Discussions of terroir can be fraught because it seems to be a term that means something different for each person. My previous experience of the term terroir is the idea of how a particular vineyard site is unique or distinct from other sites, and how that affects the wine. Particularly in the crunchier sides of natural wine and biodynamics, I have observed an association between the character of the soil/site and the actual flavors or textures present in the wine, e.g. chalky soil leading to a perceptible chalky character in the wine.

What's fascinating to me about this association is that it lives in the twilight zone between tradition/empirical observation and academics; that is, it's a strongly held belief by those who have observed it in their own experience, and yet science has yet (as far as I can tell) been unable to describe an actual pathway for those flavors to travel from the soil to our taste buds.

It's interesting to come to this question after a week of reading in-depth academic reviews and textbook chapters about the incredibly varied ways that a vineyard site can contribute to the final quality of a wine. I was struck by each author's careful insertion of a qualification to express that the grape life cycle is so complex that it's almost impossible to account for every possible variable when designing experiments regarding e.g. the effects of soil composition, light, etc. And yet, it's undeniably true that each of these tiny variables can make an impact on the outcome.

So where does that leave us? I have begun to think of it like this: in Computer Science, there's this concept of a hashing algorithm. The idea is that you can come up with a formula that, when given a dataset (like a user profile for example), condenses it all down to a tidy little alphanumeric code that you can then use to reliably look up that information later because it's unique to the data you fed into it.

The analogy I'm going for here is that for each vineyard site, once you combine its individual conditions of soil type/depth/moisture, micro/macroclimates, diurnal shift*, etc -  it may well be true that the final hashed result of each combination is unique, because there are simply so many variables that it ends up being highly unlikely that any two vineyards have exactly the same conditions. And that doesn't even include all of the ways that the farmers can then begin to manipulate the conditions themselves.

So, in this way, I suppose I do believe in the concept of terroir when defined as 'vineyard sites each have a unique combination of growing conditions, each condition of which is known to affect the final outcome of the wine.' However, the existence of unique growing conditions and therefore (perhaps) unique grapes does not 100% lead to the outcome of a distinctly unique wine, given all the ways that winemakers can and do intervene with the raw materials.

The question of whether it's a marketing gimmick is a bit of a leading question, but it's a fair one. If your wine is processed within an inch of its life, does it really matter where it's from? Does your wine actually display the effects of the growing conditions if you've put your finger on the scale by acidification or chaptalization**? This line of thinking becomes increasingly slippery as we try to define the types of winemaking decisions that could add to or remove a sense of place from the wine. If you do a saignée***, are you doing so to eliminate a watered-down character that would have represented the terroir, or are you giving the wine a chance to show its true colors by concentrating it down? Etc.

These are questions that I expect to develop stronger opinions on over the course of my learning and of my career, but it feels premature to have strongly held opinions on the subject when I'm just barely starting out. That being said, I do find myself drawn toward lower-intervention styles of winemaking, perhaps in part because the results do tend to be more unique than higher-intervention styles.

* the spread between the highest and lowest daily temperature

** the (usually illegal) addition of sugar to underripe grapes in winemaking

*** bleeding off excess juice after crushing grapes in order to concentrate the flavors

Discussion: Let's have a discussion about the definition of wine quality. Please define your quality wine. What is the wine you would like to make? Why? What/who influences your definition of wine quality?

My definition of wine quality has changed considerably over the years. As a young student, coming from wine country but with no experience aside from a passing recognition of names on labels, I made sweeping statements about certain varietals or locations being "better" than others. (My true talent at the time laid in finding the most "drinkable" wines under $10 at the local Trader Joe's.) As I got older, learned a little more, and made a little more money, I fell into the trap of believing that critical praise and high prices denote quality wine. This broadened my palate but was a hollow and cynical way to assess wine.

More recently, I started to learn about the "natural wine" movement, which has somewhat of a cultural epicenter in Oakland, CA where I live. Here were exciting wines, wildly different from the bold and punchy Napa wines I grew up with, or the bold and punchy South American wines I could afford as a student, or the bold and punchy French wines I was convinced were the pinnacle of quality as a young adult. And so I began to develop ideas about novelty, uniqueness, and counterculture, and how these concepts could relate to wine quality. My brain in particular craves novelty, and so in a tasting scenario it's often the most unique or surprising cuvée that stands out, rather than perhaps a more refined or elegant or typical expression. However it's so easy in the natural wine world to fall into the trap of "purity" and moral absolutes regarding wine quality, and this I wanted to avoid.

