Summer Favorites: Cucumber Soup with Seared Tuna Tartare

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We met again for Cooking Club, this time with a theme of “Summer Favorites.”

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Our friend Cole made this for us, without the tuna, a few years back on a trip to the mountains. It may have been from Food and Wine but I’m not sure.

Ingredients (4 servings)

  • 1 large european cucumber, peeled, seeded, and coarsely chopped
    • plus 1 tbsp finely diced
  • 3/4 cup plain low fat yogurt
  • 2 tbsp water
  • 1/8 tsp mild cury powder
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (or more for a nice little kick!)
  • 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (we halved this)
  • salt and freshly ground pepper
  • 1 1/2 lb tuna steak
  • 3 tbsp binely diced tomato
  • 1 small shallot, minced
  • 1 tbsp snipped chives
  • 1 tsp finely chopped parsley

In a blender or food processor, puree coarsely chopped cucumber with yougurt, water, curry, cayenne, 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice. Season with salt n pepper then refridgerate.

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in small skillet. Add tuna and cook over high heat for 2 minutes, turning once. (Note tartare is supposed to be 100% rare, no??) Cut into 1/4″ dices. Toss with diced cuumber, tomato, shallot, chives, parsley, and 2 tsp olive oil, 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.

Pour soup into bowls, top with tuna mixture.

What Your Kindergartner Needs to Know.

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Although the knowledge in this book is supposed to be what a kindergartner knows when they are leaving kindergarten, I decided to get it now for Riley even though she is still in preschool. There is a whole series of these books, based on “core knowledge” that all kids of a given grade level are supposed to know.

So far, Riley has enjoyed some of the stories in this book that are not in our other kid books, such as the story of King Midas, Johnny Appleseed, Casey Jones, The Three Little Kittens, etc. And some of the stories are slightly different from versions we have.

Beyond the stories and poems, we have looked a little bit at geography, American History (Riley now knows George Washington cut down a cherry tree and didn’t lie about it), art, etc.

There are also sections on math and reading, but we’ve just done a little bit in those sections so far.

I’ve had a lot of fun with it. Sometimes Riley is not in the mood to learn and then she normally doesn’t want to read this book unless we just stick to the stories, but sometimes she gets quite engaged with it.

Guidebook to Zen and the Art of Motorocycle Maintenance. Ronald L. DiSanto and Thomas J. Steele.

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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (ZMM) is one of my all time favorite books. I’ve had this guidebook for a couple years, but never felt like reading it. I finally decided to, and was surprised and impressed. It was not what I thought at all.

First, after a short introduciton, the book dives into major Easter Thought, such as Hinduism, Taosim, Buddhism, and Confuscionism. Then the bookdives into major Western Thought on knowledge, value, ethics, etc. These are all given as background, as the narrator of ZMM often brings up such items briefly and sometimes without much depth. Having the background that the Guidebook gives is really useful.

Second, the Guide contains some sections deleted from the original manuscript, and third, includes several reviews of ZMM from the time it was 1st published or shortly thereafter. Fourth, one of the most interesting thing s in the book is a letter from Pirsig, the author, to Robert Redford, about ideas for a movie of ZMM. Apparently Redford had expressed a lot fo interest in doing it at one point. Pirsig’s letter is really a fascinating read and gives additional insight into the book.

All in all I was surprised and impressed by this guidebook, and would highly recommend it to anyone that has enjoyed ZMM. I’m actually now reading ZMM again. 🙂

I’m going to skip the normal quotes section, at least for now…

New Religious Movements. Ronald Enroth.

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Our last small group study was on New Religious Movements, perhaps the politically correct way to say “cults,” though several of the groups studied in the book would not normally be considered cults, but instead major religions. For instance, Hinduism and Buddhism are included, though Hinduism was pared with Yoga, and Buddhism was just Tibetan/Dali Lama Buddhism.

I was not always that impressed with the book. While the object was to teach Christians about each movement and possible ways to relate to any members of the movement, some of the articles were much more biased than others. Part of that is due to the fact that each chapter is written by a different author, so it is not always cohesive. Some articles glossed over any good actions the group participats in or funds, and some articles explored only the extreme or negative aspects of a given NRM. I found it best to supplement each chapter with other articles found on the Internet, at sites such as wikipedia, beliefnet, lifeway, and even the NRM’s own official site.

The book is not necessarily written for a small group study — there is no list of group discussion questions at the end. However, I suggest reading the 1st and last chapter before all the NRM specific chapters. I created a checklist based on the last chapter that you follow about each NRM to find out when and how it diverges from “orthodox” Christianity, where “orthodox” means following major agreed upon doctrine.

We also supplemented the book with our own study of a few movements not included in the book
for NRM’s such as Scientology, religions such as Islam, and major philosophies such as Taoism.

