i'm listening to: jill scott - the light of the sun

Buy on | Buy on Amazon | Listen (Grooveshark)

Album: The Light of the Sun (Deluxe)

Sounds Like: The official 2011 soundtrack of the 'grown ass woman'

Makes Me Wanna: laugh, dance, sing, cry, and stage a one woman lip-synch show in my living room

Filed Under: r&b, new / progressive soul

Favorite Tracks: Le Boom Vent Suite, So Gone (What My Mind Says), Shame

I am currently obsessed with this CD. Once again, our girl Jill has found a way to put words to the silent songs I sing about love, life, relationships and black womanhood. How does she do it? I don't know. Don't really care. Just glad that she does, and glad that she does it so well. I think you will be to. Cop. Now.

cheers,

k

music for independence day – a collection of freedom songs

Is it just me? Even though Independence Day has come and gone, I can still sense a distinct feel of freedom in the air. Several of my acquaintances are making bold choices, breaking with normal patterns of behavior, becoming a little more daring, a little more liberated, and a lot more in touch with the little voice inside that often urges us: Just do it. Just be you. Tell your story. Dance your dance. Sing your song. For this past 4th of July holiday, I compiled a personal collection of songs about freedom and independence that I thought captured the spirit of the holiday while not necessarily being all about American patriotism. I decided to call it the ‘End Dependence Day’ playlist.

I hope you enjoy this selection of 20+ tracks that convey the importance of freedom of mind, body, heart, and spirit. More than that, I hope that in some small way, this playlist might inspire you to: make a fool of yourself for a good cause, to tell fear to go take a long walk off a short bridge, or to flip yourself the finger in the mirror – partly to symbolize defiance of your own unrealistic expectations, but mostly to see how badass you look doing it.

End Dependence Day Playlist on Grooveshark   End Dependence Day Playlist on iTunes cheers, k

Photo: Welcome to Independence by taberandrew

easy gourmet cooking: stuffed pattypan squash

Always be careful what you ask for. When I recently relocated to Westview, I hoped that I'd be able to find a nearby community garden or small-scale farmer to get fresh produce from. I had no idea my request would be so thoroughly fulfilled.

The beau's job hosts a weekly farmer's market throughout summer, where local farmers and community gardeners bring out their wares to sell. Since he helps out with setting up their stands and assisting customers carry their purchases to their cars, the grateful farmers give him some of their excess to take home. Which means that, at least once a week, I get a nice delivery of local fruits and veggies right into my kitchen.

This also means that I am positively swimming in summer produce. Melons, tomatoes, okra, peaches, nectarines, corn, red potatoes, onions, and cabbages come in the door faster than I can think of ways to uniquely prepare them. So I've had to scramble around the interwebs in search of recipes to provide additional inspiration. One of the bumper crops that I've enjoyed finding new ways to prepare is squash. In addition to the standard crookneck yellow squash and zucchini that I'm used to working with, I got a delivery of pattypan squash. I'd never laid eyes on one in real life before, and was so struck with the elegant scalloped edges and blanched-white skin that I had to find a recipe worthy of the ingredient.

Fresh local ingredients call for a fresh local recipe, so I was pleased when I saw a recipe for Farm-Stand Stuffed Zucchini Squash over at Running With Tweezers. A couple of quick modifications based on the ingredients I had on hand, and... voila! A recipe that was fit for a pattypan squash.

Stuffed PattyPan Squash

Ingredients:

• 2 pattypan squash
• 1-2 fresh Italian sausage (I use turkey sausage, with removable casing)
• 1 cup couscous (I prefer whole wheat)
• 1/2 bell pepper (red, green, or yellow)
• 1 small onion (red or white)
• grated Parmesan cheese
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
• minced garlic
• fresh or dried herbs: thyme, rosemary, marjoram
• 1-3/4 cup chicken broth or bouillon

Cooking Instructions:

Preparing the Squash: Preheat oven to 375. With a small knife (serrated works best), cut a circle around the top of the squash. As you cut, angle your knife diagonally from the outer edge of the squash towards the center. Remove the top of the squash and set aside - this will serve as your lid. Hollow out the insides of the squash with a small spoon, being careful not to pierce through the squash. Set the removed squash aside. Drizzle the inside of the squash and the bottoms of the lids with a little olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then set on a baking sheet or pan in the oven. Cook for 15-20 minutes, then set aside to cool.

For the Couscous: In a small pot, bring the chicken broth to a boil. Stir in the couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand 5 minutes, until all water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and drizzle with a little bit of olive oil.

For the Sausage and Veggies: Chop the bell pepper and onion and add to the squash flesh you removed earlier. Add a little olive oil to a large skillet and heat on medium-high. Remove the sausage from casing, and add in small pieces to the heated skillet. Cook and crumble the sausage until brown. Add the garlic, onion, and pepper to the skillet and sautee for 4-5 minutes, or until onion is slightly translucent. Add herbs to taste, then add squash and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Salt and pepper to taste. Add couscous to skillet and stir to combine with other ingredients. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over everything and stir to incorporate.

Stuff each squash with the couscous mixture, and sprinkle a little more Parm on top. Place the stuffed squash back in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Serve immediately.

cheers,

k

how to make a tangerine basil mojito

Popsicles are for kids, right? Wrong.

