faces, food, landscapes

The first week of October was a vacation-week for me. (The school district I work for tried something new this year: after the first quarter, a week off--a welcome break for students AND teachers.) Good timing, as we had an out-of-town friend and family reunion at our home in Tucson...which led to walks in the desert and eating out...

So, a few local highlights for this posting.

First, some Mexican folk-art faces, on the walls and floating above the tables in Elvira's, down in Tubac, about an hour south of Tucson.

And, from what is truly one of the best restaurants in southern Arizona, 

downtown Tucson's Café Poca Cosa:

Close to home--a bloom on a cactus in the backyard:

--and now, from the kitchen. My mother, who is Korean, has been showing us some things.
Here's "goh-sah-ree" (also spelled 'gosari')--technically 'bracken fern' but also called 'fiddleheads'--'têtes de violon' in French. (I've seen them in the frozen section of grocery stores in Québec.)

Soaked, then steamed and sautéed with garlic, sesame, and green onion--

gosari is one of my favorite things to eat--

one of those Proustian childhood-memory-inducing tastes...

If you've never had it--

it's simultaneously redolent of asparagus, mushroom, and beef...

...and, speaking of beef:

"Kalbi!!!" Korean-style beef short-ribs. Mmm mmm.

I almost never order them in a restaurant, because

Mom's recipe is always better. 

The link above is to a simplified recipe, but you'll get the idea.

Get the ribs cut 'flanken style'...

For the soy/sesame-based marinade, add a purée of garlic, ginger, onion

Asian pear (for tenderizing) and--a modern touch for tenderness and tang--some kiwi.

Let the beef marinate up to overnight before grilling or broiling. 

...out of the kitchen, into the desert...

The other night, on the way to some friends' for dinner, I just had to pull over to get this phone-shot--check out the 'double-helix' cloud on the right:

...and then as the sunset continued to 'ripen,' the strands got taller and pinker:

--from down in Tumacácori, the Santa Cruz Chili Co., across from the old Spanish mission.

One of my new favorite apps on my iPhone is ColorSplash; I used it on the above cactus flower and chili sign photos...here are a couple more photos edited with it--fun with selective desaturation:

--seeing the landscape through my wife's eyes, 

Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River, just south of Page, AZ 

...and back in Tucson; reflection of autumn color (which peaks in December) 
along the creek in Sabino Canyon

cosmic bucket

Once in a while, I'll take my iPhone with me on my long weekend run.

During the couple of months leading up to this past Monday's Saguaro Nat'l Park Labor Day run, I'd been running out there, but this morning I went back up to Sabino Canyon. With the recent rains, the desert is green:

The typical pattern here in the summer is clear mornings,

with clouds building in the afternoon,

and then evening thunderstorms...

But today began with clouds.

Ominous saguaros...

Some 'paperflower' in bloom...

(I've been playing with my new 

photo-editing 

 'flavor-of-the-month,'

an app called "ColorSplash")

so green!

Running into the canyon,

after about 2.5 miles,

a reflecting pool below Thimble Peak:

Nice to have so much water;

a couple of months ago, this pool had completely dried up...

Plenty of sacred datura blooms

(a.k.a. 'jimson weed' or even 'Indian whiskey')

...and morning-glory:

(another "ColorSplashed" shot)

...as I came back out of the Canyon, though, the sky had turned ominous,

curtains of rain on the horizon...

and then--WHOA!

--like some cosmic bucket pouring out over the vastness...

It's unusual to have a morning thunderstorm;

 this cell came rolling over the Rincon Mountains from the east...

And that was this morning around Tucson.

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The other day, I came across this passage, 

written by Ray Bradbury, who passed away just this past June:

“Well now, when was the last time you ran to a library and took home more books than you could read, like stacked loaves of bread, warm in your arms, waiting to be chewed? When, for that matter, was the last time you opened a book, placed it to your nose, and gave a great sniff? Heaven! The smell of bread, baking. When was the last time that you found a really great old book store and wandered through it hour after hour, alone, finding yourself on the shelves. With no list, no intellectual priorities, just wandering, snuffing the dust, plucking the pigeon books off the shelves to read their entrails and, not in love, putting them back, or in love, toting them home? To be lost in time is to find your roots.”

another Labor Day, another Saguaro Nat'l Park RUN...AND a fusion-recipe

I've been back at work in the classroom for just over a month now...

and on this blessed day off, I woke up at 4:30 a.m.?!

...to join a thousand+ runners in Saguaro Nat'l Park...

...and this was the third year-in-a-row for me...

(My wife took the above photo--the red cap--that's me...

the Santa Catalina Mountains are in the background.)

I made my time goal (2 min faster than last year, solid middle-of-the-pack), and a fleet-of-foot-friend of mine won his age-division. Again! Our wives and a friend came along as cheering spectators. We had no idea they'd put together a sign--so just past mile 5, after the worst of the climbing (see elevation profile below), we read these words:

Got the t-shirt. 

Run in the desert regularly, and you'll definitely see roadrunners of the avian kind...

And here are a couple of graphics--the elevation profile and the route in the Rincon foothills:

 (from http://www.azroadrunners.org)

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Just a couple more random iPhone-photo shots...

While weeding in the backyard the other day, this caught my eye:

Looks like an underwater scene, eh? Cactus blooms still amaze me... 

