The General Situation

Steamed!

We're in escrow on a house, and we're totally on the fence about it. On one hand, it's nice enough; on the other, it needs significant new construction to reach its full potential, and the estimates came in higher than anticipated. And that might be OK if we loved it more—if the dishwasher was near the sink, if there was cross-ventilation in the master bedroom, if there wasn't an oven in the pantry.... To complicate matters, another house that we like has become available again. It doesn't require work, but it's more expensive, with higher property taxes and likely a much higher insurance premium. So we stew on it. We have to decide on the first house by early next week, and the second house in a day or two.

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Here's the bathroom in a house we're not considering. As a visiting friend said, that tub looks like something you'd cook an egg in.

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Speaking of which, I skimmed J. Kenji López-Alt's "How to Boil the Perfect Egg" in the New York Times, hoping I wouldn't have to memorize a new method. But he said that 87% of the time (in his results), steaming eggs rather than boiling them resulted in clean, easy peeling. And that was indeed the case when I steamed five eggs today. P.S. You can skip the article and go straight to the instructions.

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Last spring, I signed up for the Criterion Channel, because I liked the defunct streaming service, Filmstruck, it grew out of. We always forget to watch it, however, with the exception of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which had a limited run on the site (with terrific bonus material at the end). The other day, Adam notified me that Criterion had charged our credit card $200. Annoyed at the auto-renewal, I canceled our subscription.

The confirmation email said our service would end in May, at the one-year mark, with no mention of the new $200 charge. I fired off an email demanding a refund, and when that was ignored, a tweet. The tweet elicited a new email address, so I tried that one, too. Eventually, a representative explained that the company can't prorate the first year—and she didn't even acknowledge the new $200 charge! I started typing up a fiery response, and then, in a clear sign of personal growth, I paused to look at the invoice email that Adam had forwarded. It was from Criterion Environmental, the company that did the radon test on the house we're considering.

Stepping Out

This might be the smallest lizard I've ever seen. Adam's mom, who lives in Ojai, said she's been seeing them lately, too. Perhaps they're the result of a mating season?

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If you can get your hands on good celery—the wan Foxy stuff at the supermarket will not do—and decent dates, I highly recommend the celery, date, and almond salad from Joshua McFadden's Six Seasons cookbook. Anyone who doubts celery's star potential will find it revelatory.

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When our friends Pete and Naria were here, I made Pete—who loves a gizmo much more than I do—explain how to work the Instant Pot I received for Christmas. (Time flies.) The reason I wanted one was to cook dried beans, which takes hours on the stove, and even if I have the time, I get antsy. The instruction manual offers time ranges for various beans, which made me nervous: the difference between seven and nine minutes of pressure cooking is huge. So I didn't use my beloved Rancho Gordo beans for the inaugural run. Instead, I threw in some borlotti beans that Adam had given me for my birthday (as part of a large assortment of dried legumes; think about that for a bit). The beans were old, though, and many split when I soaked them. So it wasn't a surprise that they ended up overcooked. On my next attempt, I'll take Pete's advice and skip the soak, and I guess I'll cook them for the minimum recommended time, although I'm not sure what you do with the beans if you open the pot and they're not done....

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I haven't been walking enough lately, mainly because the weather has been glorious—which is swell except that I'm wary of spending time in the sun, and I really hate applying sunblock. Today, I got over it and went for a long walk from Stearns Wharf up through the Mesa neighborhood. Along the beachfront stretches, I enjoyed seeing people hosting parties at the park grills, but I was relieved to climb up the Mesa, because I'd rather look at houses than cars. (Santa Barbara's waterfront has an awful lot of parking lots, many of which you have to go out of your way to avoid.) The photo below was taken around 2:30 p.m. on a Saturday in August—and look how few people are on the beach!

I understand that beaches need parking, but I'd much rather walk down a long staircase to the sand, if at all possible. I came across two such staircases—one in Shoreline Park, and the other at the end of a short residential cul-de-sac. The latter is called One Thousand Steps, but it's more like Two Hundred Steps. At the bottom is a long stretch of beach with even fewer people on it.

I was meeting Adam at an open house, so I headed uphill, into a residential area. I needed a photo of an interesting mailbox for my real estate website (more on that soon). Imagine my delight when I came across this one.

And this one!

And It's Delicious

I got so hopped up on 12-Hour Sudafed yesterday that I baked a lemon coconut buttermilk custard tart on an almond sablé crust. I wish you were here to eat it—although my having the flu may make the offer a bit less appealing....

Good Recipe: Cannellini Bean Salad With Shaved Spring Vegetables

Loved this recipe from David Tanis, even though I made a few changes. I used snap peas instead of asparagus, only two anchovies, and no red pepper flakes (we ran out). I also chose dill instead of the other herbs. And I added far less of the dressing than suggested. And I didn't bring out the mandoline.

Also, Tanis's recipe for cooking the beans, embedded within the accompanying essay for no good reason, was pretty loosey-goosey: "Rinse a pound of beans and put them in a pot. Cover with cold water and add a few aromatics — half an onion, a peeled carrot, a bay leaf, a clove, a few fennel seeds. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce the heat to the barest simmer. Add a large spoonful of olive oil and a small spoonful of salt. Let the beans simmer, uncovered, for an hour or so, checking on them occasionally. Depending on their age and other variables, they may take up to 30 minutes more. When they are truly tender, turn off the heat and let them cool completely in their broth before refrigerating. A pound of beans will give you twice enough for the recipe below, so plan on a bean dish once more this week." I had to frantically add water as the beans cooked. I also added way more fennel seed—a good pinch—and an extra clove and a half.

Anyway, highly recommended.

Toasted Farro with Kale, Currants, and Pine Nuts

When I asked when kale had become such a thing, I had no idea what was brewing: After making the last recipe I posted, we ordered a side of cavolo nero (a.k.a. Tuscan kale) at I Sodi, and then last night we made this recipe. It's another one from Suzanne Goin's series of four in the Wall Street Journal. Adam tends/likes to undercook grains, so I thought the farro was a bit chewy—a feeling that was ratified when he checked the farro package. While Goin says to boil the farro for 12 minutes and then brown it for five minutes, the farro package said to cook it for 50 minutes. Anyway, the flavors were delicious, and it's vegan, to boot.

Squash with Mushroom-Kale Ragout

I think I enjoyed this more than Adam, even though I could take or leave kabocha (or butternut) squash—and perhaps because I like sage than he does. If we were to make it again, I'd suggest reducing the squash and upping the kale and mushrooms (the leftovers of which were delicious mixed into scrambled eggs). Or maybe we'd make a pasta with the ingredients, adding a bit of maple syrup to bind it. Either way, perhaps we'd add a bit of chile de árbol, per Suzanne Goin. Anyway, it's by Anita Lo (of New York's Annisa), and it's from the Wall Street Journal.

Good Recipe: Roasted Carrot Salad with Black Olives and Ricotta Salata

The Wall Street Journal's Saturday leisure section—perhaps it's called Off-Duty?—has been running excellent recipes, first by Andrew Carmellini and now by Suzanne Goin. This salad is a bit of work (25 minutes, my ass), but it was a novel mix of carrot, cumin, and olive flavors. I didn't use anywhere near the specified amount of shallots, and I didn't miss them.

Good Recipe: Pasta with Caramelized Onion, Swiss Chard, and Garlicky Bread Crumbs

If I remember correctly, this New York Times recipe is by Melissa Clark, whose new book, In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite is highly recommended (title aside). We used farro penne purchased at Eataly.