There are a couple of competing schools of thought in the mainstream regarding wine quality - judging on the absence of flaws vs the presence of desired traits, or proximity to an ideal. The former is considerably easier to measure and standardize, as flaws are often defined by the presence of particular compounds or bacteria (TCA/cork taint, volatile acidity/acetic acid/vinegar, etc). However, simply saying 'this wine doesn't taste spoiled' is an exceedingly low bar for quality. The latter is highly subjective, both in the assessment of the flavors and traits present in the wine but also in the selection of the ideal itself. I do think it's closer to the correct definition, to ask what is typical of the region or style and to assess based on those traits, but 'proximity to typicity' as a measure of quality has the result of stifling creativity and punishing novelty.

As I worked my first couple of harvests, took classes, went to more tastings, and tried wines from countries I hadn't even heard of, a unified theory of wine quality and assessment began to form for me, startling in its simplicity: What was intended by the winemaker, and how successful were they in their execution? (E.g. is that Brett* in there because its rustic aroma harmonizes with fruity, spicy notes in the wine, or is it jarringly there because you got lazy with sanitation?)

I've had the good fortune to speak to winemakers who I respect deeply and who make extremely delicious wine, and the thing they have in common is this: they don't define themselves by any label or dogma. They intervene minimally, but with intention, and don't allow ideology to prevent them from making interventions that the wine does require in order to fit their program. They select fruit and vineyards carefully, they use quantitative and qualitative inputs equally for decision-making, they eschew trends in favor of their own unique vision.

I'm not sure what my unique vision is yet. I think that's something that will take me several more vintages to develop, and a lifetime to perfect.

*Brettanomyces, a yeast that imparts strong "rustic" or "barnyard" aromas, generally considered to be a flaw but common in natural wines and saison beers

i was fortunate enough to be able to take some time to decide what i wanted to do next, and that freedom to explore resulted in a surprising new direction - winemaking!

you might not think this was surprising if you knew me - i was born and raised in the napa valley, california's famous winemaking region. while my immediate family isn't in the wine business, it's a part of my heritage - my great-grandparents came over from italy with vines in their pockets and established vineyards and wineries in california's central valley in the early 20th century. but still, despite all this, a career in food & ag never crossed my mind - all i cared about was getting to the big city, playing live music and going to shows, and creating a sustainable life for myself via the tech industry.

after quitting tech, i started spending more time in the food & wine community in the east bay, and was blown away by how welcoming and encouraging folks were to new people. i didn't encounter any of the gatekeeping or stratification that i'd experienced in tech and in music, and with the encouragement of friends in the industry i applied to work my first harvest at dashe cellars in alameda, ca.

i learned later how lucky i was to get such a great gig so late in the year - most wineries start hiring their cellar interns in february/march, but due to the pandemic, even high-quality wineries like dashe were struggling to find labor. our harvest team was small - myself and two other interns, along with winemaker rene calderon, did the bulk of the work.

dashe is an urban winery, meaning they don't farm their own estate or own any land. instead, they purchase fruit from high quality vineyards throughout northern california. starting in mid-august, my job was to set up, operate, and break down the crushpad to process fruit that would arrive from all over the state. we would sort the fruit by hand to ensure there wasn't an abundance of leaves or moldy grape clusters going into the wine, and then it would go through a de-stemmer and through a pump up into a tank.

if you are looking to get into winemaking, everyone will tell you that the job is essentially: cleaning things, getting them dirty, and then cleaning them again, for three months. and it's true! in addition to the crushpad, i was sanitizing tanks, steaming barrels, pressure washing bins, and cleaning pumps. sanitation is always important in winemaking, but it's especially important when you are fermenting with native yeasts - contamination can easily lead to off flavors and flawed wines if you're not careful.

aside from cleaning, i also learned to make wine, of course. to stimulate fermentation and color extraction i would pump the wine over itself once or twice a day (or sometimes, manually punch it down). i would take readings from each tank to determine how far along it was in its fermentation. when the wine was done with primary fermentation, i'd drain it into a new tank, then dig out the remaining must and transfer it to a bladder press to extract additional wine.

