Tuna, Black Radish and Avocado Ceviche

Ceviche, what is it? Anyone? Well it is quite simple, take some fresh fish, cut it up in small pieces, marinade it in citrus for a few hours and there you have it, ceviche.

For this recipe we used a few ripe avocados, some black radish from the green market for some crunch and spice, lots of lime juice, some pickled chiles, salt, pepper, and really fresh tuna. The key is to have really fresh tuna, since you wont be cooking it, aside from the cooking that will happen from the citrus, you want to make sure the fish is really good. It is that simple, ceviche, done, done, we have done it, here it is, enjoy.

• Ingredients (rough)
• 2 Pounds of Tuna
• 2-3 Avocados
• 1 Black Radish
• 4 Limes
• Salt and Pepper
• 2-4 Pickled Chiles, depending on your spice preference

The next time you weep in disbelief as a friend happily consumes a bag of jellied eels, bear in mind the Roman phrase ‘de gustibus non est disputandum’ (tastes are not to be disputed). While originally used in the context of art preferences, or more likely sexual leanings, the expression also lends itself to people’s choices in food.

The list of foodstuffs that inspire love or loathing is seemingly endless. Asked why they despise a particular food, people will build their damning arguments on a combination of smell, appearance, consistency and taste.

As everyone knows, particular smells trigger a desire for food. Many a vegetarian has been turned by the smell of frying bacon. Supermarkets are renowned for their use of in-house bakery aromas to induce bread-buying frenzies among shoppers. Unfortunately, some don’t even have a bakery. In July, the Net Cost grocery store in Brooklyn got into trouble after it was revealed that the aromas of chocolate and baked bread that suffused the outlet were all artificial and pumped in using a machine.

The power of smell goes beyond mere food. Scent can also be used to influence generosity, trustworthiness and political leanings. Inexplicably, the smell of citrus-scented Windex has been shown to induce people to be more generous to charities.

In October 2010, a New York politician mailed campaign flyers that were impregnated with the aroma of rotting garbage to 200,000 registered Republicans. The text suggested that Democrats were corrupt betrayers of the public. Happily, in this case, the ploy failed.

The appearance of food undoubtedly influences our ability to enjoy consuming it – the food coloring industry has banks bursting with dollars to prove it. People like and expect foods to be certain colors. Anything that fails to meet these expectations is in risky acceptance territory.

When Crystal Pepsi and Tab Clear were launched in 1993, they were a resounding flop. Why? As one industry expert said at the time: ‘The companies have spent 100 years convincing people that colas are dark. They’re dark because they put coloring in them, but that’s beside the point. People will ultimately go back to the darker sodas because they will decide they prefer colas that are “real”.’

One of the most universally unappealing colors for food is apparently blue. According to suburban satirist, Urma Bombeck, ‘There is no known navy blue food in the refrigerator, it signifies death.’ Film director, Alfred Hitchcock put the anti-blue idea too the test in the 60’s when by throwing a dinner party for his Hollywood chums.

Hitchcock asked his chef to make everything blue – the martinis, meat, mashed potatoes and even the peas. Several bottles of food dye later, Hitchcock was pleased to see that his guests were thoroughly disgusted.

The consistency of food is an important factor influencing many people’s likes and dislikes. The main bugbear for many is sliminess. Perhaps understandably, a lot of people don’t like putting slithery eel-like things in their mouth.

A BBC top 20 most-hated food list produced a number of oozing items, such as tripe, snails, oysters, black pudding, squid, kidneys, haggis, mussels, tofu, oxtail and anchovies. People are often averse to eating foods that come from ‘ugly’ animals. Witness the renaming of fish so as to be more palatable to a suspicious public.

In 1977, a businessman from Los Angeles discovered that five-foot Patagonian toothfish were being discarded as waste by fishermen in Chile. By changing its name to the delicious-sounding ‘Chilean sea bass’, said businessman turned the fish into a valuable commodity.

Other species have received a similar treatment. The yucky ‘Slimehead’ become the yummy ‘orange roughy’ and ‘Stumpknocker’ became ‘spotted sunfish’. The so-called ‘Pacific red snapper’ is, in fact, more of a brand name that covers 13 different species of rockfish.