Once you've tasted the tantalizing frozen treats from Atlanta popsicle purveyor, King of Pops, you might find yourself elbowing little kids in the forehead to get to them before they do.

King of Pops (a member of Atlanta's growing street food vendor community) offers gourmet popsicles that feature unique pairings of fresh ingredients like pineapple and ginger, grapefruit and mint, and lime with fresh squeezed cane juice.

On a recent visit to the Irwin Street Market, the beau and I sampled King of Pops tangerine basil offering. I can honestly say that I've never had a popsicle that tasted soooo good! The popsicle had little pieces of tangerine pulp and whole-leaf basil throughout - a very refreshing combo for a hot day. On the beau's suggestion that flavors in the popsicle "might make a tasty beverage as well," I decided to test out a cocktail recipe with tangerine and basil that's a lot like the recipe for a traditional mojito.

Don't worry, you won't have to fight the kids over this one - it's strictly for the grown ups.

Ingredients / Supplies (for 1 tangerine-basil mojito)

1 small tangerine or 1/2 large tangerine

3-4 fresh basil leaves

2 tsp granulated sugar (raw sugar is best, you might also sub agave, if that's your thing)

white rum (preferably Cachaca - Brazilian rum)

crushed ice

highball glass

muddler or pestle

How to make the tangerine-basil mojito:

Cut the tangerine into small wedges and place in glass. Roll basil leaves together and slice into thin strips. Add the basil to the glass. Add sugar to glass and muddle all ingredients together with pestle or muddler. The goal is to extract as much juice from the tangerine as you can while dissolving most or all of the sugar. Fill the glass with crushed ice. Pour in rum until glass is approximately 3/4 full. Vary the strength of the drink by using more tangerine and sugar and / or less rum to your tastes.

Of course, if you absolutely must share this beverage with the little ankle-biters, just substitute the cachaca with 'fizzy lifting drink' - aka, sparkling water or club soda.

cheers,

k

warm weather red: lodi deep purple zinfandel

There was a time when I was a year-round drinker of white wines. I hadn't yet developed the palate to appreciate the taste of a merlot, a cabernet, or even a pinot noir. Over time, however, I grew to like reds more, but I was still the sort of red drinker who saved the ruby-colored vinos for the cooler months of the year. Once spring hit, I couldn't wait to get back to my tried-and-true Chardonnays, Rieslings, and Pinot Grigios.   This past winter though, I seem to have developed a stronger affinity for reds than ever before, and even now that it's begun to warm up here in Atlanta, I'm still longing for the fuller, rounded taste of a red over the immature sweetness of  a white (hm. pausing for a moment to reflect on the unintentional parallel to my over-30 self).

Anywho, a couple of days ago the beau brought home what looks like will be my warm-weather red companion for at least a few more weeks - we'll have to see how much I'm loving it once the temperature stays above the 90-degree mark.

Name: Deep Purple Zinfandel 2007

Type: A California Zinfandel from the Lodi region

Tastes Like: very jammy; blackberry, and ripe purple fruit

Where to Buy: Green's on Ponce

Wallet Damage: around $10

Other Notes:  The label is decked out in psychedelic lettering that's a trip to read, especially after a couple of glasses. We've already nicknamed it 'Purple Haze'.

how to make panko crusted prawns

1. I had a refrigerator full of food. But little of it was fit for consumption by either humans or many other carbon-based life forms.
2. I had absolutely zero desire to submit myself to a grocery store full of Southerners stricken with pre-snow hysteria, forming lines longer than Crystal Gale's hair.

So when Sunday came around and the snow started falling, me and the beau hit the near-deserted streets and headed to the Dekalb Farmer's Market.

Thanks to the 'blizzard', the Farmers Market was more calm than usual, so I took my time sniffing, examining, and exploring all the fresh and exotic wares. Just before checking off the last item on my list, I caught sight of a great deal. Huge, whole, head-on shrimp (so huge I decided to promote them to prawn status) for 4.99/lb. I was a bit daunted by the look of the alien heads with long antennae, but not enough to pass up such a bargain. Plus, I thought it'd make for good presentation to cook a couple with the heads / antennae intact.

Here's how I handled the little monsters.

I wanted to keep the flavors and the prep simple, yet complement the freshness of the prawns, so I went with a sort of Latin / Asian fusion approach.

Ingredients:

1 lb of prawns, shelled and deveined (left the tails on all, and the heads on 2-3)

fresh lime

minced garlic - about 1.5 Tbsp

panko bread crumbs

cornstarch

chopped green onions

chili oil

canola oil for frying

Inspiration:

Looking out of the kitchen window and seeing the snow falling put me in a really chill state of mind. Contemplating the Asian flavors to come, I thought of how the color white is a symbol of death in Japanese culture, and lamented the fact that the snow - pretty as it was on the lawn - probably wouldn't last to the next day. The following poetic phrase popped into my mind:

bits of kamikaze sky

are dying silent, beautiful deaths

on my front lawn

Preparation:

After steeling myself to handle the truly weird-looking crustaceans (I now understand why shrimp are called the 'cockroaches of the sea'), I peeled and deveined all but three, leaving the tails on all of them.

In a medium-sized bowl, I squeezed the juice of 2 limes, added the minced garlic, then tossed the peeled prawns in the mixture. I let