Being Grateful and Letting Go

Yes, I am grateful for what I have. My family, my friends, my circumstances. But why is it, then, that so often I find myself wrapped up in a bundle of negative emotions over something that I really can't do much about. Case in point: I have lived in California most of my life. Every 7-10 years, we have an extraordinary drought in California and it is so front and center on the news that it eclipses all but the most tragic stories about real human suffering. This is one of those years. Reservoirs are dry, we are seriously draining the underground aquifers, we are all going to become dehydrated, crazed zombies if we don't cut our water usage, NOW, damnit! Next year, or the year after, it will pour buckets for five months and they will be letting water out of the damns at an alarming rate. Honestly, water has always been a major issue for California, a state that is basically pretty arid and gets all its precipitation in three or four months. Here are some dramatic pictures of one of our local reservoirs:

Lexington Reservoir in Spring After a Good Rainfall Year

The reservoir, which is visible as you drive over Highway 17 between San Jose and Santa Cruz looks like this in late Spring after the winter rains.  By the end of Fall, it usually looks more like the picture below:

This year, in the middle of a severe drought, in the middle of July, it looks like this:

So, I definitely get it. Next year it will look like the picture on the top. Again. Maybe. Or maybe not. So I did some research. In our area, average rainfall is 15.86 inches a year. Since 1893, 66% of the years we got less than 15 inches. Only a third of the years did we get 15 inches or more. And the distribution of dry vs. wet years was pretty even over the last 100 years. Here's another newsflash. California's biggest industry is agriculture and, in fact, we produce something like 50% of all the food produced in the U.S. Farmers need water to grow food. So it's not surprising that their water rations are not cut. And I really can't argue with that. 

Here's my beef: Today, it was announced that Alameda County was one of the few counties in the bay area that actually cut their water usage by 20% like we were all asked. But now the water agency has a revenue shortfall, so they are raising the rates. That is really ridiculous. And here's my other beef: All over the bay area, politicians and city managers are approving horrendous high-density housing on every available square inch of land. Drive around and you cannot avoid these monstrosities. They are literally everywhere creating much worse than just vista pollution. California doesn't have enough water, but let's shove 3,000 more people on every other street corner along Stevens Creek Blvd. from Cupertino to San Jose. Let's add 10,000 more people across from Santa Clara's Central Park in a site that was the old Kaiser Hospital. (Okay, it may not really be 10,000, but it sure looks like it. And oh, BTW, look at the pictures on the website. This ugly, ugly massive block of concrete doesn't look anything like the small individual homes they show on the website. What gives?)

And then I got it. Cover up all the ground with concrete and we won't have any need to water our gardens. Oh, wait, but what are we going to drink? Martini's!  Okay, I'm in. And I'm grateful once again!

The Truth About Zucchini-Tinis

Recently, I forwarded a post from Food Network about a Zucchini-Tini that Claire Robinson did with an Asian Fusion dinner with Sake Steamed Sea Bass With Soy Buerre Blanc.  I tried the dinner a week ago and it was awesome!!  Here is the link:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/shows/5-ingredient-fix/300-series/asian-fusion.html

I used halibut instead of sea bass but it was really out of this world. I had never made Buerre Blanc Sauce before and I must say, first: it is easy and incredibly silky and delicious.....and second: the Weight Watcher Police were at my door within minutes. But it was worth it, and you just can't feel that guilty about indulging in a few tablespoons of heaven on a fish that is already delicious. I had dreams about that sauce all night and was really upset when I found out my husband threw the leftovers away. I had visions of it on my egg the next morning.  Oh well.  Try it, you will love the whole meal.

I saved the Zucchini-Tini for the weekend and made them for my sister and niece and I.  It's not that I don't drink alone.....as many of you know....it's that I don't drink gin alone. In fact, I don't drink gin much at all since my going away party when I moved back to California from England (and that was 30 years ago!!!). But here it is:

Zucchini-tini

Looks good, doesn't it? Well to be honest, I was so excited, thinking I could use up all my garden zucchinis with this refreshing drink. The recipe called for one large zucchini. I used two huge ones and got one half cup of juice out of it after putting it through an industrial squeeze. Also, it called for simple syrup made 1:1 sugar and water. Too sweet! It also calls for both sake and gin. Well, I kept adding gin, and that improved it. But in the end, it just tasted like sweet zucchini juice. I poured some unsweetened lime juice into it which cut the sugar and masked the zucchini juice and voila......we drank rather fancy, doctored up gin gimlets. They were very refreshing. Honestly, I think this one was a bit of a dud. But do try the fish dish. It is outstanding.

Stuffed Trout

I love beef. Given my choice of meat, beef wins every time. But I like fish and, as I am trying to lose some weight, I recently decided to try to eat more fish. In the past, I have pretty much stuck to the two S's, salmon and shrimp. Safe enough. But when we were kids and went camping, we'd often go fishing with our Dad and enjoy the spoils for dinner. I watched Nancy Fuller, the chef on the Food Network show, Farmhouse Rules, catch and cook trout for her dinner one night. I was inspired to modify her recipe below.

Meet My Trout

I got butterflied trout at Whole Foods, then seasoned them and stuffed them with chopped mushrooms, shallots, dill, parsley and lemon zest mixed with a tablespoon of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon.

Then I placed sliced lemons on the trout and wrapped them with bacon.

I

I cooked them in a cast iron skillet that was lightly oiled on the stove on medium high for 3 minutes and then in a 425 degree oven for 25 minutes.  It was really delicious.  For you Weight Watchers, this was 8 points.

More of these kinds of recipes, and I might not even miss beef.....NOT.  But really, how can you go wrong with anything wrapped in bacon?????

The End Result