tarot recipes, occupy my soup pot, resistance food

 i know i'm not the only heifer out here who worries about money all the time - heightened by an awareness/guilt that i'm @ LEAST (& i do mean @ least) able to tie a few ends, sometimes for chrissakes/have not cast it all to the wind to move in w/my sistren over by occupy wall street.  & with all that in mind, i have been thirsting, the last few weeks to bring a giant pot of mushroom barley soup down to occupy.

you & i both know that it was inevitable that my rabble-rousing-rebel grrrrrrrrl Infamous S, would be the one to firmly entrench herself in the thick of the wall street protests.  when she asked for my herbal support on consulting w/resident healers, i was only too happy to oblige. i only wish that i had the time/money/resources to fully engage.  so for the last three weeks, literally, i have had to abort my beloved plan to bring a few gallons of bone warming (due to the chicken stock), healing (due to the cordyceps) mushroom barley soup to the protesters. this soup has really special meaning, as it is sacred to the tarot card 5/pentacles, & as far as i'm concerned, 5/pentacles is the state that the country is in right now.  when you read the meaning below, i am 1000% sure that you will concur.

with all of that in mind, i am also working on a tarot deck with healing recipes that relate to each card, as i might have mentioned in my 'word, rock, sword' post.

so in honor of the adjustments that we all must make to accommodate the earth plane's fluctuations, i am debuting "The Urban Tarot & Recipe Book" here.  (working title - feedback???)

5/pentacles: 
worry. insecurity, pressure, destitution, adversity, discomfort. physical concern; changing circumstances. (exists as a barrier to the 6 of pentacles/success) can you make something out of nothing? how will you use the lean times? as obstacle: you have to make a change but refuse. herb: mugwort (to see clearer physic dreams).
planetary:  mercury in taurus       
lots of times, what has caused these financial problems is a matter of your own emotions/core beliefs – greed will lead to loss, anxiety will lead to error, possessiveness will lead to solitude.  focusing only on the material can make you lose sight of your spiritual development. you can be rich  all you want, but this means nada if you learn nothing.
socially, 5/pentacles can also point to a time of being alone, feeling abandoned, ignored and unwanted. you may be excluded from group events or you are being ostracized by others.  you need support and comfort from those who actually care.  know that the community exists, & ask for help!!!  in the psyche, 5/pentacles points toward difficulty with your relationship to money and material things. if money is the main/only motivating force in life and the gauge by which you judge your worth, the lack of it will 1) make you crazy, & 2) give you a sense of being excluded from the good life. if your financial difficulties are rooted in the loss of a job or an investment gone bad, you may have lost faith in your ability to rebuild. you're going to need to consider your actual financial circumstances but also your attitudes toward money. examine your fears around money and wealth.  ask yourself honestly if one of your core beliefs is anxiety around never having enough, or do you have faith in your ability to manifest what you need to live a prosperous, fulfilled life no matter what your circumstances? now is the time to synthesize the lesson of worry, & create wealth consciousness.  affirmations are extremely powerful here.  the element of writing/the spoken word is ruled by air.  but your body (earth) is the instrument that brings the magic to life.  use the lean times well, & you will gain a lifetime's worth of skills to create a reality in which you no longer experience lean times @ all!