after primary (alcoholic) fermentation, the wine undergoes malolactic fermentation - a process in which bacteria convert malic acid to lactic acid and produce diacetyl as a byproduct. during this time, lees continues to settle at the bottom of the tanks, and so we would periodically rack the wine off of this lees into another tank or into barrels or kegs.

without a doubt, this was the hardest job i've ever had. it didn't help, of course, that it had been a decade since i last worked on my feet instead of at a desk. but i was absolutely hooked. winemaking falls into this magical category in which you use your body, your intellect, and your creativity to produce something delicious that's designed to be shared with your community. and share we did! throughout the season, my boss rene was generous with his allocation, letting us taste wines from each vineyard from which we processed fruit. i got to visit other wineries like ridge in santa cruz, where they took incredible care of me as soon as they heard i was interning at dashe. even our alameda neighbors at almanac brewing would come by to bring us freshly canned beer - perfect after a long day of crushing and sorting grapes. the owners of dashe, mike and anne, were also extremely generous - we enjoyed several delicious home cooked meals throughout the season.

so what's next? it's springtime, so i'm currently actively searching for my next harvest internship, in the hopes of working somewhere with an estate to learn more about the farm-to-bottle process. i've enrolled in the uc davis continuing education program and will be studying to earn a certificate in winemaking. i'm helping out local wineries like donkey & goat with bottling & disgorging, to earn a few bucks, get back in the cellar, and continue building community. and of course i continue to drink any wine i can get my hands on and learn as much as i can about the different regions, styles, grapes, and philosophies in this incredible community.

i hope this post was interesting and informative! for more videos and pics chronicling my harvest adventures, check out my instagram, where i've created a highlight of all my posts from 2021. and please feel free to reach out to talk about winemaking, about career changes, about anything really!

xo

Inspired by Haley’s post from last year, I decided to challenge myself to only read books by authors who are not white men. This includes authors of all non-male genders, as well as men of color. I’m a huge sci-fi and fantasy fan, and through this exercise I’ve discovered some fantastic authors that I never would have known about otherwise. My goal is to read 75 books by authors in this category in 2016. You can follow along on Goodreads, or check back as I update this list with reviews (linked from the titles) and recommendations!

Read

The Good

• The Mists Of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley (fantasy)
• Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, Bryan Stevenson (nonfiction, social justice)
• Monstress, Marjorie M. Liu (comic, fantasy) (edit: Vol 1. is out now)
• The Three-Body Problem & The Dark Forest, Cixin Liu (science fiction)
• The Girl in the Road, Monica Byrne (speculative fiction)
• The Secret History, Donna Tartt (fiction)
• Xenogenesis 1–3: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago, Octavia Butler (science fiction)
• The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison (fiction)
• Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, Janet Mock (nonfiction, memoir)
• Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing Of The Dog, Connie Willis (science fiction)
• American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang (graphic novel, memoir)
• My Brilliant Friend & The Story of a New Name, Elena Ferrante (fiction)
• Synners, Pat Cadigan (cyberpunk)
• Uprooted, Naomi Novik (fantasy)
• Kindred, Octavia Butler (science fiction)
• Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel (speculative fiction)
• The Firesteel, Ash Huang (fantasy)
• A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Usrula K. Le Guin (young adult fantasy)
• Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit (essays)
• The Highly Sensitive Person, Elaine N. Aron (nonfiction, self-help)
• Dead Man Walking, Helen Prejean (nonfiction, social justice)

The Alright

• Yes Please, Amy Poehler (nonfiction, memoir)
• Modern Romance, Aziz Ansari (nonfiction, sociology)
• Ancillary Mercy, Ann Leckie (science fiction)
• The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood (fiction)
• Fire Watch, Connie Willis (science fiction, short stories)
• Find Me, Laura van den Berg (speculative fiction)

The Bad

• Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho (fantasy)
• Graceling & Fire, Kristen Cashore (young adult fantasy)

On Deck

• Brown Girl in the Ring, Nalo Hopkinson (fantasy)

To-Read

• The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (fantasy)
• The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin (fantasy)
• The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison (fantasy)
• Mélusine, Sarah Monette (fantasy)
• Trouble and her Friends, Melissa Scott (cyberpunk)
• The Last Samurai, Helen DeWitt (fiction)
• Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, Lindy West (memoir)
• The Girls, Emma Cline (fiction)
• We Were Feminists Once: From Riot Grrrl to CoverGirl®, the Buying and Selling of a Political Movement, Andi Zeisler (nonfiction, feminism)
• more to-read can be found here!

