for Me and Mona Lisa

you made me a poet

i keep claiming
i’m not a poet but
every time i think of
you i can’t help but
compare you to
the gravitational pull
by which the sea gives
way to the moon. and
i swear i’m not a poet
but you manage to
remind me of that feeling
when i stop walking to
feel the sun on my skin.

journal entry:

there’s a place within me
where things exist that nobody
has ever seen. i’ve not yet
shared them with anybody.
i’ve been saving them for
somebody worth showing.
i’ve been waiting for just the right
moment and opportunity
because after all, timing is
everything. and i’ll know it when it
comes because i’ll feel it in my gut
when they reach deep enough
inside me that i’m scared to release
the clutch of my pelvis. i imagine
that’s when i’ll know it’s time.

monday eggs

when i opened my fridge this morning, aside from some condiments, the only things worth anything on my shelves were buttermilk, eggs, and spinach. this is what i ended up with: a buttermilk biscuit topped with sauteed spinach and onion then a poached egg with a mayo based garlic-cayanne aioli (of sorts). it really is not an aioli that’s just what i’m calling it because i didn’t have enough eggs to make a real aioli or hollandaise. i didn’t intend on posting the recipe so i only have these couple of pictures that i took for IG but it’s really not difficult to make.

the recipe i used for my biscuits i got from smitten kitchen (one of my fav places to go for recipes!). since i didn’t take many pictures if you’ve never done biscuits from scratch before i suggest browsing the post i linked to, to see what your dough should look like at each stage. also i paraphrased the directions to make it simple so if you’re unsure about my directions then refer to the smitten kitchen post.

what you’ll need is as follows:

total cook time 30-40min / yields 2 servings

for the biscuits: (yields 12-16 biscuits. since the recipe yields so many biscuits and i am cooking for one, i only baked four of the biscuits and froze the rest. you can bake them directly from the freezer just lower the heat a little to about 350-375 depending on your oven and lengthen the cook time as needed)

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cups buttermilk
• 1tbs baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 - 2 tsp sugar
• 9 tbs butter, room temp and cut into small pieces

for the rest:

• 2 eggs
• 2 hand fulls spinach
• 1/2 oniion, diced
• drizzle olive oil (or tsp bacon grease)
• 1tbs white vinegar
• 2cups water, for boiling
• 1 heaping spoon full mayo (vegan or regular)
• 1tbs lemon juice
• 1tbs cayanne pepper
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbs fresh cilantro
• salt, to taste
• 1tbs butter, melted

what to do:

for the biscuits:

preheat oven to 400deg. whisk all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. with a pastry blender cut your butter into the dough (a pastry blender is that weird thing that looks like brass knuckles fit for Goliath). if you don’t have a pastry blender use your fingertips to squeeze the butter into thin flaky pieces. do this until you get a loose chunky dry batter. add in the buttermilk and fold batter with a spatula until most all of the flour has been picked up then use your hands to knead the dough briefly just to get it all to stick together.

coat a flat surface with flower and place your dough on it. use a rolling pin or the palms of your hands to flatten it out about 3/4of an inch. depending on how thick you like your biscuits you can go thicker or thinner. keep in mind if you go thicker your biscuits will likely topple over in the oven. they’ll still taste delicious they just might not be pretty to look at. cut out rounds of the dough using a cookie cutter or, in my case, the open end of a drinking glass.

lightly grease a cookie sheet and place your biscuit rounds onto it. bake for 10-15min or until just golden on top.

for the rest:

to make the sauce - in a food processor combine garlic, mayo, lemon juice, salt, cayanne, cilantro and melted butter. process until smooth. adjust the consistency as desired using mayo to thicken or equal parts butter/lemon juice to thin. if you adjust the consistency you’ll most likely need to adjust the spice. set aside.

to sautee spinach and onion - in a skillet, heat the drizzle of olive oil or bacon grease. add in onions and cook for about 4min. add in the spinach and toss until just wilted. remove from heat and set aside.

to poach your egg - in a med sauce pan bring water and white vinegar to a boil. reduce heat to med to maintain a simmer. crack egg into a tea cup or small bowl. place cup/bowl as close to water as possible and pour into simmering water quickly but gently. let cook 3-4min for an over easy yolk. use a slitted spoon to scoop the egg out and let stand on a paper towel to drain/dry. cut off stringy ends if desired.

to serve - layer spinach mixture on top of a biscuit. place egg on top of spinach. drizzle with sauce and serve warm.

lovers like me

I am a cave, you know. hollow mostly. though somewhere beneath the rubble there’s sandstone and red clay. but the deeper you go the darker I get. that you can depend on. and the more you dig the more I forget so beware the avalanches because you never know when I’ll collapse. I’ve crushed stronger lovers than you, you know. both in and out of my right mind. but you I wanted to keep closer. you I’d have let dig deeper. you I’d shelter from any weather, yea for you I’d have found a way to let the light in if only I had dealt with my demons sooner. because even I couldn’t clear the dust in time to let you see that I’ve got land mines and I’m sorry for that. so be sure to go back out the way you came because Lord knows I’m a shifting maze but if by chance you chose to stay I’d find a way to let the light back in.

lovers like you

I should have taken my kisses back from you before you left. I should have kept them in my dresser where they were to begin with; where they were safely hidden from lovers like you. I should have knew you’d be exactly what you said you are but women we love fixer-uppers. I should have chosen smarter because I know better than to try to change a lover like you but I was convinced that slowly if not surely things would work themselves out eventually. I shouldn’t have kept my worries locked up in the liquor cabinet because you know I can never have just one. damn you for being as selfish as you said you are and shame on me for believing that lying in your arms would fix everything. so naive of me to let you hold me the way you do and I should have known lovers like you only end up being my fault.