red Thai curried popcorn

*Three quart Magnalite pot

* splash screen

* one half cup popcorn kernels

* one tablespoon vegetable oil

* two tablespoons unsalted butter

* small pile grated Parmigiano Reggiano or some other hard cheese

* teaspoon red Thai curry

* 1/2 teaspoon coriander

* 1/4 teaspoon sea salt.

McGee page 480. As the temperature inside the corn kernel reaches and passes the boiling point, the protein matrix and starch granules soften, and moisture in the granules turns into steam. The steam softens the starch even more, and the many thousands of little steam pockets exert a growing pressure against the hull. The softening of starch and protein continues until the internal pressure approaches seven times the external pressure of the atmosphere, at which point the hull breaks open. The sudden pressure drop inside the kernal causes the pockets of steam to expand, and with them expands the soft protein-starch mixture, which puffs up and then stiffens as it cools off, becoming light and crisp. (If the popping is done in a tightly covered pan that offers no escape for the water vapor, the endosperm will retain it and be tough and chewy; the pan lid should be left slightly ajar.)

hummus salad

None of the amounts were measured. They were all expressed in the moment, intuited based on the initial amount of dried chickpeas pulled out to soak. That turned out to be a cereal bowl full of chickpeas. The second photograph is the chickpeas soaking. The third photograph is a few hours later after the chickpeas became swollen with water. They were pressure cooked on low, but I wasn't paying attention and when I could smell the chickpea aroma I checked and the controller slipped to high. I didn't want that. They were removed from heat immediately and allowed to cool on their own. They were transferred to the cuisinart.

Not pictured:

* tahini, this was ground from the sesame seeds where I didn't know what "husked" meant. It's like peanut butter. Nobody makes tahini from husked sesame seeds ... except me. Eh, it's fiber, and it tastes great. It's actually better than the stuff I bought.
* a couple of garlic cloves
* juice of one lime
* olive oil sufficient to cover the top
* a few roasted red peppers from a jar
* a teaspoon of aji amarillo chile powder
* Himalayan sea salt.

* diced onion
* parsley
* cilantro

Now, you're probably wondering what sea is located in the Himalayas, so I must answer, this would be an ancient sea from a remote era before the mountains were lifted by India crashing into the continent, as cataclysmic an event as imaginable if in profoundly slow motion. The salt is pink. It's considered the oldest sea salt in the world and although its pinkness suggests high mineral content it's not so high as to excessively displace NaCl, so it's surprisingly salty tasting. I learned this the hard way by putting too much on my cheese crackers. By contrast, the gray Celtic sea salt (French, not British), which is my favorite, is so loaded with minerals that it actually does displace NaCl and so doesn't taste nearly as salty. I've sat there munching the large granules at length until an urgent message was rushed from the back of my brain saying, "What are you doing, you dumb ass, are you crazy?" I find the minerals in that grey sea salt to be positively addictive.