p.s. — Reading 75 books in a year can get expensive. Fortunately, most of what I’ve read has been available as a free e-book from the San Francisco Public Library. They even have Kindle books available! It’s so convenient, and I urge everyone to take a look at what their local library has to offer!

singaporeans make it light-style. they are wrong. it's okay.

ingredients

[sambal belacan - optional but recommended, otherwise you can use sambal oelek]
10 red Fresno chiles
2 tablespoons belacan*, toasted in a dry skillet
2 limes, cut into wedges

[marinade]
1 lb pork loin, sliced
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tbsp cornstarch

[sauce]
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp white pepper
hot sauce (sriracha or whatever is on hand)
6 tbsp dark caramel sauce (you can use kecap manis or thick soy sauce if you can't find it)

[everything else]
10 cloves garlic, minced/pressed
1 large shallot, minced
4 tbsp vegetable oil or lard
2 cups chicken broth + more as needed
1 lb thin sliced boneless pork chop
1 lb (1/2 packet) of seafood mix (Trader Joe’s) (or mix together frozen shrimp, squid, and scallops)
handful of sliced dried shitake mushrooms
2 cups of sliced napa cabbage or bean sprouts or chinese chives or yu choy
2 lbs fresh thick yellow egg noodle (or frozen udon, in a pinch)
1/2 lb pork fat, cut into 1/2 in dice (optional, for cracklins)
lard

[instructions]

to make the sambal, dry fry belacan in a skillet for a few minutes, until it is crumbled. this is gonna stink up your house - enjoy it. grind chile in a blender till fine paste. add belachan and mix well. set aside.

if making lard/cracklings, in a wok, render the pork fat over medium-low heat until the cracklings form. about 1/2 hour. remove the cracklings to drain on a paper towerl and reserve lard.

in a medium bowl, combine marinade ingredients (soy sauce, sugar, and oyster sauce) and mix well. thinly slice pork (about 1/4 inch) and add to bowl, turn to coat. add corn starch to the bowl, mix well. set aside to marinate.

slice up napa cabbage very thinly, if using. cut chinese chives into 3" lengths. spray hot water on the noodles in a colander to soften and warm up in the kitchen sink. leave in colander till needed.

prep the sauce: in a bowl, add all sauce ingredients and whisk to mix.

note: if you're making the full recipe, you'll be doing it in two batches.

to make the noodles, heat 3 tbsp reserved lard (or vegetable oil, i GUESS) in a wok over high heat. when hot, add the half of garlic and shallots and half of pork, stir fry every now and then. don't allow the garlic and shallots to burn. allow enough time for the pork to cook before flipping the pieces. when the pork is almost cooked, add a bit more lard and then half of the seafood mix. stir to combine and allow to cook through for a couple of minutes.

ladle in 2c of stock. next add noodles. drizzle in the sauce. toss till noodles are well coated. cover to simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes. taste noodles for tenderness. add more stock if necessary.

add yu choy and/or napa cabbage, if using. turn back heat to high, cook until sauce is mostly absorbed by the noodles. fold in some pork cracklings and a tablespoon of lard to finish. serve immediately with sambal and lime.

*belacan is malaysian fermented shrimp paste and it comes in a hard brown brick. not swappable for the more paste-like thai etc versions. its gonna make your house/pantry/etc smell, a lot, so you can skip it if you're sensitive to that but it's a huge part of the flavor

ingredients:

[for spice paste]
3 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 chili padi (or thai bird's eye chiles)
3 large red chiles (like serrano - don't use green ones)
5 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tbsp ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp galangal, peeled and roughly chopped (you can also reconstitute dried galangal)
1 tbsp fresh turmeric, peeled and roughly chopped (or 1 tsp dried turmeric)
4 candlenuts (or substitute macadamia nuts)
2 tsp coriander seed
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
2 tsp palm sugar
2 tsp vegetable oil

[for curry]
1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken thigh, cut into 2" cubes
1 lb yellow potatoes, cut in 2" cubes
5 tbsp oil for frying
3 makrut lime leaves
1 stalk lemongrasse, trimmed and bruised, tied in a knot
1 can coconut milk
1 cup water (depending on thickness of curry)
Cilantro to garnish, optional
Fried shallots or onions, optional
Kosher salt

directions:

Grind all the spice paste ingredients together with a mortar and pestle or process in a food processor with a little oil until it forms a paste.

