I was about 19 years old when I found out about Andy Goldsworthy’s work through the beautiful documentary Rivers and Tides at Cinema Village. In retrospect, it was a pretty seminal discovery in my personal growth. I had seen a few of his installations over the years, but for one reason or another, I had never made my way up to the Storm King Art Center, where his famous Storm King Wall was standing. Each time I would go up to Dia: Beacon, I would remind myself to check out Storm King next time. Many more meetings with Louise Bourgeois’s spiders and that much more reminders later, thanks to other people’s enthusiasm, I finally paid a visit to Storm King.
The day before the trip we talked about packing lunch bags for our excursion. I ended up working pretty late that day. Around 11:40pm or so, I forced my self out of my bungee chair and started slicing and chopping some vegetables close to midnight. I knew I wanted to make 2 different kinds of sandwiches on the circular baguette from Zabar’s, and I wanted to make easy fillings that can stay in the fridge over night, using the vegetables we had at home. That way, I can quickly put together a sandwich that won’t be super messy in the morning, without spending much.
- Here’s what went in the oven and baked for about 40 minutes at 370 degrees:
Sliced egg plant, bell peppers, red onion, mushrooms + crushed garlic + salt and pepper + lots of olive oil
- After that, I chopped some sweet potatoes and carrots, and started boiling.
- Meanwhile, I started pan-glazing some tempeh with this sauce:
soysauce, garlic, orange juice, minced garlic, mirin, sesame oil, and sesame seeds.
- When the sweet potatoes and carrots are softened, I made it like mashed potatoes
- All things went in the fridge over night.
As I had planned, I was able to construct 2 kinds of sandwiches rather quickly for 3 people. First, the tempeh and mashed sweet potato sandwich.
I put the mashed orange roots on like I would a spread, and layer with sautéed kale, and tempeh.
After the vegetables have been baked, there are still a lot of garlic and herb infused oil left on the pan. I left it covered over night, and rub the bread on it. It makes a great base for the vegetable sandwich.
Layer order: eggplant + peppers + onions + mushrooms +more black pepper!
The previous day, I had eaten about 1/4 of the baguette. I felt like with so much stuffing, 3/4 of the circular baguette would yield enough sandwiches for 3 people- 2 mini sandwiches for each person + potato salad that Lucy was going to bring. I cut the 3/4 of the bread in half before assembling, so when they were all assembled, it looked like this:
Cut each half in thirds, wrap in parchment paper, and lunch was ready.
I packed the left over orange roots + kale and the pan glazed tempeh in a tupperware in a tupperware for Matt to take to lunch, and left for some fall foliage and sculpture.
The process of getting to Storm King was as beautiful, complex and arduous as Goldsworthy’s work process. I followed directions as instructed from the Map application on my iPhone, and somehow ended up on Caramoor Center for Music, which was a striking place. But still… WTF. I tried again right now just to be sure, but if you type “Storm King Art” on your Map application, it will give you a very precise direction to Caramoor Center for Music, an hour drive away from the Storm King Art Center. I even took a screen shot to prove it!
The lesson here when using GPS device, is to always find out the exact address of the destination. Shame on you google maps, for tricking your blind follower, and shame on me for being an unscrupulous simpleton. 그리구 언니들, 다시한번 미안 ^-^;
After a quick walk around the Caramoor, we decided to at least have our lunch there. We wanted to eat under the picturesque gazebo, but discouraged by the cold breeze, we settled with having our lunch in the car.
The situation wasn’t ideal, but our lunch was delicious, especially with the dill potato salad.
After our lo-budget style lunch, and a couple more detours later, we arrived at Storm King. We chit chatted as we walked through the meadows and the forest, circled around a Richard Serra and gave a quick glance at a Maya Lin. Andy Goldsworthy’s wall was just as expected, but what struck me the most was the open land and the autumn leaves. Every time I visit the Hudson River Valley, I fantasize about living up there. I hope to make it out one more time before all the leaves fall. Apple picking perhaps?
Accompaniments for not-quite-stale bread
I take after both of my parents. But when it came to food, I have always assumed that I was more like my father. I can’t tell you what he liked to snack on, or what his favorite food was, but I think that he loved to eat like I do. My mother on the other hand, sees food as a necessity. The pleasure of it is only supplementary. Her nutritionally balanced meals take 3 times a day in moderate portions with no seconds servings, or snacks in between. She also happens to be picky and difficult to please, even though she’s too polite to ever not compliment whatever is offered to her. So at home, she would only cook things that are beneficial in some how, in a minimal way (or at least as minimal as possible in Korean cooking) using carefully selected ingredients.