The fish enjoyed as part of the infamous British ‘fish and chips’ is no longer cod. The hungry tourists on the beaches of Brighton or on cruises out of Southampton are most likely tucking into dogfish – a shark-like species that is confusingly known as ‘rock salmon’.

Despite the popular notion that ‘there’s no accounting for taste’, it’s unlikely that any slimy blue products are going to be brought to market anytime soon. And while it’s true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the public doesn’t seem quite capable of extending this generosity to its food.

Roasted Eggplant and Carrot Shumai with Sweet Chili Sauce

I know I know, I haven’t posted much about food recently, maybe a few things here and there but there have been no recipes or anything of the sort. So I wanted to throw out a recipe that has been keeping me happy for a long time now. It is a little sweet, it is a little spicy and it is all over the place when it comes to Asian cuisine. Some genius restaurants even go as far to put some out on the table for you because such a delicious sauce deserves endless squeezing ability when you are eating.

Ingredients

2 Jalapenos or Small Red Chiles (you can also use some pickled chiles if that is all you have)

1 Cup of Sugar

1 Cup of Water

1 Cup of Vinegar (White works well as does Rice Vinegar)

1-2 Cloves Garlic (depending on how you like it)

2 Teaspoons of Potato Starch (Or Corn Starch but Potato Better)

Salt to taste

Directions.

1. You can either finely chop the chiles and garlic  or you can throw them in a food processor with some of the water and vinegar and pulse them until they are minced well.

2. After everything is chopped combine all ingredients except the potato starch in a small saucepan and bring to a boil on high heat while occasionally stirring. When it reaches a boil turn the heat down and let it simmer for five minutes allowing the sugar to melt and the flavors to make sweet chili love with one another.

3. Add 2 teaspoons of water to the potato starch and mix until incorporated. Slowly stir this in to the sauce that is simmering to thicken. Stir for a few minutes and take off the heat.

4. Once the sauce has cooled put it on just about anything you can think of. A little sweet, a little hot, a lot extremely delicious and addicting. Feel free to add or subtract the number of chiles you use as well as the type and size.

Tonight Canon Logic is throwing a party with music, food, drinks and light painting at 730pm. If you are interested in coming message me at Joshyq@gmail.com for the details. $20 gets you a free download of the EP and access to all of the deliciousness below along with some special drinks.

Menu

Tomatillo Cayenne BBQ Pulled Pork on Toasted Bread

Vegetarian Sloppy Joe with Creme Fraiche Yogurt and Cheese Sauce on Homemade Spiced Chip

Deep Fried Mushroom Risotto Balls with Garden Basil Pesto

Coconut Crusted Popcorn Chicken with Habanero Ketchup

Watermelon Almond Gazpacho

Roasted Eggplant and Carrot Summer Rolls

Mystery Surprise

Friends! Canon Logic’s new EP “Rapid Empire” is out and available to purchase here!

Happy Birthday John

Come on Irene, is that the best you can offer? You had one job, to blow us all, and well, you blew it.

On friday night I had a show in Philly and I was determined to head straight back to NY right after for I wanted to be smack dab in the middle of this hurricane. We were told just a few blocks away from my loft that they had mandatory evacuation. I live by the water. It was John’s birthday and we had a catering job saturday day in Connecticut following a lock in party for him and the storm. Last minute we get a call friday night that the party was being postponed due to the weather which meant we were “stuck” with a shit ton of food.

My brother calls me up friday while I am getting ready to play and tells me a genius idea he came up with. He went around our whole apartment building knocking on doors and inviting people to eat food and drink with us followed by a live concert that YOU would be playing. For those of YOU who do not know YOU, YOU is a project I started sometime last year. The idea spawned from the fact that I play with so many musicians so often, constantly jamming and writing songs in group form, that I thought instead of starting a solo project where I play music for a crowd I would play shows and involve everyone in the audience. For YOU are the band. I start with whatever song randomly pops in to my head whether it be something pre-rehearsed or brand new and everyone that wants to join in singing, playing, dancing, and everything in between does so at their own liking. In this spirit everyone is part of the show whether you typically play music or not, if the moment strikes you, do what feels right, anything goes . You can watch some footage from a recent show here.

