanation of the Big Bang theory.
• I spotted this book on the "new books" shelf and checked it out immediately: Space Oddities by Harry Cliff. The book discusses a lot of oddities or anomalies, unexpected results that seems to contradict our accepted ideas of how the universe works and explains that they can be flukes or glitches, OR they can lift the veil on nature’s best kept secrets. I'm halfway through and not all of the chapters are equally interesting to me, but the first chapter, The Cosmic Story, is excellent! It is one of the best descriptions I have read that explain the standard model of particle physics and the standard cosmological model in simple terms. It definitely pushed along my feeble layperson understanding of these incredibly fascinating topics. 
• In non-big-bang related media, I've been trying to sink my teeth into a good fiction book but have encountered a series of duds lately. I picked up a much-recommended murder mystery, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson, but it did not hold my attention and will be a DNF (did not finish.)
• We watched The Mask (1994) on Tubi- a zany and ridiculous movie but fun to watch for sure. My sister still quotes lines from this movie. 

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A Moment of Fitness: Today, I'm talking about a basic question- How much exercise do we need? Guidelines from well-respected public health agencies like the CDC and the WHO agree on exercise recommendations for healthy adults. In a nutshell, it is health-promoting to get the following in one week-

• Aerobic activity: 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity OR 75 minutes of vigorous-level activity. 
• Aerobic activities are what we know as "cardio" and include brisk walking, jogging, swimming, biking, dancing, tennis, and many others- their defining characteristic is that they get your heart rate up, and get you breathing a little harder. 
• How do you know whether your activity is moderate or vigorous? An easy way is the "talk test"- if you can talk but not sing while doing the activity, it is of moderate intensity. If you can't say more than a couple of words before getting out of breath, it is of vigorous intensity. (If you can sing while doing the activity, kindly pick up the pace :))
• 150 minutes of moderate cardio could be 30 minutes of brisk jogging/walk-run intervals/light jogging 5 days a week. Or 2 dance classes, and some walking. There are many ways to do this. 10 minutes of brisk walking after most meals will even do it! 
• If you are conditioned enough to undertake vigorous cardio like running, 75 minutes/week is very doable- a few short runs will get you there.
• Muscle-strengthening activity: at least 2 sessions a week. These can be bodyweight or weightlifting exercises. More on this in a future post. 

For adults 65+, the recommendations are to add two sessions of balance exercises in a week. An activity like yoga will cover both muscle strengthening and balance. 

Why is it important to know this? 

• You can compare your current activity to the recommended levels and see where you stand, and you can slowly ramp up your exercise to recommended levels if they're not there already. Every little bit counts. 
• For people who have some anxiety that "I feel like what I'm doing is never enough", (one of my friends said this to me verbatim), this kind of guidance provides reassurance that no, you don't need to exercise all day, every day. It is more like exercising 4-6 days of the week, 45-60 minutes per day, which is reasonable to build into one's schedule for most people. (Consider how much time we spend on our phones and on social media, as a comparator. I don't know about you but I always grimace when my weekly screen time notification pops up on my phone).
• If you're only doing cardio or only lifting weights, the recommendations are a gentle reminder to do a bit of both for optimal fitness.

Have a great week, all! 

Pan-fried okra evokes memories of summers past

It is peak summer in Northeast Georgia. I haven't been making it to the Farmers' Market regularly this year, but have enjoyed some classic summer produce here and there. For one, we make watermelon juice almost daily, and serve it to ourselves in freezer-chilled glasses- a real treat. Last week, I bought a box of fresh figs- I'm the only one in the family who enjoys them. 

I came upon some beautifully fresh okra last week and bought it immediately. There was no question about what I would make with it- aji-style tal-lele bhendi- pan-fried okra in the style of my maternal grandmother. I've posted this recipe in my first few months of blogging, over 19 years ago! Here's a quick review of the recipe as I make it now- no quantities, as I just eyeball it.

• Wash a bunch of fresh okra, and dry it thoroughly (do not skip this step). 
• Chop the okra quite finely- I'll lop off the top and tail, make 2-3 cuts lengthwise and then chop crosswise. Place the chopped okra in a large bowl.
• To the chopped okra, add
• Besan (chickpea flour)
• Rice flour
• Salt
• Turmeric
• Red chili powder
• Cumin-coriander powder
• Toss the contents of the bowl well to dredge the okra in the flours and seasoning. 
• Add 1-2 tsp. oil and a tablespoon or two of water and toss again. This gets all the coating to stick on.
• Meanwhile, heat 1-2 tsp. oil in a pan. Tip the contents into the pan once hot.
• Pan-fry the okra, stirring occasionally on medium heat until the okra is cooked through and browned and crispy in places. Serve immediately.

Last week, I served this okra with a "rasam khichdi" that I made in a few minutes in the instant pot. What's rasam khichdi, you ask? Not anything authentic, I assure you. A made-up recipe designed to simultaneously annoy people from a few different states, ha ha, but a tasty and quick meal. 

