Benefits, Lentil Tacos, Solander, Picnic and Born Gold

On Monday night J-Fur and I went to the Grand Opening of the new Chipotle burrito joint in Citrus Park. While I do like Chipotle, now that they are no longer affiliated with McDonald's, my reason for going wasn't their burritos. The Grand Opening was a benefit for Sweetwater Organic Community Farm. Five dollars got you a drink and burrito with 100 percent of all the proceeds going to the organic farm. Sweetwater not only provides healthy, organic food for people but it also puts a great deal of effort into educational programs and community building projects as well. In short, they do a lot for the local Tampa organic food movement. As I sat there eating my burrito and watching the long line of customers file through the door I couldn't help but wonder why more businesses don't do something like this. I mean it would probably behoove restaurants to have a practice night before opening for real so why not join up with a local cause and start building your community connection before opening your doors for real?

I made it an all pseudo Mexican food day as earlier I whipped up some Smoky Lentil Tacos. The original recipe came from The Chubby Vegetarian but because of a few assumptions and needing to get rid of some extra vegetables I had to tweak his version slightly.

Smoky Alabaster Tacos (adapted from the Chubby Vegetarian)

(printable version)

For lentils:

-1 onion, diced

-olive oil

-1 tsp cumin

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp ancho chili powder

-1/2 tsp New Mexico chili powder

-4 Tbs tomato sauce

-1/2 tsp sesame oil

-1 cup green lentils

-1 1/4 cups water

-1 Tbs vinegar

-1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, diced

-1 green pepper, diced

-1 tomato, diced

For toppings:

-tortillas

-cabbage

-salsa

-lime

cheese

1. In a large skillet with a lid, saute the onion in olive oil until translucent. Add the cumin, salt and chili powders and stir until the spices have unified and the onions have been well covered. Heat for an additional minute.

2. To the onions, add tomato sauce, sesame oil, lentils, water, vinegar, sundried tomatoes, green pepper and tomato. Cover and simmer for 35 minutes or until the water has been absorbed. The lentils should take on a consistency of risotto. Remove from heat.

3. On a warm tortilla place the lentils down the middle. Top with cabbage, cheese, salsa and lime juice. Wrap and gobble.

Sweden's Solander (here and here), the creators of one of my favorite cover songs of all time, recently released a new album entitled Passing Mt. Satu. The first single from the album is called "The Garden." Featuring hand claps, violins and a chorus that is instantly catchy I would say that "The Garden" is one of their finer works.

Solander - The Garden by write.click.cook.listen

Hear all of Passing of Mt. Satu:


Picnic is an Estonian band that exist at the place where flowing guitars mingle with electronic seaside beats that are gently lapping lyrical candy. Its like shoegaze and Icelandic indie all rolled up into one. "Shareware" is brilliant dreampop that has resonated with me since hearing it via Far From Moscow:


Sometimes songs take a while for me to latch on to. Sometimes it happens instantly. Cecil Frena's work under the moniker Gobble Gobble was one of those instant connections. After ruling the stage at SXSW, Cecil decided to retire the name Gobble Gobble and head in a different direction. That direction is Born Gold. Retaining the instrumentation, big sounds, unique lyrics and energy of Gobble Gobble is pretty much all that matters and Born Gold does that. "Alabaster Bodyworlds" is the first single from their Bodysongs LP which will be released in September.

Born Gold-Alabaster Bodyworlds (via I Guess I'm Floating)