Before the hurricane swept through I went to my practice studio, cleared it out completely, moved my car to a safe spot, took some of the plants down from the roof, cleared the tables, and chairs, and bought a ton of food, booze, and a few more party favors… I had made my peace with the garden, saying goodbye to what I assumed would be turned to dust as Irene swept through. Little did I know that I should know better than to assume…

The day for me was a bit weird. As I mentioned in a recent post for the past few months my life has been all kinds of crazy. Not that crazy is ever bad or that my life is anything other than crazy on any given day, but I have been faced with some big challenges that have taken me to places I never knew existed. And for some reason saturday day I just couldn’t shake it. I didn’t even know why I felt like such miserable shit, I was lying in bed all depressed and pathetic, wallowing in my own misery and people were just starting to show up for the party. I had a few ideas as to what might be going on but the truth was I was just trying to blame something outside of myself. It was all me and I couldn’t fight it, I accept that and let the sadness take me over. Why fight a feeling just because you think it is wrong? Feel what you feel ey?

And at 7pm sharp our place started to pack up. Snap out of it Josh, snap out of it. I got out of bed, punched myself in the face, poisoned my tongue and let the magic happen. I couldn’t fight the vibes, this was too exciting.

For those of you who do not know anything of 132 N 5th (my apartment building), we live in a sort of “grown up” college dorm. Since day one it always felt more like that than your typical living space but over the past four years of living here I have been doing my best to build community within the building, meeting neighbors, cooking with them, playing music, starting a roof garden, and so forth. But it didn’t all really come together until this hurricane news came up. I’ve met plenty of people before in the building but never had I had almost everyone that lived there in my apartment hanging out together. It was quite beautiful. We live in more of a commune than anything else and I couldn’t be happier about that.

For the meal Mike really took charge. Tell me that’s not the best damn hurricane meal you’ve ever tasted Bubs.

Seared Fillet with a Green Bean Red Wine Sauce Served on Toasted Bread

Fried Eggplant and Carrot Dumplings with Hoisin Glaze

Mozzarella and Tomato Skewers with Garden Basil Pesto

Sea Bass Tacos with Caramelized Peach Salsa

Deep Fried Corn and Roasted Red Pepper Risotto Balls with an Ancho Chili BBQ Sauce

Herb Chicken Tenders with Buttermilk Ranch and Thousand Island

Homemade Cookies and Cream and Crown (Royal) Ice Cream

Delicious Birthday Cake For John (see picture above)

I honestly didn’t even eat any of the food, I was too busy setting up for the show I would be playing next door once the food was all finished up and besides often when I play I don’t eat anything the entire day until after the show. Meanwhile my good buddy Nick Gray started whipping up these delicious ginger apple shots while everyone poured various drinks with what liquor was around.

Once the food was done and we sang happy birthday people slowly started trickling over to the other apartment to get the dancing rolling. That is when the next wave of magic happened. As the storm brewed up outside we sang and danced away for a good 3 hours straight, though I must say at that point I wasn’t sure time was real as I chucked my phone in a corner to be forgotten about for the rest of the night. As the show developed more and more people started to play and sing along and a few people even lead the group with their own songs including the lead singer, Tim, of my band Canon Logic. We have an EP called “Rapid Empire” being released on itunes and through canonlogic.com tomorrow (August 30th) and I suppose with all of this storm magic going on it just happened that Tim and I played through most of the EP for everyone to join in on.

As the show went on, as I jumped up and down singing my face off, being sure to bust my finger open from strumming to hard, and getting everything out inside of me I finally realized why I was so down that day. It was all for the build up for the storm and once I released it all out of my system, once all of those bottled up emotions poured out I was free. Everything I had been thinking, feeling, worrying about, fearing, it was all inside brewing up and it finally exploded out of me. I tried to blame others for my misery but it was all for the sake of the show, all there to get the music out, to feel something real, something strong, something that weighed me the fuck down, and to ultimately make me feel a little bit lighter. I should thank my roommates at this point for putting up with all of my crap while I slowly found a way to dump it out. Thank you to the worlds greatest roommates. After this storm washed over me I knew without a shred of doubt that the actual hurricane would not be a bad one, that the “real” (metaphorical) hurricane inside of me was the true storm, the one in all of us that brought us all together on this fine night to share in great company.

