A cupcake-worthy kind of day

pomegranate cupcake and pomegranate juice

Some days are pomegranate cupcake-worthy…

• not just because you had to have a physical for your parent’s job
• or that you had already had an immunization shot on your thigh and sprays shot up your nostrils just before they had to try to find your vein
• or that you looked at the seemingly friendly lab technician whose last name was the same as yours with confused tear-filled eyes when his needle found your vein
• or that you just whimpered while four vials were filled
• or that you slept quietly on the way home instead of the usual jibber-jabber and songs
• or that you gamely ate the potato-poblano-kale soup for lunch

Some days are just pomegranate cupcake-worthy.  Because of all of the above.  And because you’re two.  And you love pomegranates.

Not Your Lola’s Chiles en Nogada

Home made chiles en nogada -- finally!

I have been meaning to make chiles en nogada (stuffed poblano with walnut sauce) since I first encountered the dish in Mexico City several years ago.  This dish, whose festive colors evoke the colors of the Mexican flag, is available right around Mexican Independence Day in mid-September.  This is a great seasonal dish, assuming you’re in a place where poblano peppers, pomegranates and walnuts are ready at about the same time.  In this area, they are.  This year, the poblanos I used came mostly from a friend’s garden, and the pomegranates and walnuts were from another friend’s trees.

In looking online for recipes, I found that they tended to be someone’s abuela’s closely guarded recipe, handed down from generation to generation.  Perhaps because of that, there were many variations  –  different types of meats; different types of additions to the filling; different types of spices; variations on procedures; different, and sometimes opposite, recommendations.  However, four things remained constant:  (1) they all used poblano chiles, (2) there was always some sort of meat stuffing or picadillo that combined sweet and savory ingredients, (3) there was always walnut sauce, and (4) there was always pomegranate seeds.  With that as my general road map, I culled and combined from many different sources.  Since I’m pretty sure neither of my lolas had a recipe for this dish, I did not think either of my grandmothers would mind my tweaking with other people’s grandmother’s recipe.

This dish is absolutely worth the effort.  The combined flavor is unforgettable.  As with most things I cook, I usually end up adjusting as I go along, so here is my approximate recipe for anyone who may wish to try it (or alternatively, try one of the myriad recipes available online).  If you are lucky enough to have a recipe from your abuela, please share.  Otherwise, this one’s a fun one to experiment with.  Buen provecho!

The storm that blew through

The storm that blew through Northern California this week brought high winds and more than 3 inches of rain to Sacramento — a lot for an area that sees an annual rainfall of only around 18 inches.  There were some stormwater drains that flooded, and other personal inconveniences:  a delay in our flight back from Oregon, a leaning orange tree to straighten, and a lot of small camphor tree branches to pick up.

The typhoon that blew through northern Luzon last week brought high winds, flooding and mud slides to areas in and around Baguio, a place where I once lived and where I still have family.  The city of Baguio was isolated when all roads to the city became  inaccessible due to landslides.  A few of the major roads have recently re-opened.  Focus is now on the retrieval of  bodies buried in mudslides, primarily in barangays in La Trinidad, a municipality near Baguio. This area of Northern Luzon is called the Cordillera region of the Philippines — mountainous, as the name suggests, but populated nonetheless, some areas more densely than others.   So far, the death toll is in the hundreds for the Cordillera region alone.  My family members there — they were fortunate.  But, it is an area with close ties of kinship; and, while they may physically be unaffected, I do not doubt that they know many who have been.

The typhoon that blew through northern Luzon two weeks ago brought high winds and flooding to low lying areas in and around Manila, a place where my daughter lived and where we still have family.  One of the areas with extensive flooding was Malabon, where my daughter’s care institution, Heart of Mary Villa (HMV), is located.  Fortunately, all residents (babies, mothers, staff) there were able to evacuate  to the second floor of one of the buildings.  HMV’s executive director also later reported receiving a text message from our daughter’s birthmother.  So, we at least know how members of my daughter’s family, by birth and by care, fared.  We also know that HMV sustained a lot of damage, with eight feet of floodwaters submerging the first floors of the entire facility, including the nursery. My family there –they were also lucky  ~  ankle-deep flooding at one cousin’s place, another spent an extra day at the hotel where her wedding was held the day before because they were unable to get home, another reported a flooded garage, but no major damage.   Other people were not so lucky.  The death toll for this particular storm is also in the hundreds.

Connection to people and places makes disasters that affect those people and places more personal.  Adoption, at least international adoption, seems to make the world a smaller place, tying together people who may not have ever known each other otherwise, who may not have much in common, and who may not even believe in the same things.  Somehow, these things do not matter so much, and the distances among our thoughts and hearts are shortened.  Connection to family and friends here means that what affects us, albeit from a distance, becomes more personal for them, too.  We did what little we could do to help from afar, but I was humbled by how many friends and family were willing to do the same.  My thoughts remain with those who must now take on the hard work of rebuilding and recovering.

