The A-Word

Living in New York City is a very insular existence. When I was a freshman in college, I had a teacher who said that there was life to be lived ?off this island [Manhattan].? I thought he was nuts. Manhattan was the center of the universe?the center of my universe?and I couldn?t understand why anyone would live anywhere else. I found out why when Dan accepted a job in Los Angeles and we could contemplate sending Max to kindergarten without both of us having to get a second job.

Although I already had a close-knit group of friends when we landed at LAX in March 1997, adjusting to life in Los Angeles was hard. Everything was spread out, so walking from place to place was impossible; the San Fernando Valley was just plain ugly; and people put mayonnaise on cheeseburgers and dipped French fries in ranch dressing. I equate my first few years in L.A. with the six months following Max?s birth. I remember many tears, not much sleep and constantly thinking, What fresh hell is this?

You may think it?s a cliché to talk about how completely insane the driving situation is here. I didn?t start driving until I was 33. My advice to anyone planning to become a late-life L.A. driver: Train on the autobahn first. Second to the driving is the maddening overuse of awesome. How can a person, a chair, a drink, a movie, a relationship and a car all be awesome? There is only one thing I characterize as awesome: nature.

As I became slowly untethered from New York City, I began experiencing nature for the first time. Growing up in the Hudson Valley I didn?t see anything more wild than a garter snake, but in Los Angeles County alone I?ve seen hummingbirds, dragonflies, red-tailed hawks, golden eagles, brown pelicans, white pelicans, all different kinds of butterflies and other bugs, an owl, jellyfish, dolphins, sea lions, a coyote (which I thought was a wolf) and a (dead) skunk. I saw my first rainbow here, and the clouds after a rainstorm look as though Michelangelo painted them. These sights may all seem commonplace, but to me each one was breathtaking and wondrous.

Los Angeles continues to provide a culinary adventure as well. It was here that I first ate an artichoke, fresh asparagus and pluots?each supremely exciting and delicious additions to my diet. A pluot is a cross between a plum and an apricot. It?s more plum, though, and good ones are rapturously juicy and sweet. The pluot flesh is a gorgeous magenta, the color of which I?ve seen duplicated only in Cyndi Lauper?s hair circa 1984. I came across pluots in a farmers? market a few years ago, tried a piece of one and have been buying them every spring since. It dawned on me only this year to use them in baking, which I?m happy to share with you below.

In my 12 years as an Angeleno, I?ve pretty much adapted for survival. I?ve learned to accept awesome (mostly), and I drive like I?m a Days of Thunder extra. If you take to heart one thing from this writing, other than the autobahn advice, I sincerely hope you try to experience nature in some form each day, regardless of where you live. Because nature?s just?awesome.




Pluot-Brown Sugar Muffins
Vegan
Makes a dozen muffins

This recipe is adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz?s Brown Sugar Peach Muffins, which is posted on her blog (the April 30 entry) on the Post Punk Kitchen site. Isa is an amazing vegan chef and writer who I credit for teaching me most of what I know about vegan baking. Even if you?re not vegan, Veganomicon and Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, both of which Isa coauthored with the equally groovy Terry Hope Romero, should be part of your cookbook library. You can sub any kind of stone fruit you like here?peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots?and you can also switch up the flour. (Isa uses spelt.) As much as I revere both Isa and Terry, notice that I restrained myself from using awesome to describe them.

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
¾ cup brown sugar plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup applesauce
¾ cup unsweetened almond milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
? cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 medium pluots, skins on and chopped (about 2 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare a muffin pan by lining with baking cups or lightly greasing and flouring.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, ginger and cinnamon. Make a well in the center and add the applesauce, almond milk, vinegar, canola oil and vanilla. Stir until just combined. Gently stir in pluots until combined into the batter.

3. Spoon batter into each baking cup until full. Sprinkle a bit of brown sugar on top of each muffin. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool 5 minutes in the pan then transfer to a rack to cool completely. These will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.