ps:
years ago, i was down on my luck.  i didn't even know how i was going to pay the rent. (5/pentacles, worry, etc.) i was depressed, but had skills that needed to be used to transmute my circumstances (the mining of talents that 5/pentacles inspires).  blessedly, w/the help of one of the most inspired fly-assed poets (a real one, not an open mike amateur) i have ever known, a grrrrrrrrrrrl whose literary depth makes her appear to float, put out a call to a # of our collective sistren:  we're paraphrasing here, but it was something like - "aiiight alla you sexy-assed witches - come git ya soul cleansed (learn how to read tarot) w/one of the flyest (pun intended) witches i know, stefanie kelly..." (this is a perfect example of the community of assistance that awaits all who are caught up in 5/pents influence) there's no way to describe the honor felt when a luminary calls you out as fierce.  so why try? but lemme tell ya this -  @ first, i didn't know what my student's thoughts were - & for me? it was one of the most transformative experiences of my entire life.  i learned that although i had not sold my soul to the board of ed, that i was a teacher.  & learned that i had something to teach.  the lovely, beaming faces of 10 - 15 of my sistren radiated a brilliance of intent that was contagious, & inspiring.  @ the end, w/so many laughs, prophesies & magic in the mix, my only sadness was that i wouldn't know how to re-create the class should i need to.  probably simultaneous to this thought, 'the mixtress' a grrrrrrrrrrrrl so fly that she should have wings, walked up to me all lovely, glowing, her air sign wit alighting the air around her & handed me a sheaf of papers.  it was the tarot seminar.  she had copied down every single word. (the new skills/wealth that should accompany the successful handling of 5/pentacles energy pattern)

you know my corny ass burst into tears immediately.

p.p.s.  & BTW - do you know that the seminar paid my rent???

that is 5/pentacles.

speaking of which:


no worries wild mushroom soup:

2	Ounces	Dried mushrooms, e.g. porcini, morel, chanterelle, 6 TBSP cordyceps
2	Cups	Warm filtered water
¼	Cup	Brandy
14	Cups	Chicken stock
2	Tbsp	Worcestershire Sauce
1	Cup	Pearled barley
2	Large	Onions, diced (approx 3 cups)
4	Ribs	Celery, diced (approx 2 cups)
1	Lb.	Carrots, diced ( approx 3 cups)
8	Cloves	Garlic, minced
2	Each	Bay leaves
2	Tbsp	Oregano, fresh, chopped
1	Tbsp	Basil, fresh chopped
2	Lb.	Fresh cremini or button mushrooms, sliced
To taste		Salt and white pepper
2	Tbsp	Parsley, fresh chopped

method:
	put the dried mushrooms in a small bowl & cover with the warm water. Let stand for 15 minutes or so to re-hydrate. When hydrated, squeeze out any excess water & place mushrooms in another bowl, rinse them under several changes of cool water to remove any grit. Toss the mushrooms with the brandy, allow to soak for 1 hour. Gently turn and mix the mushrooms & brandy several times to evenly soak. Once the dried mushrooms are hydrated, line a sieve with a coffee filter or paper towel. Strain the mushroom water into another bowl to separate any grit.
	while dried mushrooms are soaking, add the chicken stock to a large stockpot &  add the Worcestershire Sauce & bring to a boil covered.  add the barley. continue to boil for 30 minutes over medium heat covered.
	add strained mushroom water to the soup.  add the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, & basil, bring back to a boil, reduce  heat, & continue to simmer for 20 minutes over medium heat covered. add the sliced fresh mushrooms, stir well, & continue to simmer for 15 minutes covered.
	chop wild mushrooms, add them to the soup with the brandy, the 6 TBSP cordyceps & simmer another 5 minutes. (a brief word on cordyceps - chinese superfood.  amazing for lung capacity, energy, general healing - great for winter!)
	season to taste with sea salt & white pepper, then garnish with the chopped parsley. if i am successful in my attempts to feed some part of occupy wall street, you'll be the first to know, friends...  (pics, too!) thank you for your time!

kitchen reminiscences, words*rock* sword, astrological foods, sisterhood ad infinitum!