Heat the oil in a large wok or pan and fry spice paste over medium heat, stirring constantly for 2 - 3 minutes or until spices are fragrant. Bruise the makrut lime leaves then add them to the pan along with the knotted lemongrass stalk and fry for 30 seconds until coated with spices.

Add the chicken and fry for 3-4 minutes until chicken is cooked about halfway through.
Add the coconut milk, salt to taste and as much water as you like depending on how thick or soupy you like your curry.
Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer for 30 - 35 minutes.
Check for seasoning and serve over rice, topped with fried shallots and cilantro.

our passion fruit vine overfloweth this time of year so i've been making a bunch of jam. while the pulp is mostly just juice and seeds, the pith inside the shells has a significant amount of pectin, so to make preserves (or jam) we can leverage that without needing to introduce store bought pectin.

amounts here are going to vary depending on how big and juicy your fruit is, but it's not an exact science.

when selecting fruit to use for this recipe, i lean toward smoother fruits for the skins and crinkly fruits for the additional juice/pulp.

we add the juice at the end because it doesn't taste as nice after boiling for quite some time. supposedly. idk.

passionfruit preserves

ingredients

passion fruit
granulated white sugar
lemons

special equipment

canning jars and fresh lids
large pot and rack for canning

instructions

1. the night before you want to make the jam, scrub the passionfruits clean, then juice by cutting them in half and scraping out the seeds and pulp into a bowl or resealable container - you'll be adding this in at the end. 
2. submerge the shells in water in a large cooking pot and soak overnight on the counter.
3. the next day, bring the shells and water to a boil and cook for 30 minutes or until the shells are tender. allow to cool, then use a spoon to remove the webbing that the pulp was attached to, then scoop out the pith from the hard purple shell. discard the webbing and hard purple shell.
4. place the pith in a blender and note how many cups you have - you'll need the same amount, cup for cup, of sugar. add in some of the cooking water (around 1-2 c for every 5c pith) and blend until smooth. this is your jam base! 
5. add this mix to a high-walled, thick-bottom cooking pot - larger than you think you'll need. here you'll also add lemon juice - around 1 lemon for every 3 cups, or more to taste. add the sugar. stir to combine and heat over medium-high until it comes to a boil, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. 
6. in the meantime, add the reserved pulp to a blender. pulse a couple of times, then strain through a fine-mesh strainer to remove the seeds and solids. you can add some seeds back in if you like, for texture. you'll want about half the volume of your jam base of strained juice - feel free to juice more if you don't have enough.
7. this is also a good time to start heating up your canning jars.
8. when the jam mixture reaches 220 F on an instant-read thermometer, it's ready. at this point you can also do the spoon test or plate test to confirm that it's set.
9. when the jam is ready, lower heat and stir in the reserved juice/pulp, allowing it to just start bubbling again before removing from heat. immediately ladle into your hot canning jars and seal in a hot water bath. 

by request of a couple of coworkers, here is my adaptation of the NYT pita recipe, using 100% hydration sourdough discard made with 50% whole wheat and 50% all purpose flour.

homemade pita bread with sourdough discard
almost entirely cribbed from the new york times
yield: 8 pitas (pitae?)

[ingredients]

2 teaspoons active dry yeast
½ teaspoon sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp olive oil
140 g sourdough discard, 100% hydration
166 g water
275 g unbleached all-purpose flour

[instructions]

make a sponge: put lukewarm (85° - 90° F) water into the bowl of a large stand mixer. add yeast and sugar and whisk to dissolve. add the sourdough discard and whisk together. put bowl in a warm (not hot) place like an oven with the light turned on, uncovered, until mixture is frothy and bubbling, about 15 minutes.

add salt, olive oil and all-purpose flour and mix with your hands or a dough whisk until mixture forms a shaggy mass. attach to mixer with dough hook. mix on low 1 minute, then pause to scrape down and incorporate any stray bits of dry dough.

knead on low for 2 more minutes, until smooth. cover and let rest 10 minutes, then knead again for 2 minutes. the dough should be smooth and moist.

cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, then cover with a towel. put bowl back into the oven or other warm place, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size. you can also ferment in the fridge overnight to develop even more flavor, just be sure to bring it back to room temperature before proceeding.

