u/slh2c

Kouign-Amanns from Noisette. Strawberry pop tarts, peanut butter cups and mocha cupcake from Sweet Life Patisserie. Both bakeries in Eugene and offer vegan pastries I can't get where I'm from.

Made with Unreal turkey and a pâté made from mushrooms and homemade seitan

The "ribs" were made from Unreal turkey and steak slices, BBQ sauce, vegan mayo, ketchup, yellow mustard, maple syrup, brown sugar, nutritional yeast, vital wheat gluten, smoked paprika, chili powder, dried garlic, and dried onion.

Just finished Transcription and came across LeClair’s review, in which he suggests one of the main characters resembles TRP. It’s not a connection that would ever have crossed my mind as I found Thomas in Lerner’s book to be tiresome in his bloviating and without humor (though this is not an indictment of Transcription, which I did enjoy). The review also ends with an allusion to William Gaddis:

Lerner’s autofictions always shade into metafiction, now more explicit in Transcription. The interviewer describes “how Thomas always talked, sudden changes of scale, rapid juxtapositions of images and registers.” Some of his skittering subjects are Schrödinger, lithium, World War II, psychoacoustics, radio, cave art, Plato, the healing properties of screens. Who or what might Thomas represent? Not, I think, the late Robert Coover, one of Lerner’s professors at Brown. No, I submit that Lerner’s Thomas recalls the almost-90 Thomas Pynchon, who influenced the four contemporary novelists I’ve mentioned above.

Lerner’s Thomas combines, like the Pynchon of his big books, information from a disparate array of sources, esoteric science and new media, pre-history and phantom voices beyond our ken. Pynchon’s best work has Lerner’s personal comedy but much more—planetary knowledge with deep cultural ramifications. In fifty years, if people are still reading fiction, it’s Lerner’s kind of work—personal, relatively superficial, sneakily elegant—that will need to be resurrected, not the kind of systems-conscious world-building done by Pynchon and his epigones.

Transcription is about “the anxiety of influence”—of Max’s literal father, the interviewer’s symbolic father. But deeper down, I think, Transcription is Lerner’s anxiety of not being influenced by a profound and dominating writer named Thomas, one who never thought 130 pages were a cultural contribution. Transcription is a minor response to major mastery—a kind of metafictional masochism if you need psychology. Or, of course, Thomas may not be a homage but a joke or insult. Things change on the blue guitar of art.

My Thomistic theory brings me to wonder: What if Thomas Pynchon decided to give his first and last interview, his final words before his passing? Though I sympathize with interviewers, I like to think the interview would be intentionally chaotic, a mockery of our need to have the artist speak to us in our impoverished, journalist-adjacent language. I further like to think that Lerner’s Thomas could be resisting his figurative children’s desire for some last summarizing and directing words, preferably spoken directly to each of them. One famous now-dead novelist I interviewed distrusted our spoken words and took a year to rewrite the transcription I sent him. I quit interviewing after another famous now-dead novelist refused to edit my transcription and refused to let me publish it unedited. He’s the writer who said in his first novel, “What's any artist, but the dregs of his work? the human shambles that follows it around.”

https://openlettersreview.com/posts/transcription-by-ben-lerner

There are roughly 100k South Asian residents near where I live and about 150 South Asian restaurants. Go figure that the best samosas come from a gas station. Calvander Food Mart, just outside Chapel Hill, is owned by an Indian family, and they use the owner's mother's recipe. Golden, flaky pastry and a buttery-smooth potato filling -- definitely worth a drive.

One giant-ass, softball-sized meatball made with half a pack of Impossible meat and one Beyond Italian sausage.

Cavatelli and fregula pasta in a cauliflower veloute finished with Tin Man Oils Carolina chili crisp and herbed breadcrumbs.

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Mushroom risotto, charred leek braised in garlic butter and white wine, seared shiitake mushrooms, pangrattato, grapefruit balsamic, and charred lemon.

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Tomato and fregula pasta salad in a mustard vinaigrette with Persian cucumbers, radish, shallots, dill, and parsley.

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Charred eggplant with pangrattato and Calabrian chili ribbons over porcini paccheri in a spring onion pesto-white wine broth with seared shiitakes.

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Potato pavé with garlic aioli over a smoky cherry tomato-red pepper coulis.

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Campanelle pasta tossed in a spring onion pesto cream sauce with asparagus, capers, and toasted herb breadcrumbs.