Naked Mole Rat Turns Two

Some friends of ours gave Elena the book, “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed” for her second birthday a week ago.  It is about Wilbur, an indomitable naked mole rat who goes against mole rat colony convention and well — wears clothes.

In real life, naked mole rats do burrow and tunnel like moles, are rats — these small rodents are endemic to eastern Africa, and they do look naked — they have very little hair on their skin.  In this children’s book, Wilbur likes wearing clothes and gets a lot of flack for it from his fellow colony members.  All turns out well in the end for the protagonist and everyone else — it is a children’s book, afterall!

Both in real life and in the book, naked mole rats are highly social, live in colonies, and have specialized roles.  In this small human colony of ours, my husband usually takes care of the night time routine of getting Elena ready for bed.  Here’s a conversation between the two that I recently overheard:

‘Why did you take your pajamas off?’ ~patient father asks exasperatedly.

‘I’m a naked mole rat!’ ~two year old daughter declares emphatically.

.

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Maligayang bati sa iyong kaarawan, our naked mole rat!!!

Eating her pancit bihon at a local restaurant. Eating noodles on one's birthday is supposed to ensure long life...or so my mom says...

We ate more pancit (bihon and luglug) and other good things, like these cookies made by a friend, during a merienda cena we had later that week to celebrate her turning 2 with a few family and friends.

“I will go into the zoo. I want to see it. Yes, I do.”

E and sculpture outside gorilla enclosure, San Diego Zoo, CA

Over the last year, I have been to zoos more than my cumulative total prior to that.  Generally, I used to try to avoid them.  This recent increase in zoo visits is mostly because it is an easy activity to do with a toddler.  We’ve visited  our local city zoo a number of times, been to a nearby zoo sanctuary, the San Diego zoo, the Indianapolis zoo, etc.  A good friend of mine recently posted the strip below on his facebook profile.  While I wouldn’t say we’re depraved for enjoying zoos, it is to some degree, at least for me, an uneasy enjoyment.

I have always been conflicted about zoos.  I realize they can play an important role in education and conservation efforts, but I have always been uncomfortable with seeing certain animals assigned to lives in captivity.  The unease is very uneven, too.

I do not seem to have issues with butterfly sanctuaries or even some bird aviaries.  I don’t mind viewing the flamingos in their made-up swamps at zoos.

flamingos and their nest mounds; San Diego Zoo, CA

I have always enjoyed, absolutely guilt-free, the herp sections of zoos.  So, at least for me, seeing reptiles and amphibians in captivity is apparently not a problem.

Viewing spiny tailed lizards at the herp section of the Sacramento Zoo, CA

Then, there’s the ‘cool’ factor, too.  The rainforest dome, a 90 foot diameter domed enclosure housed at the California Academy of Sciences at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, simulates the various layers of a rainforest from floor to upper canopy. It is also absolutely cool! But stripped down, it is just a more thought out and stylish permutation of a zoo — it contains over 1600 animals, mostly invertebrates, fish, birds, amphibians and reptiles.

View of the forest 'floor' from the 'canopy' layer; rainforest dome, California Academy of Sciences, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA

But there is something about seeing mammals in captivity that is disturbing for me, no matter how well planned and implemented and ‘cool’ their cages are.  And it’s not all mammals either.  Seeing naked mole rats move around blindly in their tunnels does not rouse the same internal conflict as seeing hippos or okapis or rhinos in captivity.

A rhino at the Indianapolis Zoo, IN

And it isn’t all equal either, this bias I have when it comes to zoos and mammals.  There is something about seeing fellow primates, such as gorillas and bonobos, in captivity that makes me turn away more quickly.  It is a very anthropocentric uneasiness.

A gorilla at the San Diego Zoo, CA

Wall of Bonobo photos; San Diego Zoo, CA

My daughter enjoys a book called “Put Me in the Zoo” by Robert Lopshire.  It is about a leopard who does  all sorts of nifty things with his spots, and who wants to be in a zoo.  The book’s title captures some of my selective discomfort at seeing certain mammals in zoos.  We are very much like the primates and many of the others creatures at the zoo.  And I know that I would not ever say ‘put me in the zoo’ of my own free will.

The  resolution to this particular Lopshire book comes when the leopard is told “With all the things that you can do, the circus is the place for you!”

Now animals in circuses…that brings up a whole bunch of other issues for me….. 

E and E crossing bridge overlooking various primate habitats, San Diego Zoo,CA