made for trottin'

Summer Fave #5: aerial skills 

Maybe you've heard I'm the definition of grace and poise.

Not sure where or how because I keep a low profile...and am most definitely not either of those adjectives.

Definitely not when I'm devouring a burger. Probably not when I'm taking down several slices of watermelon in summer. These stains on my tees? Yeah, that's from tomato sauce or chili oil or the time I thought I could eat hot pot while wearing white. Can't even claim to know how to eat a salad like a lady (okay, but in all seriousness, salads are not always easy to eat). 

But especially not when I'm gnawing away at one of my favorite weird treats in the world - braised pork trotters.

Where it began.

Ahh, pork trotters. Is there anything so creepy and unsettling as finding pig's feet in your freezer? Jenna will probably tell you noopee. But this is one of those experiences you're bound to experience with an Asian roommate.
I knew there would come a time when I would crave these things enough to go get a couple feet, so you can imagine my excitement when Jules and Jade graciously let me keep the feet from our half a pig. Good thing I got these multipurpose spice packets as a pantry stuffer.

braised trotters
fry 2 scallions, 2 cloves garlic, 2 ginger slices, 1t peppercorns, 2 dried chilies
sear trotters on each side (as best as you can for such an irregularly shaped meat)
add enough water to cover with 3T shaoxin cooking wine, 2T soy sauce, 1T dark soy, 2 bay leaves, and one of those spice packets
simmer 2 hours covered, uncover to reduce sauce ~20min

By the way, I really missed having a solid butcher's knife - you can probably tell I tried to dangerously and unsuccessfully hack through the bone.

Let me digress a bit to talk about the only accompaniment you need for trotters: rice.
Cooked in carnitas braising liquid with a couple dollops of fat so that by the end, the bottom gets all charred (how many times have I used this word in the last 3 or so posts?), and the rice can be unmolded from the pot in one wonderful cereal dome.

And all mixed up with egg whites and Thai basil.

Or even plain.
Because there will be plenty of sticky saucy sauce to drizzle pour over a pile of fluffy white rice.
I don't believe there is a graceful way to gnaw away at a trotter. But who am I tryna impress?

Yesterday was my last aerial skills class (so that's where the talk about grace and poise comes in! yup, you got it). And I come out of it unscathed... except for minor trapeze calluses and sore forearms (not unlike the time I went to the driving range for the first time.. I'm so weak) and bruised inner thighs from the silks ("ghost harness" is a real thing), but my right hip no longer pops when I do leg workouts (!!). And that shit is not as easy to make look easy as I thought it might be. After five classes, the one pose I could not do was 'superman' because I guess my body doesn't like to flip over itself in one smooth motion. How are you even supposed to practice something like that? It's like people who do flips on trampolines or water skis or whatever... I can imagine step 1 and I can see step 1000, but how do steps 5-900 work? I don't know - maybe in addition to being weak, I'm a scaredy cat at heart. I mean, I didn't even learn how to dive until I was 21-ish because when I was 8, I couldn't fall head first. There's a kids aerial class before the adult one, and damn those children are fearless (with no extra body weight to hoist up).

Good to know SF has a vibrant aerial scene. Because I will master 'superman' if it's the last thing I do (which.. like.. is not implausible)... (that it's the last thing I do, I mean... not that I can master it...just to clarify... okay... right.. back to the ol' thesis).