And then last night,

our friend José-Luis made us his renowned ceviche.

The secret ingredient?

A dash of oyster sauce to complement

the Tapatío!

¡Viva fusion!

We made kimchi-pineapple-quesadillas to go with it.

A pre-race meal of champions, ¿no?

quick recipe:

KIMCHI-PINEAPLE-QUESADILLAS

--inspired by the Kogi taco-trucks of L.A.--

Use large flour tortillas.

For the filling:

coarsely chopped kimchi--the 'riper' the better

thin slices of fresh pineapple

(canned is o.k.)

shredded Mexican cheese

thin slices of pepper-jack cheese

Before folding and grilling,

sprinkle either toasted sesame seeds

or 'furikake' seasoning

on top of the cheesy-tangy filling.

Buen provecho & chap-su-se-yo!

the importance of being a rectangle...

In case you're interested, here's a link in the whole APPLE vs. SAMSUNG trail, which is being decided by jurors today:

http://www.theverge.com/2012/7/31/3207848/apple-vs-samsung-complete-trial-coverage

I love my iPhone...and I know that it's truly important to respect patents and copyright, etc. etc...
But, really--can you REALLY 'patent' or 'trademark' a rectangle-with-a-bottom-center-button?!

I mean, 'SUBWAY' can trademark 'SUBWAY'-sandwiches--but ANYone can make a 'SUBmarine'-sandwich, and no one gets all litiginous: "Hey--you can't make a long sandwich! MY sandwich is already long..."

Of course, sandwiches aren't as high stakes as smartphones...

lunchtime links to a chilling 1909 short story

Most of you know that for my day-job, I am a high school teacher. So, yes, I'm posting during the day, BUT I'm on my lunch break; I'm not stealing time from my employer...(are you?)

Anyway, so I'm reading this column on the NYTimes website, which includes a link to an essay on this science-writing website entitled "The Philosophical Roots of Science Fiction." And then within that fascinating essay is a link to the full text of a chilling short story, "The Machine Stops," written in 1909 by E. M. Forster, chronicler of Edwardian mores...

I'd no idea that he also wrote a bit of spookily prescient speculative-fiction.
(Disclaimer--A Passage to India, A Room with a View, Howard's End, The Longest Journey, and Where Angels Fear to Tread are among my favorite novels/films...)

So--want something to read on your lunch-break? Click on the link and check out "The Machine Stops." Then, later, when you send a text, update your facebook, navigate the blogosphere, check your e-mail, or steal a glance at Twitter, you'll wonder what E. M. Forster and his contemporaries would think of our world just over a century later...

What do we think of it?

This year's origins

Week number two of the school-year begins today. (And the heat continues--yesterday was a record high of 109; today should match it.)

Last year, I had the most-diverse group of students I've ever had. This year's list of countries is a few shorter than last August, but still--it shows how medium-size cities across the western U.S. are no longer defined solely by Anglo/Hispanic/Native American relationships...

So, the list:

U.S.

Mexico

Lebanon

Jordan

Iraq

Somalia

Ethiopia

Nigeria

Liberia

Sierra Leone

Côte d'Ivoire
Ghana

Sudan

Nepal

Vietnam

Marshall Islands

Bosnia

England

...eighteen countries...and then from within the U.S., students are hailing from at least as many states; coming from 'back east' to Tucson can be just as 'culture-shocking' as moving here from abroad...

I don't have any quotable gems from my students yet--too early in the school-year for hum-dingers such as "OMG, turkeys lay eggs?!" or "Hey meester, what do they speak in Spain?"--but surely, they will come...

Oh wait--yeah, the other day, a kid said: "Is 'Mexico City' a country?" Ahh, high school...

end of another summer-break...back from NM, back to work...

My summer break is over. Tomorrow morning, bright and early: day one of the new school-year with my students...

Briefly, a few photos...

I spent a few days in New Mexico last week--my first time to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos...A very full short trip, involving eating copious amounts of red and green chile, trail running along the Rio Grande, and admiring adobe architecture...More later, but tonight, just a few scenes, all iPhone shots; I haven't had time to sort through the photos from the 'real' camera...

 --just over the border from AZ into NW New Mexico--approaching the Zuni Pueblo...

--wildflowers near Enchanted Mesa, near the Acoma Pueblo...

--the iconic adobe church of San Francisco de Asis, in Ranchos de Taos... 

--bridge above the Rio Grande Gorge; 800 ft above the river... 

 --Taos Pueblo and Taos Mountain, under a threatening monsoon sky...

--19th c. French Romanesque Cathedral in Santa Fe; the steeples were never built...

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...and AFAR travel magazine is sponsoring another "Catch" contest;

here's a scene of a meal from last summer, in Sokcho, Korea,

and it just won one of the rounds of the contest--the "Eat" theme!

After this past spring's attempt at Condé Nast's "Dream Trip Contest," I'm trying again for free travel!
(To find out, alas, who won, click here.) So, S. and I can dream of getting to Europe again...to Belgium.


And the one below was a runner-up in the same contest's "Eat" theme--from Santa Fe last week:

I continue to be amazed at the possibility of discreet restaurant-shots with the iPhone...


Now, to bed--tomorrow's a school day: to work!