MOVES!

what's better than a semi-rainy day-off?
a hot, clammy, kitchen on a semi-soaked sunshowering sauna of a day!
yup.
guys,
i did a lot,
and got so little done.
i believe that has become my wednesday move of sorts.
baking in the morning,
along with coffee and toast with ampy d before she headed off to work;
drawing barbarian warrior sword monsters around brunchtime;
walking crabtree through the dewy, drippy, muggy mess
of my mountainous neighborhoodly goodness at noon;
grocery shopping;
errand running;
and coming home to a heck of a lot of prep for another other 'nother
collaborative meal with my increasingly good buddy travis,
a.k.a. vegan_magic_time!
YEAH!
my time was accounted for,
but the balance at the end of the transaction was skewed waaaaayy off-
the time was invested disproportionately towards foodstuffs
and away from homeownery ornery taskmastery.
ha.
that's not a bad trade at all, y'all.
so,
for the second-to-last meal in the month of june,
we brought the thunder and the lightning,
and so did ma nature,
and in sync with the downpours and outpouring of natural splendor,
we made our own kitchen wizardry wonders work it out.
the theme?
corn.
yup.
totally a-maize-ing.
(corny jokes are included free of charge. uhhhhhhhhZING)
but, like,
what exactly did we do?
we did the very best we could.
word up.
check the cornivore-type teleport:

WU-TANG!!!!!
we got that cornelius jauns totally poppin' off SO hard.
first of all,
that fiesta guacamole, with all those rainbow peppers?
expert.
no herbs, no spices, just veggin' out with crawnchy specks of color
mooshed right in with all that smooshy avocado.
every time, it gives me all the feelies, all over the place.
so,
with the guac already to rock,
we could all focus on the big action everywhere else-
travis brought over some ready to bake burly t-piper pipes,
in the form of great grilled corn/poblano/chili-lime seitan taquitos,
with vegan creamchee' and daiya cheddar hiding out as well.
damn!
i caught myself cigar-chomping extra helpings
before i'd even cleared my first pass at shark-gluttonous overeating.
y'like that salsa verde?
thanks.
i made it up as i went-
check it out:

yeah!
i just kept adding stuff until it looked good.
-
*custom improv salsa verde*
-
four tomatillos,
a quarter of a green bell pepper;
a quarter of a red onion;
half a big jalapeno, with seeds;
half a poblano;
three tablespoons of fire-roasted mild green chilis;
three cloves of garlic;
coriander seed;
GPOP;
salt & black pepper;
scallion greens;
three small bay leaves;
3/4 cup seitan broth (or just veggie stock, man, y'know)
-simmered until everything was all wilty and wet,
and then fresh cilantro, and another chunk of green pepper
were tossed in, along with the whole soupy mess,
into the blender.
i like it a little chunky, so i just pulsed it up until it looked right-
i let that chill out for a while,
and garnished it with a splishsplash of lime,
and scallion and cilantro sprankles!
wooooooooooooord.
it's got a lot of low-end afterburn.
the heat sneaks up after the ghooey goodness goes down.
how'd it do with the taquitos?
well,
we all liked the look in the picture,
but,
we all doused those jammers with a much bigger scoople of that green monster
once we started munching up.
predictably,
too much was the right amount.
that's how it is around these parts.
neighbors,
the arepa-style discs of masa?
fried in an oil-butter greaseball amaze-o-matic skillet?
c'mon.
y'can't eff that up.
the thing of it is,
i just used up the remaining corn-dough from our big action time-taker.
masa, with GPOP, baking powder, salt, and veggie stock,
are all that's in there,
but the taste is HUGE.
y'like that succotash hash on top?
me too!
it's the three sisters, man.
authentic trinity triumph, with a few friends along for the ride.
yuuuup.
sauteed fresh-off-the-cob sweet corn, and black beans,
and summer squash & zucchini (green and gold, represent!).
with onions, and tomatillos,
as well as a scattered smattering of sweet red pepper, and red chili,
minced up around the fringes.
the expertism was as abundant as the ingredients in our meal, kids.
finished off with diced crisp red onion, juicy red grape tomatoes,
and fresh cilantro sprankles to sex it up a whole bunch.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
-
lastly, but most importantly,
we made some incredible, laudable and applaudable, succulent,
scrumptious, sumptuous super-official Folk Life tamales.
huh?
yeah.
that's right:
TAMALES!!!
corn husks, wrapped tight, and tied down with more of the same,
filled with the previously mentioned masa mash,
as well as oniony black beans, cilantro, scallions,
and super-duper aptly-named exxxtra-sweet potatoes.
believe it.
the sweet potatoes were pan-seared, and slow braised in broth,
before getting activated with a dusting of cayenne, a shake or two of coriander,.
a healthy dousing of  GPOP, and paprika all over the place.
then, towards the post-liquid-absorption double-buttery final fry-up,
i gave 'em the ol' ancho pep powdering.
you aren't ready for this much hottness.
...
actually,
none of us were ready for just how hot those jalapeno slices were!
i ate mine, like a real wrench-chooser,
but my much wiser dinner companions abstained,
likely to their greater enjoyment of the meal.
*
what do we do behind the scenes?
we geek out hard over the details, obvi.
teleport:

ha.
caught in flagrante by ampy d's real-life documentation.
it's the hats.
i get it.
they're not the same,
but they're soooo close to it.
i promise we didn't plan it,
that's just how expert recognize expert, son.
awwwwwwww.
i mean,
as we switched back and forth between garnishes, even,
it was like a slightly skewed afterimage of an strikingly similar vegan magic theme.
see:

right?

i told you.
now,
go see the sweet in-process tamale shots at vegan_magic_time.
you won't be sorry.
***********
i am grateful for the people who choose to spend time with me;
i am doubly grateful for the active participants,
and interactive conversationalists who discuss ideas,
and make food,
and create as well as consume.
the woodsly goodness could be a lonely place but for them;
never quiet, never soft.....