Sarita's Pupuseria

A little Friday food love.

The best thing about jury duty is the long lunch break and the proximity to Sarita's Pupuseria in the Central Market.

Corn tortillas stuffed with whatever you desire, then topped with slaw and a vinegar sauce with a little kick.

Gooey cheeze, so much better than a quesadilla.

Writing Tips from "Intervention"

I love Intervention. I love how it exposes humanity at its rawest. Love, anger, forgiveness, and, usually, relapse. But this post isn't a love letter to Intervention, it's about writing and the power of action compared to words.

During an intervention, it doesn't matter how many times the family members tell the addict that they love them and how much they would miss them if they died. Most of the time, the addict doesn't agree to go to rehab because people love them, they go because if they don't they won't have a place to live or any support system, so rehab is basically their only option.

Many times, the addiction has been brought on by abuse, a traumatic event, or genetics. In a recent episode, the mother of the addict was also an addict. The mother told her daughter she was leaving to get treatment that night, asking if her daughter would get treatment as well. An immediate answer of yes. I've seen this more than a few times on the show. Even if a relative just agrees to go to therapy, it's usually enough to make the addict readily agree to go into treatment without all the ultimatums. Action is more powerful than I Love You.

Human beings respond to action. Words can mean nothing, which is sometimes hard to grasp when we're creating a story by writing words. It's good to take a page from the humanity exposed on Intervention: a page of dialogue might be replaced with a single action that gets the strong reaction we're hoping to evoke from our characters and our readers.

Apple & Kale Salad

My major food revelation this summer has been kale. I've tried cooking kale a number of times and never really liked it, which made me sad. But then I had a kale salad at Red Hill and loved it. I like my kale raw, who knew? Since then, I've been making a lot of kale salads. This is the one I'm eating this week.

Apple & Kale Salad

* 1/3 bunch of green kale leaves, pulled from the stems, washed and dried
* 1/4 of a can of kidney beans, drained and rinsed
* 1 small apple, diced
* 1 mandarin orange, segmented, or 5 segments from a can
* 1 very small avocado, diced
* 1 oz. feta, crumbled
* 1 scallion, thinly sliced
* 1 T of honey mustard dressing (recipe below)

Toss all ingredients together. Serves 1. Around 450 calories by my rudimentary calculations.

Honey Mustard Dressing

* 1 T whole grain dijon mustard
* 1 T honey
* juice of 1 lemon
* 1 T white wine vinegar
* 2 tsp soy sauce
* 2 T of extra virgin olive oil
* salt and pepper

Put mustard, honey, lemon, vinegar, and soy sauce in a small tupperware and stir with a fork until honey is mixed in. Pour in oil, season with salt and pepper, cover with lid and shake to combine. Can be refrigerated for a week.

R.I.P., Tony Scott

Tony Scott has long been one of my favorite action movie directors. His films were always fun and popcorn with a little smarts mixed in, never feeling like they were dragged through development hell, which is how most action movies feel to me.

Tony Scott made a lot of memorable films, but CRIMSON TIDE is the first movie I think of when I hear Tony Scott's name. No, it's certainly not his showiest film, but it's the best example of a contained thriller I've ever seen. If someone wrote that script today, it would be the hottest spec on the market.

My love for CRIMSON TIDE exists not solely because it is a fine film, but the sentimental attachment I have with it; it was the first R-rated film I saw at the theatre. My two underage cousins and I snuck in. We didn't get past the previews before a theatre staffer shined the flashlight on us. Busted. But the staffer didn't kick us out. She merely confiscated the bags of M&M's and Skittles we smuggled in to avoid the pricey concession stand. And then she left us to enjoy the movie. Which we did.

Oh man, and that score. I think the score for CRIMSON TIDE is Hans Zimmer's finest work.

Jeon

The Original Jeon

During our trip to Seoul, we went to a small restaurant that served jeon. I think this is how it's spelled. It was pronounced "chon" by my American host who lived in Seoul for two years.

When we arrived at the restaurant, my stomach was upset and I wasn't in the mood to eat anything. But then the jeon arrived at the center of the table, a warm omelety-crepey concoction, perfectly browned and topped with cream cheese. How could I resist? Exceptional bar food, even on a bad stomach.

