Kindness

It is amazing to me how much a smile to a stranger can make a difference in your interactions with that person. Take the lady who cleans the halls of the hospital, for instance - a lot of people think that she's a complete witch with a capital B. The first time that I walked by her, I smiled but got no response from her. Well, I got a blank stare, but it amounted to ignoring me when we're the only two people in the hallway. After a couple of run ins over the course of a month, she started smiling back, and now we say "Good morning" or "Hello" to each other. I would bet that if people at work would stop ignoring her or avoiding eye contact, they could become friends with the ice queen, too.

The lady who cleans up the bathrooms in the lab is another good example. As a side note, sometimes I can't believe what some women do in those stalls (I would really hate to see what state their homes are in). This woman goes in, fixes everything up, and even in that tiny space a lot of people ignore her. I try to say hi, or ask how her day is going, and not only does it kill the awkward moment between two people in a bathroom, but I feel it makes both of our days just a little bit brighter.

I hate it when I walk into the break room for lunch and everyone in the room acts like they can't see me. Like they don't hear the door open, or the refrigerator open, or the microwave going, or me eating. I can understand if they're getting some rest or listening to music, but when they're just sitting there for a half an hour it's almost rude. I'm not saying I want everyone to have an in-depth conversation with me the moment I walk through the door (and far be it from me to say I don't want some introvert time now and then), but some small form of acknowledgement would be appreciated.

Life is too short to pretend that other people don't exist. Maybe a smile would brighten their day just a tiny bit. Then they might decide to pass it on. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone was marginally nicer to each other? If we tried to build relationships with people in the real world the way that we do in Farmville, we'd be baking each other cupcakes and casseroles on a daily basis, I reckon.

Anyways. Someone posted this recipe on Facebook the other day, and I can't stop thinking it's the savory version of monkey bread. I'll leave you with this wonderful food image to daydream of. I can't be the only one that does that, right?

Garlic Cheese Pull-Apart Bread

Leafy Greens

We've recently learned about kale and all of its amazing health benefits, and over the last couple of weeks have been incorporating it into our meals. I made kale chips twice - once using an online recipe's recommended amount of oil (which ended up being way too much), and once with an oil reassessment. The second turned out ten times better than the first, and next time I might sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top and see what magic happens in the oven.

Kale is an excellent salad green. Its sturdy nature means it can withstand heavy dressings and multiple add-ins without wilting. Costco has a wonderful kale salad right now that my mother-in-law, Sweet E, got me hooked on. Kale and thinly sliced cabbage with pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and dried cranberries on top, plus an incredible poppyseed dressing. I was lucky enough to have it every day for lunch last week, and I loved it so much it's on this week's lunch menu as well. So refreshing, so very tasty.

Today I was feeling very lazy, but I wasn't in the mood to just pick something up. I needed a quick and easy yet veggie-friendly addition to the rotisserie chicken I had picked up this morning (oh rotisserie chicken, let me count the ways I love to eat thee). Then I remembered I had a bag of pre-washed, pre-cut kale in the fridge. Such a smart purchase on my part. Enter recipe for Sauteed Kale.

If you don't have a bag of prepared kale, don't worry. It's really easy to get it prepped. The main thing to remember is that the center stalks are pretty much inedible (unless you're planning on cooking them down to a manageable chew level), and all you have to do is either strip the leaves from the stems with your hands in one fell pull, or just cut the leaves off of the stem. Once this is done, tear the leaves into reasonable bite size pieces and submerge in a bowl of water to dislodge any dirt that might be on the leaves. Rinse, dry, and your kale is ready for use.

I saw some shallots at the store a couple of days ago and thought, "I wonder what those taste like." These little purple-red onion babies seem to be the sophisticated older sibling to the rustic red-white-yellow onion triplets. As far as I'm concerned, it's like an onion and a garlic cross pollinated to create this little guy. Maybe it's what I'm cooking, but in the end the shallots tasted exactly the same as a yellow onion. So if you don't keep shallots on hand, you're not missing out on much. Just dice up one of your onion triplets and get ready to throw it in a high-walled pot. In that pot (the high walls will come into play in a minute) drizzle some oil and about a half a tablespoon of butter. I find that even though an all oil composition would be healthiest, I really love the flavor butter adds, so I just 90%-10% the oil and butter and call it mostly healthy. Oh, and I've noticed you don't need all that much oil either. A surprisingly small amount can cover three to four cups of raw kale.

To that oil, add some red pepper flakes (a little goes a long way) and some thyme. I find that thyme really brings out the earthy nature of the kale, and while I don't use this particular herb all that much, it definitely works here. I also like to put some salt and pepper in now - this way I know that the salt is evenly distributed throughout the oil, and will therefore be evenly distributed across the kale. Throw in those shallots or onions, and let them cook just about all the way through. Quick fun fact: shallots lose their purple color as they cook. Once it's all gone, you're ready to put in that kale.