Since the passing of my dear grandmother a few days ago, I’ve been thinking often about my mother, and our relationship. The more I age, the more of my mother I am seeing myself in unpredictable ways, and this time, I was looking into this extra hippie- looking plate I’ve concocted.
I wanted to finish off the loaf of bread before it went stale, and I wanted something hardy to go with it. Sweet potatoes were readily available, so before I even made up my mind on what to make of them, I chopped and boiled them. I’ve wanted to make a marinated tempeh dish since I saw this delicious picture on 101 cookbooks back in January. I improvised by making the sweet potatoes and the tempeh made into a single dish.
As I was slowly enjoying my lunch in complacence, I imagined myself in my mother’s place, cooking for her self, eating alone. Because of the vastly different surroundings that have shaped us respectively, we naturally work with different ingredients, but I imagined that if she was in my place, at my age, right now, maybe she would be enjoying this too. Finding the orange and white to be a bit too heavy and assembling a last minute salad to go with the whole thing. And like her, I was doing this out of necessity. This is how I would sustain myself, and I was enjoying it because it was a necessity. And I cook for myself, because like her, I too am picky and somewhat difficult to please. I don’t know if habits are inherited or learned, but I’m thankful.
Pan-Glazed Tempeh with Sweet Potatoes
- Chop and boil some sweet potatoes.
- While the potatoes are boiling, mix a small amount of sweet condiment- BBQ sauce, fruit preserve, whatever + grated ginger/garlic/onions + orange juice + soysauce +whateve herbs you like.
- Cut some tempeh, and check on the sweet potatoes. The potatoes should be softened, but not mushy. Take out of the pan, strain and set in cold water.
- In the pot, heat some oil, and add the tempeh and fry until golden. Pour the sauce mixture and simmer until thickened. Add the sweet potatoes back in the pot to heat and distribute some of the sauce, and mix in some chopped scallions at the last minute.
Freedom is really great, and too much of a good thing is nothing but fantastic to me, but this one can make a person feel a little lonely. When I was a small child I wanted to destroy all clocks so that time would become obsolete. This mostly means that I hated getting up in the morning to goto school, and leave the playground when my mom said it was dinner time. As an adult, I’ve made my best efforts to keep from having a regular schedule without becoming a complete bum. No stability, no structure, good life. Right? Well I can’t complain too much without really irritating my hard working friends. But with no sense of collectiveness I do feel like I’m living in a bubble at times. The days of the week don’t mean as much, and neither do seasons, only juuuust vicariously enough so that I have to be more concerned about certain people’s schedules.
And this is another reason why meals are so important to me. They’re give me a gauge of structure, like, ‘If I finish this by this time, I can meet so-and-so for lunch, and in order to do that I have to get up by 8:00am’. And weekend breakfasts are the most special. They’re more than just nourishing and relaxing. They make me feel connected in a weird way. I get up, get the paper, prepare something quick. And with my companion, we sit down on the table and read, eat, and chat, like so many others. There was a time when all I wanted on weekends was to get away and do as many things as possible. While that’s still nice on occasion, these days, I just look forward to sitting on a table with some friends. Maybe this means that I’m getting old?
So last night when I was out, I knew that I wouldn’t have a lot of time to sit around this morning. To maximize my kitchen table time, I chose to get some bagels in advance from my favorite bagel place, Bagelsmith. They have whole wheat everything bagels! And although they have an excellent selection of spreads, I started mixing up my own spread recently. This way I can make it just the way I like, and it’s super easy.
I had a lot of carrots at home, so I used a lemon zester to make thin strips. And then I chopped some scallions, and pressed a clove of garlic, and mixed it with fake cream cheese.
Everything bagel is my favorite, and I love all the seeds and stuff on it. They always make a big mess and fall everywhere when you handle the bagel, so I sprinkle some with the “cream cheese” mixture too. Add some fresh ground peppers, mix well, and spread on the toasted bagel. I like to top with tomato slices and some arugula.
I know.. I can’t cut it perfectly. I’ll be more careful next time ;)