yesterday, i was in the middle of catering the word rock sword music/women's festival which took place in various parts of the city, when food network caught my eye:  there on the screen was my old boss from 9jones.  9jones was a very slick 2 - 3 star on... you guessed it, jones street in the west village - the establishment had more family atmosphere than a little bit, & the food, if i may say so myself, was superlative.  the original chef, a woman, had crafted an elegant menu full of unexpected treats:  such as grilled lamb chops w/a verbena glaze.  having now moved on to greener pastures, the new chef needed to hire an entirely new staff.  my first kitchen idol, the only other fly-assed black grrrrrrrrrrrrrrl chef i knew of in ny, & something of a mentor to me had invited me by way of her boyfriend, the aforementioned new sheriff in town.  she wasn't personally working there, but he was.  @ the time, i was still over @ aqua grill getting my life threatened by that prick of a chef.   when the sous-chef @ aqua grill shared w/me his fond memories, post my latest verbal beat-down ("shut the fuck up, & gimme my mushroom emulsion, you goddamn idiot!") of a chef & sous chef who used to, on the daily, enter the walk-in fridge, & beat each other to a bloody pulp before the shift, ("oh, he's not so bad, you should have worked w/my old boss,  he used to"...)  i couldn't take the testosterone.  the chef from 9jones, whom i'll call mr. nosmo, plucked me out of aqua grill in, according to mr. nosmo, one chef-to-chef convo - "are you done w/her yet?"
"...not sure..."  mused the prick from aqua.
"well if you are, lemme know.  i'll take her."

talk about from the frying pan into the fire...

in one of the more epic of our disagreements, i was trying to explain to him that taking 24 oz steaks out of a 700 degree pizza oven (the flames were two feet high) w/a pair of tongs was too much action for my small wrists. he insisted that i 'just didn't want to listen' - & this was true b/c he was dead wrong - & that i needed to 'try following directions once in a while' @ which point i said, 'ok, fuck it. i'll do it your way.'

resolute, i started the shift, & was even starting to think that the tong method wasn't so bad until, trying to gain leverage & hold the metal plate firmly, the tong slipped & the oil & meat hit my arm w/a sickening sizzle. the waves of pain were an acid trip of agony. & it kept going on. my vision spotted. chef nosmo avoided my gaze, as i glared @ him in a withering fury. & continued to work, demanding a bucket of icewater & a dram of lavender essential oil from the aromatherapist down the block which still, thankfully, was open.

so there we were - a furious grill grrrrrrrrrrrl, & a guilt ridden chef in denial. shortly after, he left the restaurant amid much cigar smoke & contention around the amount of "completely brown plates" that he brought to the menu. those veteran staff members who'd witnessed the restaurants evolution liked some things about his menu but found it sadly lacking in color. i remained & ultimately became sous-chef until the establishment closed its doors a while later. imagine my surprise, then, to find him up against no less than an african grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl chef, in Chopped!!!

what perfect karma, i thought,whether he wins or looses, that he could get whipped by a black grrrrrl - in the house that mario batali (our lateral competition in the west village, who, w/his offering Home, was sometimes superlative, & sometimes awash in sandy spinach gnocchi,) built.  LMBAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

love it.

love it or hate it - chef nosmo gave me a couple of important lessons w/his refusal to be in any way cognizant of my needs/limitations as a worker:
1 - always go w/your first mind:  i knew his method of carrying meat to plate would not work for me.  it was my responsibility to protect myself.
2 - b/c of my burn, & its subsequent healing w/lavender, i was swallowed whole by aromatherapeutic studies, & remain in the belly of the beast to this day - obsessed - not only that, the aromatherapist down the block informed me that robert tisserand, the father of aromatherapy discovered lavender's healing faculties b/c of a - what?  burn. - can you stand it?  it was apparently the first herb that he studied intensely on this level after using it to heal a self-inflicted chemical burn.
3 - working w/women will always be a more nurturing, fulfilling experience than working w/men.

no matter the industry, it is...what it is...