This is where those high walls make a difference. The higher the sides of the pot, the more delicious kale you can eat later. The picture above has a 5 quart pot and what the greens will look like before their cooked. Stir or fold the kale several times, or until the volume has noticeably decreased. Make sure every piece is covered with your flavor-packed oil, and that those shallots are evenly distributed as well.

This is what the greens will look like after everything is coated. The leaves are super shiny, and they have wilted to just about half their original volume. Give one of the leaves a taste, and see if it needs more salt, or if it needs to be steamed a little longer because it's still a little crunchy. Otherwise, you're all done. Pair with some kind of protein, or just eat as is - kale is surprisingly filling for being a vegetable.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a super detailed recipe for Sauteed Kale. For the rest of the day, I'll be cheering for my fantasy football team which needs at least twenty more points if I'm going to beat my opponent for this week and have a perfect 3-0 record to start the fantasy football season. If Peyton Manning has another seven touchdown performance this week, I promise to eat lots of tasty kale for the rest of forever.

Back In The Saddle.

Did you know that the average person falls asleep in seven minutes? I hope those seven minutes don't happen for you right now. It would be really awkward to wake up and find that you didn't make it through this because it was just that boring. Plus I would feel incredibly jilted. So try to keep those eyelids open until you finish reading this incredibly exciting entry. Or at least for the next ten minutes.

So there was that really long time where I didn't write anything. And now that that's out of the way, I can move on to something of importance.

I have been learning so much about Indian culture from my coworker, Ina. At least, I've learned so much about her specific culture from her specific part of India. She told me the name of her hometown, and while I can't remember what the name of it was, she said it was a very small town that no one outside of the country has heard of. But if it's all the same to you, I'll just refer to it as India until I can remember which province or part of the country of India it is.

Ina was teaching me about signs of respect that younger persons will show or say to older persons to indicate that they acknowledge their wisdom and respect their years of experience. For instance, I could call her Inaben (EE-na-BEN) when I want to ask her a question about something I'm not sure of. Then, to be funny, Ina will say "Annaben, why did you do this thing?" when I do something out of the ordinary. That's when I know I'm in trouble.

She also said that instead of giving hugs to their elders, they touch the feet of their elders and described it as asking for blessings from them. I find that really interesting. Especially in American culture where young people hold nostalgia for their grandparents while at the same time brushing them off when it comes to life decisions because there's no way they could understand what they are going through in today's day and age. I mean, they can't even operate a computer, right? How could they give me advice about my future if they don't know what an iPhone is? Anyways, I really like the idea that elders are pillars of life in certain cultures.

Nearly every day this week I had a small snack at lunch that Ina gave me. The one that I liked the most was a dessert called laddu (la-DU). A quick search will bring up pictures of tiny yellow flour balls, but I haven't found anything that looks like the one Ina gave me. It was a darker cream color, and it was covered in crunch white poppy seeds. She was telling me the two main ingredients you need are butter and jaggery (JAG-ery, with the R rolled, as in the Spanish language). Jaggery is an Indian raw sugar similar in taste to brown sugar, but more like those cones of raw sugar you see in the Hispanic aisle at the grocery store. You take butter and sugar and put them in a pot on the stove at a very low heat, wait until it's good and melted, then add rice flour and let it cook for a long while to cook out the flour-y taste. Next you add your spices: cardamom, vanilla, almond, and a very tiny pinch of cinnamon. Mix that all together with some white poppy seeds, then set aside to come to room temperature. When it's still warm but able to handle, roll the dough into balls and roll through some white poppy seeds to coat. Then they're ready to eat.

I'm telling you guys, I think I have a cardamom addiction. I believe now that it is the one determining factor in chai teas that tips the scale for me. After graduating college I severely cut back on my Starbucks intake, which meant referring to store-bought tea bags to get my chai fix. After going through several brands, I finally landed on a white chai tea blend from Stash, and would bet you a hundred unicorns it has the greatest amount of cardamom. Ina said they sell cardamom whole at three pounds for ten dollars at the local Indian store. I wonder if it would be normal to see a pale white girl buying cardamom seeds and nothing else at the local Indian store. One day, I'll tell you how that goes.

I also had the pleasure of eating Indian flour tortillas - made from scratch dough with cumin seeds, celery seeds, and saffron that gets a piping hot deep fried bath for about a minute until it puffs up like a balloon. The result is a savory pumped up vessel for steamed and seasoned potatoes, and is delicious even when cold (which is how I ate it). Ina says she makes these tortillas every single day, which seems like a lot of work, but she's probably very good at it by now. I bet she could whip those things up in under five minutes.

Well, that's all for now. I can't promise all of the posts will be this long, or will happen every day, but I am making a pact with a few fellow bloggers to get back on the horse with this new-age journaling idea. See you next time for Cultures with Class.