My aji used to serve this okra (which she fried in a lot more oil than I currently do) with a very simple varan-bhat, steamed white rice with mashed cooked toor dal, cooked simply with salt and curry leaves. A wedge of lemon and a drizzle of ghee completed this ultimate comfort food.

I remember eating this meal off steel thalis while seated on the living room floor of aji's fourth-floor walk-up flat in South Bombay. It would be school summer break- the month of May- and four granddaughters would be visiting Bombay aji as she was referred to to distinguish her from our other grandmother. We spent the sweltering morning puttering around lazily, then lunched on meals like this while sitting cross-legged on the cool tiles of the living room floor, strategically arranged under the ceiling fan. 

Promptly at 1 PM, the local cable guy would put a movie on for all his customers. It was the ideal way to kill time during the heat of day, watching a movie in a darkened living room while practically napping. We would wait with bated breath to see what movie would be played each day. (Much of the delicious anticipation of TV is gone in these days of streaming services.) Mr. India, the 1987 movie, was my personal favorite and one that I will happily rewatch anytime even now. 

Then, in the evening, we would grab a collection of buckets and shovels and walk two blocks to Chowpatty beach for a few hours of happy sandcastle construction. On the way home, there would be an occasional stop at the kulfi place, or to peruse used books that a vendor spread out under the footbridge. Then, washing off the sand and changing into night-dresses, and dinner, again with some TV show for company. Finally, we would unroll folding mattresses onto the living room floor and sleep all in a row. Good times. 

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Salads of different types have been on the menu this past week. My kids love pasta- I cook a box/bag of pasta practically twice a week and save it in a container in the fridge to use in different ways. I made a batch of pasta salad, which holds well in the fridge for school/work lunches and quick meals. It is very flexible and can accommodate many bits and bobs from the fridge and pantry. I made it simply by tossing together--

• Cooked pasta (tricolor farfalle this time)
• Marinated artichokes
• Fresh tomato, chopped
• Bell peppers, chopped
• Chopped fresh mozzarella
• Pesto 
• Balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• Drizzle of olive oil if needed
• Sprinkle of parmesan, optional

The pic below shows the pasta salad served on a bed of arugula, and topped with toaster-oven-baked quorn nuggets.

A friend is downsizing, and let me look through a pile of treasures that she is letting go. I acquired these fun baking tools-

• Adding to my collection of cookie cutters- these are some seasonal ones like pumpkin and apple shapes
• A cake layer cutter- wow, excited to use this- maybe a birthday cake for my daughter next month
• An 8 inch tube pan- I'm thinking... a pound cake
• A 12 inch tart pan with a removable bottom- I'm thinking... a savory tomato tart

I told her I'll use each one soon and bring her a share of the baked goods! 

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Media round-up of the week:

• I finally watched Oppenheimer (2023) on Prime, over a year after it came out. It was long (watched it over 2-3 days as is my wont) but I enjoyed it, and learned a lot about the politics and the personal dynamics of the time. I've read books on the subject but this was a different perspective
• I had a chance to go to part of a local film festival- a segment on narrative shorts on the theme of "Women in Film"- it was cool to get my culture in, and I enjoyed some of the film shorts
• A podcast episode that I found interesting and terrifying in equal measure- Radiolab: Dinopocalypse- a story of what likely happened the day the dinosaurs died
• The internet has reading content in the weirdest places- I enjoyed a few posts from the "Best of Craigslist"- missed connection, mean cat, splitting a Costco pie, new holiday proposed, this heartbreaker.

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A friend invited me to her lake house for a girls' night. I drove 75 minutes north and had a wonderful time splashing in the lake for hours, listening to a flash thunderstorm on the porch under a metal roof, reading on this deck at sunrise...it was a short 18 hour trip in total but a lovely change of scene. 

Salad Days and Flip Yogurts

Our whirlwind summer break of 2024 has come to an end, and a new school year has started- we have a third grader and a seventh grader this year. School starts very early here in the South- unlike in other parts of the US where schools start closer to Labor Day- and temperatures are still so high that kids sometimes have to have indoor recess to stay safe in the heat. 

Our son turned 8 last month, while he was visiting India with his dad, but when he got home we had a small celebration at home with an ice cream cake. I tried this recipe with good success- even busting out a piping bag and tip to make some decorative swirls with homemade whipped cream.

Ice cream cake for an 8th birthday

Other good eats this week-

This tahini dressing is called "liquid gold" on the original post and I am inclined to agree. It is plant based, is made by simply mixing a few ingredients in a bowl (no blender needed), and tastes fantastic on any kind of salad. I served it all week with a basic spring mix. A keeper dressing recipe!