which brings me to one of my most pleasant gigs to date:

a couple of weeks ago, i was contacted by a legendary musician.  born into a musical dynasty, this grrrrrrrrrrrl is a force to be reckoned with, & has her own stunning musical chops.  her name is power.  she emailed me out of the blue w/dreams of a women's festival benefitting mothers all over the world, & i was wit' it, yet mystified @ how i could personally be of service - what could i contribute?  i mean the woman already had mad musicians, writers, poets, dancers & producers under her belt who would beg to work w/her. - maybe she was just being nice, i reasoned.
after my first lukewarm answer to her women's festival missive, she fired back three options for me.  while i mused on these, my homegrrrrrrrrrrrrrl, a master manifester/epic/writer/director, (i mentioned her before - she's the one for whom soul food means sushi)  who does NOT the fuck suffer fools gladly took me into her confidence around career matters:  'what you need to do', she said, 'is write a recipe for every card of the tarot.  that's your next book.' -  after the memoir. after thanking her profusely, i asked my inner self/the deck which card would be the one to start off w/.  it was the star.  open roads, hope, beauty, artistry, innovation, cleansing, healing all are roads ruled by the star.  i started free associating.  still, it took yet another convo w/my magical, tantric, sexxxxxxxxxy editorial assistant to solidify the action:  "stef.  you're gonna do that - whatever that is - the tarot/food joint for the festival.  email her now!"

& that is how my presentation was born!

as usual, i was sure the jig would be up the minute i presented my food (@ the venue, the lovely Pillow Cafe where the black grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl chef was so unbelievably kind & helpful) & everyone discovered the truth:  that i can't really cook.  but what actually happened was astounding:  seeing my struggles w/set up, my fellow sorceress, ally & partner in crime from witches brew stepped into the vortex & just said "no."  she is so fierce.   "nope, you are not serving on shitty paper w/no platters, no you are not giving up a leaf of lettuce until you are set up, & you sho ain't giving out that amount of food.  profit margin, anyone???"  she jetted BACK HOME, y'all, to pick up anything i might need to make this an actual catered event as opposed to the zoo that was being fashioned from my lack of preparedness.

talk about the angels in your life!!!

so there was that tear inducing sisterhood, along w/my 'manuscript doula', who showed up to eat & ki-ki, but ended up acting as waitstaff, my grrrrrrrrrrrrrl who is the international songstress a sound healer in & of herself, who had performed the night before for the festival, & was acting as fundraiser/producer/female preacher (yes, as in lyn collins) aggressively collecting tips for my jar.

when i looked into the audience, & saw all of the gleaming beautiful faces, i was brought to a point earlier in the day, when through my stress, i realized that i would be cooking for/presenting to some of the grrrrrrrrrrrrrrls i have loved the most ever, i felt a calm that has been unmatched on almost any 'job'.

sisterhood, B. the blood that runs through the veins.

what a ball we had, & here are the recipes:

Menu to access the properties/qualities of the Star/Aquarius:

seared* ceviche w/watercress:

1 # pink snapper, (yes, pink snapper, y'all.) filleted
1 tsp. crushed garlic
3 TBSP. lemon juice
sea salt, cracked pepper
1 tsp. fish sauce

marinate the filleted pink snapper (love saying/writing that) w/all ingredients for up to 2 hours.  in a smoking pan sear onlt the skin side till crispy.  serve rough chopped atop 2 bunches cleaned, torn watercress tossed w/:
2 TBSP garlic
1 minced shallot
lem j to taste - about 1 tsp. or more
1 tsp. yuzu juice
2 TBSP shoyu
olive oil to coat the leaves, about 2 TBSP

you will not be sorry.

*now my original plan was to do a classic raw ceviche - but i didn't feel that it would travel the way i wanted it to, ( a 45 min. cab ride, that is) hence the new title of the dish:  seared ceviche...

watermelon, heirloom tomato cucumber salad w/lemongrass vinaigrette

 word to the wise - actually ended up switching the vinaigrettes on this one - it ended up going on the tuna nicoise but here goes:
2 whole small watermelons medium dice, about 1/2 inch cubed
3 english cucumbers no need to peel these the skin is super thin & good for you medium dice, about 1/2 inch
2 8 oz. pkgs cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

this worked extremely well simply tossed together, & served in small cups

seared tuna nicoise w/yuzu wasabi foam  


for this, actually i used

1 # each of tuna, yellowtail (hamachi, a sushi cut), & bluefish.