My version is more brunch frittata than bar food, but it's not a brunch you would find at a restaurant anywhere in the States.


- 2 tsp canola oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/2 head of cabbage, thinly sliced
- 3 scallions, thinly sliced
- 3 tsp sriracha or sambal oelek
- 2 russet potatoes, baked
- 1 sweet potato, baked
- 8 eggs, beaten
- 8 T cream cheese or neufchatel
- salt and pepper

In a large, oven-safe, non-stick skillet, heat oil over med-high heat. Add garlic, cabbage, and scallions. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until crisp tender, about 5 minutes. Mix in sriracha.

In a large bowl, scoop out potatoes from skins and mash. Mix in eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture into the skillet with the cabbage. Lower heat to medium. Stir until eggs are slightly scrambled, then let them set on the bottom, about 7 min.. Place skillet under broiler for 4 min. until browned on top and cooked all the way through.

Cut into slices and serve with a dollop of cream cheese on top.

Serves 4

My Brunch Jeon

London 2012 Olympics Roundup

Here is a summation of personal highlights that will in no way do justice to the greatness that was the 2012 London Olympics.

* David Boudia winning the gold in 10m platform diving. Way to perform under pressure. Most pleasant surprise of the Olympics.

* Usain Bolt emphatically silencing his doubters. For-e-v-e-r.

* U.S.A. Women's Gymnastics. Gabby Douglas putting it all together for the All-Around gold. Ali Raisman handing everyone a beat-down for the floor gold. McKayla Maroney's perfect vault in the team competition. The girls' utter dominance in the team competition. But, damn you, Tim Daggett. I'm blaming you for McKayla's fall during the individual finals because you were all like, she just has to run and jump and kind-of-sort-of land on her feet and the judges will hand her the gold. Over and over and over until she was in the air during her second vault. Tim, what the hell is wrong with you? You use the words "catastrophic" and "disaster" all the time and you are never referring to the weather. I'm convinced poor McKayla didn't make it to her feet because of Tim's over-hyping. That and she was trying to be too perfect, god bless her.

* Misty and Kerry winning their third gold and being so elated you would've thought they'd never won anything before in their lives.

* Claressa Shields bringing a ray of sunshine to the amateur boxing world and snagging a gold medal in the process.

* Meb Keflezighi finishing fourth in the marathon at age 37.

* Serena. Just unreal. Completely dismantling the best players in the world.

* Women's soccer. U.S.A. vs Canada and U.S.A. vs Japan. Two great matches, total nail-biters.

* Nathan Adrian winning a gold he clearly wasn't favored to win. There wasn't even an attempt at a package before his swim.

* I liked Michael Phelps a lot more this time around. He was more personable, I think out of relief that it would all soon be over. And maybe with Ryan Lochte having some of the expectation burden placed on his shoulders helped. But trying to make Lochte the face of swimming was a big mistake. This recent conversation with Hubs sums up my Lochte feelings:

Hubs: Ryan Lochte is on the cover of the Men's Health I bought. He's really airbrushed.

Me: Did they make him look like he has a personality?

* Silver medalist high jumper Brigetta Barrett and her crazy-awesome pre-jump routine.

* Ashton Eaton and Trey Hardee killing it in the decathlon.

* Sanya Richards-Ross, Allyson Felix, and Carmelita Jeter running like the wind. They have such great smiles and positive attitudes. Hope to see them all again in Rio.

"Love, Life, and Elephants: An African Love Story" by Dame Daphne Sheldrick

A book review.

My mother bought me this book for my birthday because I've been a little obsessed with elephants after my visit to Patara Elephant Farm.

Dame Daphne Sheldrick shares a beautiful memoir, appropriately titled. It's a well-written and very honest look at the triumphs and more often tribulations of living on the wild plains of Kenya in the 1950's through the present day. She recounts the stories of many of the orphan babies she nurtured decades ago as if she just experienced them last week, the joy and pain still right at the surface.

I think anyone who loves nature or dreams of going on a safari would love this book. You do feel as though you've been transported to a different, sometimes magical world when reading it. ***

Rating System:

**** = Amazing, Fantastic, Life-Changing
*** = Excellent & Worth a Read
** = Not a Complete Waste of Time but I Probably Wouldn't Recommend It
* = Blech!

And I don't do that half-star nonsense.