burger burgher.

hey duders!
my expert buddies shawn and meryl are in town,
and we've been hanging out extra hard.
it's good for me, and hopefully for them.
but,
definitely for me, at least.
that's real.
they bring news of the world to my remote outpost in the woodsly goodness,
and the world is changing in ways i'll maybe never ever understand.
they care about all kinds of stuff that i've long ago amputated from my range of focus,
and they also looooove cities, a lot-
so clearly,
we're basically triplets.
but like, i'm the add-on fraternal one....
yep.
the one who looks like dad's weird hairy ogreish aunt,
and nobody is all that fond of.
awwwwwwww.
c'mon,
we're celebrating diversity within a set genre up here.
ummmm,
or something like that, maybe, kinds, sort of.
neighbors, get with it-
you have those close friends that you like a whole bunch,
even though you don't really like a whole bunch of the same stuff.
those are the best ones,
because you're friends by choice,
flying the flag of conscious togeherness in the face of oppositional viewpoints,
and i mean, you know t's always a fun time to try to realign some overlaps
of spirit and memory with the folks who've know you so well, for so long.
and really, i love that these guys somehow STILL opt tolerate
my absolutely horrible conversational etiquette
.......at least, for a day or two,
before resuming the big action of their impressive nomad sojourn
across the planet,
which'll take them somewhere more suitable to their needs and wants..
ha.
whatEVER, y'all.
i love these two,
and i HAD to feed 'em up with some of  the Folk Life & Liberty Fortress'
finest feastables, complete with fixin's and mix-ins-
what do you make that should be quick and easy,
but instead is a pain-in-the-A* when you do it warrior poetry style?
veggie burgers.
that's right.
check the big-deluxxe-type teleport:

kaBAM-a-lama-ding-and-dong'y kong!
weird white travis beans, and garlic and herbs and onions, and flaxseeds,
and garbanzo flour, and some secret slaps of sauce, oil, and seasonin',
plus some water and lemon
to hydrate what wasn't wet enough when i mushed those beany babies up,
and we had ourselves some fatty patties of powerful belly-burstin',
butt-tootin', booty-flute salutes!
hahahahaha.
guys,
i LOVE veggie burgers.
y'know what else i love?
homemade bunzzzzzzz.
yeah.
i mean it.
i walked right in the door and got the dough a-poppin' immediately,
because those buns weren't gonna spontaneously knead themselves into existence.
three cups of flour, super-fast yeast, salt, olive oil, semolina flour,
vital wheat gluten, hot water, agave, regular yeast, and a pinch of sugar,
and you've got time on your hands while it starts expanding to portion out all
those beans and put shawn to work on the mise en place.
he doesn't have opinions to offer on ingredients, kids.
nope.
not even a one.
but y'know what he does do, though?
he chops.
and he chops well.
fortunately for him, and unfortunately for kitchens everywhere else,
he draws substantially better,
and so his career as a master prep cook was indefinitely derailed-
those old skills never die, however,
and the carrots and cabbage and celery in the slaw are a testament to that.
we cold-cooled that dough for a few, too, post push-down,
because we were brainstorming the castle on what else to munch up,
and after cutting and shaping and re-rising, with gritty corn sh!ts underneath
to activate the quick-release of a post-bake bun-slice extravaganza,
we had ourselves the sexiest handcrafted breads anybody could really ask for.
and in the interim, we fired up the rest of the stuff-
we had grilled leek sprankles, for maxximum flavor,
and mandoline-mashed tomato debris,
and big pickles, too.
the burgers were molto expert,
and i think and hope that we all were pleased with the outcome...
that farro, on the side, though!
with blackened onions and sweet little tomatoes, and lemon juice,
was just a punch of parsley away from being a big mean mjeddrah mound-
but it was still delicious, and heavy, and starchy, and dope, anyway.
mmmmmmmmm.
***********
it's nice to have a full house of folks who get the jokes.
it's even nicer that amber got to meet more of my peoples.
i mean,
without the good ones from before,
there'd be no now,
and right now,
in these misty messed-up mountains,
this is the culminated continuation of all of it,
as it's all really happened.
the whole entire time. before, during, and after,
i'm staying grateful for the fleshing-out of some backstory,
and the continued character development,
AND the plot twists that seem to happen on every page.
this is What Is,
and there's a whole lot of good that'll do me.
no. i'm serious;
never quiet, never soft.....