Understanding: One Person at a Time

One of reasons that Prop 8 passed was that proponents aggressively went after communities of color. My cousin would tell me that she got hundreds of phone calls from people who targeted Asians. And that tactic worked. I'll admit it, I have chosen my gay family over the Asian community, even my own family.

Tonight, my cousin married an incredible man and I am now part of an amazing new family. I spent the past two days getting to know them and developed a really strong connection to the groom's mother. We just hit it off and talked for hours. Towards the end of tonight, she said to me, "I voted for Prop 8. But, after meeting you, I have changed my mind."

That blew me away. Firstly, because I wasn't expecting it. I have never hidden my life from people and I just can't help talking about M. I talk about her all the time. It has never crossed my mind that the person I'm speaking to, doesn't approve of me. I think it is these seemingly meaningless conversations with the people in our lives that spark and carry change and understanding forward.

So, I now have an African-American Christian grandmother and she has a queer Asian granddaughter. Who knew?

New York Homecoming

NY dressed in gold
Mosaic of glittering windows
Framed in brilliant clear blue above
Opaque with taxis and feet below

Instinctively
My pulse quickens
I rapid speed walk
Reminding myself to breathe

*Rasika & C

It was a beautiful day to head into DC for lunch with C, K's friend. Any friend of K's is a friend of mine but as we chatted, I realized that I had met C before. A few years ago, I had a dream that I was meeting someone for the first time at lunch. That she was in a suit and I was not working (which I thought was strange). She had a necklace with a thick silver chain and opal stone. She was talking about Armonk, NY. No wonder we just clicked right away!

Although C has worked in DC for years (she commuted between NY and DC), she recently moved to DC as well and it was great to talk to someone who had the deep inside scoop on DC (farmer's markets and restaurants!) and understood what it was like to leave one's friends and family in NY. It's nice to have friends in DC.

[See my Yelp post for review of Rasika]

Bobby On The Brain

Sure, he made an ass of himself on Iron Chef but the man has a killer mussel recipe. I just made them on the stove and will serve with some sourdough toast.

Steamed Mussels with White Wine, Tarragon, Shallots, Butter, and Grilled French Bread

Recipe courtesy Bobby Flay

Prep Time: 10 min

Cook Time: 15 min

Level: Easy

Serves:4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cloves garlic

• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for the bread
• 2 shallots, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups white wine
• 2 pounds cultivated mussels, scrubbed
• 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves
• 1 baguette, halved lengthwise

Directions

Heat grill to high. Sprinkle garlic with a pinch of salt and, with the flat side of a large knife, mash and smear the garlic to a coarse paste. Heat the oil in a stockpot on the grates of the grill, add the shallots and garlic and cook until shallots soften. Add the wine, bring to a boil and stir in the mussels. Cover the pot and cook the mussels until all of them have opened, about 6 to 8 minutes, discard any that do not open.

Remove the mussels with a slotted spoon to a large bowl. Bring the cooking liquid to a simmer and whisk in the butter. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and stir in the tarragon. Pour the mixture over the mussels and serve immediately with grilled bread.

Brush cut side of baguette with oil, season with salt and pepper and grill, cut side down until lightly golden brown.

Cornflake Chicken

In middle school and high school I would go to A's house to study. There are 2 delicious dinners I'd look forward to while I was there: Parmesan and olive oil pasta and cornflake chicken. I use corn flakes from Whole Foods that don't have high fructose corn syrup in it.

Cornflake Chicken
Preheat oven 350 degrees. A's mom would use chicken tenders but this time, I used skinless boneless chicken thighs. Remove fat and cut into uniform pieces in terms of size and thickness. In a plastic bag crush cornflakes and add kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper. Shake chicken in bag to coat. Butter glass/ metal pan and place chicken. Drizzle with melted butter and pop into oven for 20 minutes or until done.

Take That Food Network BBQ Special

M likes to watch TV on mute when she's working at night so I put on the Food Network. It is not something one should watch after dinner. First we wanted ice cream, then cookies and then "Best Thing I Ever Ate: BBQ." I was drooling and decided I will definitely hit Hill Country when I'm back in NY.

To satisfy my craving today (now!), I took out 2 of our thin cut rib eyes and marinated them in Montreal Steak seasoning and Worcestershire sauce (ignore the high fructose corn syrup, it's not really there). Made O's lemon dressing (lemon zest, lemon juice, olive oil, fresh cracked pepper, salt). Made potato salad (4 baked potatoes, mayo, shallots, rice vinegar, celery salt, fresh cracked pepper). Cooked the steaks on a super hot cast iron grill (awesome if don't have or are too lazy to do that whole charcoal grill thing). Let the steaks rest and then plated steak, salad (arugula, dressing, parm cheese) and potato salad. Apartment BBQ.

V.H., MPP

Congratulations, V! It was an inspiring ceremony and Arianna Huffington was funny, brilliant and an amazing speaker. I also really loved the live organ playing.

LA Landscape

Gorgeous windy drive through Topanga (I always think of Boy Meets World). I did the same drive last year when I went to C&C's wedding. And of course, LA traffic. Gotta love it! Oh, and no one told me about June Gloom. Brrr and sticky.

LA In My Belly

V and I are all about food. Before we visit each other we send each other the food schedule. From the airport, she took us to gr/eats (delicious fried oyster plate) and Volcano Tea (shaved ice with red bean, condensed milk, almond jello and taro pudding) on Sawtelle. Then we headed to Abbot Kinney Blvd for tea at Jin Patisserie. We met up with M & H at Sagebrush Cantina for an awesome taco tray and live music that we sang along to (oh oh oh OH Sweet Child O' Mine....). And last but not least, the awesome sushi chef who made me a special uni sushi with a dollop of wasabi, lemon, salt and no nori. Delicious!

Banh Hoi

These fresh rice rolls are M's favorite meal in the whole world (she once ate 15 at 1 sitting). Her mom made it last night and we are attempting to recreate it (it'll be my first Cambodian recipe).

Banh Hoi
- Beef: slice eye of round thinly, chop half an onion and 1 garlic clove. Heat canola oil in wok, add garlic, then beef, oyster sauce, and onions. Add half cup of water. Stirring frequently, cook until beef is brown.
- Rice vermicelli: soak in warm water, nuke, toss with olive oil and sprinkle with scallions or fried garlic
- Rice summer roll wraps (aka Vietnamese Rice Paper): soak in warm water and lay on these plastic circle things with holes
- Special fish sauce: boil 7 cups of water with 2 cups of sugar and then take off heat. Soak chillies in 2 cups palm vinegar. Combine with 1 head of garlic chopped, 1 cup fish sauce (3 crab brand). Fill 2 liter soda bottle and keep in fridge.
- Various fresh herbs and mints (I think 2 are spearmint and thai basil - wish I knew what the others were)
- Green leaf lettuce
- Cucumber

Pour out some special fish sauce into individual bowls and add 3 spoonfuls of sauce from the cooked beef. Take rice wrap and add beef, vermicelli, herbs, lettuce and cucumber. Make into roll and dip into sauce.