After hours and hours of singing and dancing I suggested we go for a run in the rain one last time before it got too crazy. And of course that suggestion turned in to someone taking their clothing off, and someone else, and someone else, and someone else. Looks like we are going streaking down bedford. Woops. As the group of about 12 of us ran down Bedford avenue in our underwear we were spotted by a few different groups of suspicious dudes. The first group being Cyn Lounge, the bar across the street from our house (can’t you tell by the name what this place is about?) and the other being the police. At that point we all scattered and ran home as fast as we could. What a rush that was.

After the streaking ended we found out that Cyn lounge had asked us to come party over there and they even offered us some free drinks so naturally we went. A friend in the building bought me a drink as a thank you for the hospitality, at that point I realized that it was the first drink I had consumed that night and it really hit the spot. The bartender was telling me how happy she was that we brought our party to her bar because it had been dead all night and she was about to blow her brains out. Always happy to stop someone from doing that…

After the bar we headed back to our pad for some late night snacks withe the remaining party goers. The rain was bad at times but it was sort of on and off from intense storming to light drizzle. We whipped up some pizza with some dough I had made earlier and we topped it with a spinach mac and cheese that we had made for the party along with a few zip sauces. Damn was that pizza good, and not only that it was the only thing I had eaten that day and it was now about 3 in the morning.

As the music winded down and the party cleared out I was left alone to my thoughtless thoughts to clean up and do the dishes. There is little better than winding the party down with a nice clean up to treat yourself the following morning as apposed to waking up to a shit storm destroyed party house that smells like beer and piss. Wanted to thank everyone who made this night an incredibly epic one, seeing the whole building together, interacting, sharing, being, it was all quite amazing. I feel light again.

For now…

When I think of the “father” or “god” of science only one image comes up. That black and white picture of Albert Einstein with his crazy white hair. You know the one that I am talking about. As a kid I always admired him, I was always in to science and so it was natural that if I was going to praise someone it would be the one and only Einstein. When Albert was a child his parents thought he was slow or mentally retarded because he used to stare and play with a compass for countless hours. What they saw from the outside as mentally challenged was probably just a really gifted child who was slowly figuring out the universe at the age of two. Or something like that.

Now is the part where you start to wonder how this ties in with anything… me too. To really understand Einstein’s theory of relativity, one of the theories he is most recognized for, one might think that you need years and years of schooling plus a rather advanced brain to grasp everything. In some cases this is probably true, to really understand all of the scientific jargon involved you would need to read a lot of books and take a lot of science lab classes but that being said, on a most basic and universal level, the theory of relativity is quite simple. And while Einstein takes credit for it in modern science, the actual idea of relativity has been around for much longer, dating back as far as the original Buddha 3000 years ago when he discovered it.

The best way that it can be demonstrated is the classic train moving scenario. Take two people, one is standing on a moving train with a ball in his hand and the other is standing on the ground watching the train go by. The train has large glass windows so that the observer outside can see everything going on. As the train goes by the outside observer, the person on the train drops the bouncy ball in his hand. The person standing on the train watches the ball fall straight down, hit the ground, and bounce right back up in to his hand. The observer outside of the train sees something a bit different. As the train quickly goes by and the ball is dropped he sees the ball fall in an arch shape going down and bouncing back up with the reverse arch. Question is; when asked how the ball fell which observer is right?

Answer. Relativity of course. The ball falling is relative to the person viewing. And in this way so is life in general. Everything is relative to the person and their own experience. Where some see eating meat as being bad and harmful to animals, others laugh at how silly of a notion that is considering their only chance for survival is to eat meat and what’s more they see animals eating each other all of the time. Some may enjoy spicy food while others think that it is too much. One critic of food may love a dish that I made while another may think it is disgusting. But who is right?

Again, it is relative to the eater. And what is more that response is relative to the way that I choose to see it. I have learned many different ways to cook many different things, but I have also come to understand that within each dish I am making there are about a million different ways to cook it. A French chef may demand one way of holding his knife while cutting, claiming it is the best way, while a Japanese chef may have a completely different opinion and believe his way is the the only “true” way.