Spring greens, cucumber, and
 tahini dressing

I'm making more of an effort to soak whole legumes regularly for sprouts. Here, I cooked whole moong bean sprouts lightly, and made a "bhel" of sorts by topping them with onion, tomato, chopped mixed greens, a bit of yogurt and cornflakes mixture- it made for a light, nutritious, and tasty summer dinner!

Sprouts bhel

There's a constant struggle of sorts in my home between the sugar-loving kids and my attempt to balance the "fun" foods with more wholesome meals and snacks that are not straight-up sugar-delivery devices.  My kids enjoy snacking on "flip yogurts"- the ones from Chobani and other brands sold in supermarkets- where you flip a small container of mix-ins into the yogurt and stir it together. They come, of course, in all sorts of enticing flavors.  

I've started making our own version at home by buying a tub of vanilla greek yogurt (I choose a lower sugar variety with a good amount of protein) and portioning it into small containers. And preparing tiny containers of mix-ins- a favorite is a combination of crushed Oreo cookies, crushed graham crackers, and chocolate chips. 

A batch of DIY flip yogurts

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Media round up from this week:

• Listened to a podcast episode that was highly recommended somewhere- The Mel Robbins Podcast "Let Them Theory" episode. It calls for a subtle but powerful mindset shift to stop controlling the behavior and choices of others, and to "let them" do whatever they want to do and focus your energy on your own life. 
• Read Siddhartha by Herman Hesse. First published in 1922, and translated from German, this is a classic short novel. It is a story written very simply, in easy language- a parable of a young man and his search for meaning through different seasons of life. The simple language belies the deeper philosophical message. This is a book definitely worth reading once in your life. 
• Reading What Color is Your Parachute? by Richard Bolles, the all-time bestselling guide for finding meaningful work and career success. My current project is ending soon and I'm trying to be more thoughtful and intentional about what sort of work I want to do next. Wish me luck! 
• Started watching The Good Place, a sitcom on Netflix. A self-absorbed young woman arrives in the "good place" after her death, but her placement is an error, and she tried to becomes a better person in an effort to earn her place there. I'm only 3 episodes in and it is pretty good so far.
• My son and I watched the comedy movie Matilda (1996) yesterday on Netflix- Danny DeVito's over the top adaptation of the Roald Dahl book. It is a classic. My son was slack-jawed at the tyrannical principal in the movie, and expressed relief that he goes to a better school than the one shown in this movie!

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A moment of fitness: I've had a wonderful time testing our my "fitness chats" with a variety of people- and I want to thank everyone who gave me an hour of their time, and their valuable feedback. It is inspiring to hear of each person's unique relationship to fitness over their lifetime. In every post going forward, I'll try to talk about one aspect of fitness.

Today, I'm thinking of a very basic question: Why is there such a disconnect between the need for exercise, and the average person's ability/motivation to exercise? 80% of US adults do not meet exercise requirements. (What exactly are the exercise requirements for adults? More on that in my next post.) 

Is it really necessary to exercise? All available research overwhelmingly suggests that this is the case. There is no reasonable debate any more about whether exercise is important. It is quite simply the closest thing we have to a magic pill. 

But why do we need to exercise? It just seems so darn inconvenient and pointless! The whole problem is an evolutionary mismatch between how humans evolved, over 6 million years or so, and the modern environment that we now live in, which has only existed for a few hundred years (negligible in evolutionary terms), with time and labor saving appliances like washing machines and dishwashers really only being widely available for a few decades. For millions of years, humans had no choice but to be active for hunting and gathering and survival; our brains and bodies and behaviors evolved for regular and rigorous exercise. Our bodies also evolved to consume sugar and fat whenever it was available and to rest whenever we could to avoid spending extra calories when not required. 

But here we are in modern life where everything has been turned upside down. On one hand, our fridges and pantries are full of caloric food that our bodies can't get enough of. On the other hand, with transportation and appliances, there are few natural opportunities to exercise. And that is why we now have to resort to "artificial exertion" with gyms and weights and exercise regimens and fitness apps and organized sports. We are expected to do these while working long hours in mostly sedentary jobs, and, for many people, while raising kids and caring for elders without the benefits of a "village". It is a tough and somewhat perverse situation to be in, even though we recognize that modern life blesses us with many advantages. 

What does all of this mean for us? If you don't intrinsically love to exercise, that is understandable and normal and expected. The good news is that you are a human- intelligent and adaptable. You can use behavior change strategies to put an exercise habit into place. The world of exercise is so vast that you can find something that you enjoy that will fit into your life. And the best news of all- because humans have evolved to exercise, once you start doing it, you reap the benefits and grow to tolerate it/ like it/ love it! But it all starts with understanding and accepting that exercise is essential and that we have to hack our inner tendencies and find a way to include it in our life.

An interesting article on this subject: Humans Evolved to Exercise (Sci Am, 2019)

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A doe has been leaving her newborn fawn in 
our backyard for several hours every day this week