Appalachian Trail Guide: NC – GA and Appalachian Trail Data Book

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There are 11 guide books to the AT, and each comes with a couple maps. I carried the map we needed and the guide book on our backpacking trip last weekend. A lot of people say the book is too heavy, and while it is extra weight to carry around, it is well worth it in my opinion. Besides useful information like how far off the main trail each shelter is, or how far water is from a given shelter, there is a lot of historical information as well. And I enjoy reading that kind of stuff while on the trail.

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This book just shows the miles between significant features. I did not carry it on the trail, though, since I had the other, more detailed book.

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AT: Springer Mountain -> Neels Gap

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This was my 2nd segment as a sectional through hiker. I now have almost 60 miles out of 2100+ done — still a very long way to go, and at the current rate, I’ll never finish it. I’ll have to step up to go more than once a year, and do more than 2 nights out, so I can knock out a couple 50-100 mile sections! Other than Jeremy’s bloody nose on day 2, and blood sugar/dehydration/heat exhaustion(?) on the way out on day 3, it was an uneventful trip.

The scenary the 1st day or so was not that great — there just weren’t any great views. Part of that was due to cloud cover on top of Springer, and the other part was due to all the trees being full of leaves this time of year. However, Blood Mountain did offer some nice views, and we got to watch the sunset and sunrise from there.

I have already made a list of items I will not carry in the future in order to cut down on weight. At the start, with all of my food and full of water supplies of 130 oz, my load, including my new 3.3 lbs Osprey Atmos 65 pack, was at 36 lbs. I think I can easily cut out 4-5 lbs. And I could have gone with less water, and just filled up more often. One item I will change out is my ancient Petzl duo headlight, and upgrade to a smaller/lighter Petzl tikka. I also want to get my own stove so I can do some solo backpacking, and I really like the jetboil, which weighs just under 1 lbs. I tend to carry too much food, so I will work on that next time. No 13 oz. bag of Combos! (Maybe just 2 small combos bags instead. 🙂 )

People: Sean, Jeremy, Gary, Mike, Ethan

Dates: June 8 -10 2007

Distance: 30.5 (Parking is .9 from Springer, so we hiked up and back down, so we hiked a little further)
Day 1: Springer Mountain – Gooch Mountain Shelter, about 15 miles.
Day 2: Gooch Mountain Shelter – Blood Mountain Shelter, 13 miles
Day 3: Blood Mountain Shelter – Neels Gap, 2.5 miles
Photos: Sharpcast Album

Map: Both Springer Mountain and Neels Gap are on this map:

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AT: Iron Mountain Gap — > US 19 E

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Note: I have now done 2 weekend backpack trips on the Appalachian Trail, so if I am going to become a “sectional thru-hiker” then I figure I should start blogging about it.

This 1st entry is from my 1st trip in April of 2005, when we got caught in blizzard like conditions, complete with white-outs where we couldn’t follow the trail and had to turn back in 60-70 mph winds. The 4 of us set up the 3 man tent and rode out the storm overnight, for 14 hours.

Trip Details

People: Sean, Mike, Jeremy, Gary

Dates: April 2005

Distance: 28.7 miles

Day 1: TN 107, Iron Mountain to Roan Mountain Shelter

Day 2: Roan High Knob Shelter, had to turn back at Bradly Gap as the snow/wind got too bad, slept in a tent somwhere south of there…

Day 3: From just south of Bradley Gap to US 19 E. Had to break snow at least knee deep.

Pictures: Click here for my sharpcast album.  [ Update 11/20/2012:  The sharpcast album is long gone so I’ll include a couple shots below…]

Map: Below is a map of the general area… TN 107/Iron Mountain Gap does not show up on this map, but it is north of Spivey’s Gap and South of Roan Mountain.

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The sun, whose rays are all ablaze

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I watched the movie “Brick” the other night, a film of the film-noir genre. I liked the movie, but there was one part where the lead female reads part of a poem while playing the piano. It stuck with me, so I searched around and found it is actually a snippet from an old opera called The Mikado.

Here is the whole poem/aria:
The sun, whose rays are all ablaze

Yum-yum’s aria from The Mikado

The sun, whose rays are all ablaze with ever-living glory,
does not deny his majesty–he scorns to tell a story!
He don’t exclaim, “I blush for shame, so kindly be indulgent”;
but fierce and bold, in fiery gold, he glories all effulgent.

I mean to rule the earth, as he the sky–
We really know our worth, the sun and I!

Observe his flame, that placid dame, the moon’s celestial highness;
There’s not a trace upon her face of diffidence or shyness:
She borrows light, that, through the night, mankind may all acclaim her!
And, truth to tell, she lights up well; So I, for one, don’t blame her.

Ah, pray make no mistake, we are not shy;
We’re very wide awake, the moon and I!

I may just have to buy the music from iTunes here.