marinate these in a 1/2 & 1/2 mixture of soy sauce & yuzu juice.  this is ponzu.
sear these in a smoking hot skillet w/either grapeseed or sesame oil or a touch of both. cut into cubes.  set aside.
3 bunches romaine lettuce, shredded, tossed w/
3 TBSP rice wine vinegar (preferably japanese, & brown rice)
3TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP grated ginger
2TBSP crushed garlic
3 TBSP thai green curry paste - (yes yes y'all.  LOTS of grated fresh lemongrass in that mixture - don't be a fool!)
olive oil to taste, about 3 - 4 oz.
 2 # baby yukons, parboiled in salty water then baked for 45 min - 1 hr. ina 375 degree oven w.roast garlic & 3 TBSP butter
4 ears corn, boiled for 1 - 2 min, iced, then cut off the cob

haricot vert, trimmed, parboiled 1 - 2 min & shocked in ice water
crumbled feta to taste
whisk everything except the vegetables together.  group each veg together & place on top of the lettuce.  pour dressing over all & garnish w/the yuzu cream/foam:

2 TBSP. yuzu juice
1 pt. heavy cream
3 TBSP. wasabi powder or freshly grated - if powder, dissolved in about 3 TBSP of the cream first
1 tsp. soy sauce
in a blender or  food processor whip the cream to stiff. fold in all other ingredients, whip to stiff peaks. dot the salad w/the foam right before serving.



thai guacamole served w/chips

6 avocados mashed
6 cloves garlic
2 TBSP thai green curry
couple dashes fish sauce
lem j to taste
1 tomato, pureed
mix together & serve w/corn chips

5 - bruschetta checca (mozz tom & basil)
i did these tiny b/c i was serving as a passed appetizer - i had lovely beautiful Fairway market slice 3 big baguettes into tiny rounds on their slicer - perfection!!!
then i tossed them w/melted 1/4 # butter, 6 TBSP olive oil, 3 TBSP crushed garlic, lots of dried parsley & toasted them for some time - 15 - 20 min in an oven @ 375.


on top of these were tossed


about 15 tomatoes nice ripe romas, or heirlooms in a medium, (nuccomme says small) dice marinated for 1 - 6 hours in 10 cloves SLICED fresh garlic,
1 large or 2 small bunches basil, rinsed in 3 changes of water & sliced
olive oil to glaze
sea salt & pepper

this last is a dessert that was left out as per necessity - (read budget)


so i'll do it next time w/pics -

lemon bars w/lavender whipped cream


- aquarius-y?  i think so.  now our time apart has not been wasted friends - within the next few, i will be able to provide y'all w/a lot more recipes, via excerpts from projects that i am working on now, like other cookbooks, memoirs & shit - oh!  one of which is the zodiacal/tarot based cookbook that this was all a dry run for.
brief explanation:  when we need a certain astrological influence in our lives, it's all well & good to ritualize the ingestion of that need w/a candle or some oil, right? we've all heard of those methods - however it brings things to a whole new energetic level to actually ingest the energetics of a star sign.


now, you may be asking yourself, why in hell would i need to do some stupid-assed shit like that?


& now i shall unveil why.  each one of us, is born w/our jupiter in a certain sign.  this is the key to our luck.  you may be a virgo, say.  so you act like one - exacting, detail oriented, antisocial.  but your jupiter may be in, say, sag! so all your life you have been doing yourself a disservice, hanging out w/only earth/& or water signs, never going to parties.  spending your weekends w/your nose buried in a book... & wondering where your good luck is.  awww!!!
& all that time, in order to access the luck of the irish, all you ever had to do was hang out w/sag (& this is not hard) & adopt some of that freewheeling philosophy as your own.  the new cookbook takes things to another level.  each of the signs of the zodiac has a cell salt sacred to that sign, & foods that help the person embody the vibration of that sign.
lucky sign + lucky foods =luck!

if you want to know your jupiter sign & attendant lucky foods, let me know. 


happy (belated) equinox.  all the best.


thank you for your time!