General Tso's Tofu Ramen

1. Vegetables & Garnishes

Using a vegetable peeler, shave 1-2 baby cucumbers into thin ribbons and finely shred 1 cup of red cabbage. Separately marinate the cucumber ribbons and the shredded cabbage in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, 1 teaspoon of avocado oil, 1 teaspoon of chili oil, 1/2 teaspoon of agave, and a pinch of salt, then set aside. For the scallion nest, slice the white and pale green base of 1 to 2 scallions into fine strips and submerge in ice water to curl. Slice 1 radish and 1 red chili, and set alongside some sesame seeds.

2. Broth

In a dry pan over medium heat, dry toast 2 árbol chilis until fragrant, then remove from pan. Add avocado oil to hot pan and sauté 1 large shallot until softened. Add 1 small tomato (quartered), the toasted árbol chilis, 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Let cook for 1-2 minutes, then add 6 1/2 cups vegetable broth (made with mushroom, carrot, garlic, ginger, and onion) and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Then add 1/4 cup of tahini, 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon of MSG, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, and a squirt of sriracha. Use an immersion blender directly in the pot until broth is completely smooth, creamy, and emulsified. Taste and add soy sauce or salt if needed. 

3. Tofu & Noodles

Heat avocado oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add 1 pack of Blackbird Foods General Tso's crispy tofu (or tofu of choice), and sear until it has a nice char and is crispy on all sides (or air fry tofu). Add ramen noodles to broth and cook according to package instructions.

4. Assembly

Ladle the broth and ramen noodles into a bowl. Fan the sliced radish pieces along the top inner rim of the bowl, then lay down the charred General Tso's tofu adjacent to the radishes. Place the cucumber ribbons on the left side of the bowl and the cabbage on the right side. Arrange the sliced red chilies at the bottom center, nestle the drained scallion nest directly into the center of the bowl, and garnish with sesame seeds, microgreens, and chili oil (optional).

Ketchup on a chopped cheese isn't my thing, so made a sauce with Zhoug and mayo. Impossible beef and Good Planet cheddar with caramelized onions, salted tomatoes, and chopped iceberg on a butter-toasted roll.

Vegan ribs platter, tofu bao bun, tofu banh mi, fried vegan spring rolls and avocado fresh roll from BaoBao Kitchen in Greensboro, NC.

Double smashed patties (made with Impossible meat) , griddled onion, melted cheddar (Good Planet), smoked paprika aioli, Torres smoked paprika potato chips, toasted potato bun.

Focaccia with chayote squash, cherry tomatoes, shallots, Tin Man Oils Carolina chili crisp, pickled Fresno chilis, rosemary, oregano, and smoked sea salt.

Topped with Tin Man Oils Carolina chili crisp

This is a nice summer recipe that assumes you are using tomatoes that are ripe and in-season...

Prep the Tomatoes & Shallots

Place 1 lb quartered Campari tomatoes, 1 large handful halved grape tomatoes, and 1 thinly sliced shallot into a large bowl. Sprinkle with kosher salt, toss, and let sit for 10–15 minutes to draw out the tomato juice. Strain the juice into a blender cup, leaving the tomatoes and shallots in the bowl.

Cook the Pasta

Cook 4 oz fregula pasta according to package instructions until al dente. Drain well, toss with a drizzle of olive oil to prevent sticking, and let cool completely.

Blend the Vinaigrette

To the blender cup with the reserved tomato juice, add:

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

• ½ tsp Calabrian chili oil

• 1–2 peeled garlic cloves (to taste)

• ½ tsp Dijon mustard

• 1½ tbsp red wine vinegar

• ½ tbsp white wine vinegar

• ½ tsp agave nectar

• A pinch of salt and pepper (but remember the tomatoes were already salted)

Use an immersion blender until dressing is smooth and emulsified, then stir in 1 tbsp good-quality whole-grain mustard (I used Pommery Meaux) and whisk together.

Assemble & Serve

Add 3–4 Persian cucumbers (sliced on a bias) and 3–4 radishes (sliced into half-moons) to the tomato bowl. Pour the vinaigrette over top and toss. Add the cooled fregula, 1 bunch chopped fresh dill, and ½ bunch chopped flat-leaf parsley. Toss thoroughly. Serve immediately or chill for 30 minutes to let the flavors develop.

Sauce was made with San Marzano tomatoes, the meatballs with Impossible beef

Sauce was made with San Marzano tomatoes, the meatballs from Impossible beef; topped with FYH parm