As confusing as relativity can be, or as simple, it is quite a beautiful thing. When I was in college my girlfriends Mom at the time was very sick and after having dated her for only a few months her Mom committed suicide. That was hands down one of the most painful experiencing that I have ever gone through, and it wasn’t even my Mom. I couldn’t even imagine what it must have been like for my girlfriend but I saw her going through it all and it made me sick. It confused me, I was upset, I cried, I felt helpless towards her, lost, alone, downright awful. But it was all relative to what I had experienced before. Sure it was not nearly as bad as what she was going through but yet to me it was all that I knew and the pain had never been greater before.

The thing about emotions, no matter how clearly you can see what is right when you feel good, when things start to get to you, when sadness, anger, jealousy, and fear creep in, they have a way of taking control of even the simplest of thoughts. But you can’t always fight them, sometimes just riding them out really helps to calm the waters. And perhaps knowing that you are not the only one feeling the pain, that we all feel what is relative to our lives, that we are all alike in that way, perhaps that is what connects us and keeps life pushing forward.

On sunday after throwing a rather successful engagement party the night before my roommate Michelle and I headed to the beach with some friends. The weather man called for rain so we decided to hit up Coney Island instead of going to a beach that was further out just so we could get some sun in before the storm hit. Have to love those weather men, they said it was supposed to rain the night before which would have fucked up the roof top engagement dinner and that sunday was going to be beautiful. It was of course the opposite. Can’t plan for the weather now can you?

I packed everyone some lunch using the leftovers from the party before we headed out to Coney. Slow cooked pinto beans and mashed yams with roasted peppers and eggplants from the garden, topped with an herb cheddar cheese sauce and an ancho chili BBQ sauce, not too shabby. But upon arriving at Coney Island and seeing all the delicious fair food they had I immediately said to the group, “you guys are more than welcome to eat the sandwiches I brought but I won’t be offended in the least bit if you would rather eat the fair food because I sure as hell am going to.” Damn did I want a Nathan’s hot dog. And a deep fried oreo. And peppers and sausage. And…

We decided to hit up the old school ferris wheel and on the way down ironically ran in to my roommate Adam who was filming a music video of sorts with some friends. If you go to Coney Island and get on the Ferris Wheel (that is about 90 years old) I recommend sitting on one of the carts that moves, it makes for a much more exciting, and a bit more scary, experience. The one thing I really love about old amusement parks that you can’t seem to get out of the newer ones is that extra sense of fear. You know, the fear that the ride you are on is so old that the cart you are strapped in to could derail at any moment and send you plummeting 60 feet to the sidewalk. Who doesn’t love that feeling?

After rides and a few unsuccessful game attempts (damn you game where you can’t touch the medal circle to the crooked medal rode or the alarm goes off) we grabbed a few of those yard pina coladas and sat down to eat some food. The four girls I was with thought that the drink was too sweet and they ordered beers but I was enjoying mine quite much and drank most of it. I will admit it wasn’t that great but what do you expect? You get a free refill with each drink so I had no problem sucking them down and getting some more for the group, but not before I picked up an order of delicious cheese fries from Nathan’s for everyone.

After a few drinks we hit up the beach for a minute and admired the diversity that is Coney Island beach. I’ve never seen someone go in the water with their socks on before, let alone trudge them through the wet sand after they got out. Life is beautiful. Coney Island is kind of awesome and I glad it never shut down as they said it was going to when I first moved here. It only took me four years to ride the wheel. Look how far I have come.

When we returned home I must have been in challenge mode because some new things have come up. As an effort to save some money, and perhaps our bodies as well, Michelle and I thought it would be fun to start attempting to recreate some of her favorite frozen and fast made boxed foods and figure out how to make them from scratch. Tostino’s Pizza Rolls came first after a late night drunken purchase of a box of them the night before.

More on how that went along with other homemade attempts of our favorite boxed and frozen foods (think about the possibilities friends…) to come but for now I will say I am enjoying my second day without eating meat. I really want to explore being a vegetarian for a little while so as to have a better grip on what it means to cook for one.

Sometimes life can be tough, and I know that my last post left a few people in the dark, as it left me, but sometimes you just have to say fuck it, stop thinking too much, and get out there and enjoy some delicious time at Coney Island with good company. No one has showed and reminded me of that more than my roommate Michelle.

The length of the pause/freeze only means that you are typing too fast and being impatient. Your computer is trying to slow you down. Slow down a little.

I recently did something that everyone has always advised against. One of those things that not a single person has ever spoken positively about. And it was quite fucked there for a while. But now, looking back, I begin to see clearly.

Everything that I asked for I got. Thing is, I had never had it before so I had no idea as to how to handle it. I couldn’t see the future, predict the most logical outcome, and I could not see clearly and flow. I was a little fucked there for a while.

What exactly happened is unimportant and irrelevant. The situation stays the same at its most basic energy and I will react accordingly.

But why does it matter? Why are you still reading these words? Why am I writing them?

The same reason that anyone asks any question. Simply because they do not know the answer.

Thank you for putting up with the chaos.

Light Painting On Your Phone?

Last night I had no plans, we usually practice monday, tuesday, and wednesday but we had off last night and since I gave up my ticket to Bon Iver the night before I decided to go scalping for one at Prospect Park. I drove over and brought my guitar, in the case that I couldn’t get in I would sit in the park and play, not a bad second option as I had endless with me. I ran in to a few scalpers who were selling for $100, “fuck that I thought.” I kept walking and found a guy that I talked down to $60, when I checked the ticket out it just looked a little bit shady and so I said “thank you” and kept on walking. After about 10 minutes I asked a girl with a real ticket if I could inspect her ticket just to get an idea as to what I should be looking for and then went back to the guy from before and bought the ticket. I shoved endless in my shoe and awkwardly limped in to the show.

The ticket was real…

I grabbed a beer and a water which I must say were most impressive. To be seeing a concert in NYC and only pay $6 for a delicious Shock Top Belgium White Beer and $2 for a water is pretty good in my book. I had some friends that I knew were going to the show but I hadn’t been to a show by myself in a while so I figured I would just do my thing and if I happened to run in to them I would just go with it. I got up all nice and close right before the opening band started and awaited the experience. The beauty of general admission when you aren’t with a big group is you can really jam yourself up front, but the only trouble with general admission is having to go to the bathroom…

Before I know it Michelle, my roommate, is calling my name as she spots me and finds her way up to my spot with a few of her friends. Sweet, friends found me and I have all this up close and personal space to share with them. I wouldn’t know Bon Iver if it wasn’t for Michelle and she insisted on me coming to the show so who better to share it with? Her business partner Ryan went to school with the lead singer Justin Vernon so I have an inclination she wouldn’t know about them if it weren’t for him either. How the world goes round.

When the lights went down and the band hit the stage there was musical magic in that Brooklyn air. For those of you who do not know Bon Iver I would suggest you grab his new album and find out. I had no idea how intense and powerful the stuff would be live as it is a bit moody but boy did he do it right. The man apparently doesn’t know how to write  bad song, not even an okay one. Hey musicians, you know that feeling when you see a live show and walk away thinking “so I guess I have never really written anything worth a damn before?” That was kind of how I felt after seeing Bon Iver. Check out this video we shot up close below.

If that isn’t enough just wait until my roommate over at MRI and her partner release their new Iphone app. I can’t say anything about it but this picture from the show last night is worth  a billion words. All I will say is that I took it on an Iphone as did I with the picture above…

Does anyone else psych themselves out when they are at concerts and have to pee? Do you find yourself battling between going to the bathroom after a few drinks and staying so as to not loose your spot? Sometimes I feel as though I pee once and then immediately start thinking about it and have to pee again even if I don’t really have to pee. Have you ever done anything like that? If so I think I figured it out last night. What a mental fuck that can be right? Any other day I would have sucked it up, ran to the bathroom and found my friends in the crowd but last night was a new night, a night to fight, to face my fears and move on. I noticed that the energy I was putting towards having to pee, or thinking I had to, was in my head, something I was forcing out of fear and worry. I assumed with the beer and water I consumed that I would have to pee and miss part of the concert so I psyched myself out by thinking about it too much. So during the show instead of peeing, as I know I would have to pee right again when I got back, I tried to ignore the feeling, tried to just let it sit there and not get in the way of the show. And what do you know, after I really let them music take me over, everything else faded away. Music soothes the soul, and takes away the thought of having to urinate.

If you are still itching for music, the only thing that might get you through this day, or get you to lunch, my band, Canon Logic, is putting out a new EP in a few weeks, August 30th, and we are giving away a free track right now here, enjoy!