when dough has doubled, scrape out onto a clean work surface and split into 8 pieces of equal size. the dough will be very sticky. shape the equal pieces into a ball to the best of your ability, cover with a damp towel, and rest for 10 minutes.

in the meantime, heat your oven to 475 degrees. on the bottom shelf of the oven, place a cast iron skillet, comal, or baking stone.

dust your work surface generously with flour. working one at a time (keep the rest of the dough covered), use a dough scrape to remove 1 dough ball and set on your floured surface. dust the top generously with flour and shake off the excess, then roll out using a rolling pin to 1/4 inch thickness. carefully lift the dough and transfer it to the hot skillet, closing the oven door as quickly as possible. the dough should start to inflate immediately. after 2 minutes, flip the pita and cook for another minute. it should not be too browned.

transfer warm pita to a cloth napkin-lined basket and cover so bread stays soft. repeat with the rest of the dough balls, taking care to preheat the skillet again between each one.

fortunately there is more genre fiction than ever that includes the very reasonable assumption that a wholly imagined future or fantasy world could, i dunno, have trans people in it.

here are a few sf/f series that are either written by trans/gnc authors or have crafted universes that are affirming of trans/gnc identities. there are a lot more out there than this list, of course, but these are ones i have read, enjoyed, and recommend on their own merit as good stories.

note: i am cis so please reach out if anything on here should be removed, my twitter DMs are open. in my ignorance it is possible that something i perceived as affirming is actually problematic.

the machineries of empire, yoon ha lee

ninefox gambit, raven stratagem, revenant gun

description: military space opera trilogy set in the far future. the hexarchate controls a huge proportion of known space, subjugating new worlds through 'sufficiently advanced technology indistinguishable from magic' which uses advanced mathematics, calendars, and ritual 'remembrances' to create extremely powerful weapons. a notorious war criminal, captured centuries ago and kept alive through unclear means, is revived in the body of a young military officer. battles ensue.
note: the author, yoon ha lee, is an asian-american trans man. in this series, there are both explicitly trans characters as well as characters who modify their bodies easily and often without much regard for gender markers.

the murderbot diaries, martha wells

all systems red, artificial condition, rogue protocol, exit strategy, network effect

description: series of four novellas and one full length novel. cyberpunk adventures of 'secunit,' an organic-cybernetic mercenary bot-for-hire with sentient artificial intelligence, who has hacked the code that keeps it in line, not to murder humans or anything but mostly because it likes to watch soap operas. this series is very funny.
note: including this here mostly because it rules in general, but also because of its casual inclusion of various genders across the human spectrum as well as agender sentient AIs that use it/its pronouns.

road to nowhere, meg elison

the book of the unnamed midwife, the book of etta, the book of flora
* i usually wouldn't link to amazon, but 47north, the publisher, is an amazon imprint

description: a pandemic wipes out almost all of the women on earth, and lingering effects of the virus make childbirth deadly for parent and child. in the wake of this, a nurse travels the remains of the usa disguised as a man, assisting the women she finds and seeking a place of safety. this series is explicitly trans-inclusive, but as a content warning, there is a fair amount of gendered violence against all women.
note: the author, meg elison, uses they/them pronouns. the book of etta introduces a community of trans women, and the protagonist of the book of flora is a trans woman. i haven't yet read the book of flora.

the broken earth, n.k. jemisin

the fifth season, the obelisk gate, the stone sky

description: i honestly don't know how i could succinctly summarize this series without giving a bunch of stuff away. a seismically unstable world has led some humans to evolve an organ which can absorb and control seismic energy. these "orogenes" are, of course, enslaved and feared by the same population who relies on them to keep their cities from crumbling. in this setting, a woman seeks her family. i strongly feel that this trilogy is a generation-defining masterpiece.
note: there is one explicitly trans character (it is explained but only in passing, it is not the focus of this character's arc) and other world building details that imply the normalization of trans existence
honorable mentions: jemisin's inheritance trilogy contains a genderfluid deity who is also a love interest; her new novel the city we became has a minor character who is trans.

binti, nnedi okorafor

binti, home, the night masquerade

description: a woman from a traditional himba family becomes the first of her people to be invited to a prestigious galactic university. on her way there, she becomes entangled in a war between two alien cultures.
note: the second book, home, contains an explicitly trans minor character.

bonus: meanwhile, elsewhere

an anthology of speculative fiction by trans/gnc authors. some of these stories were very good and some didn't work for me. check out my pal brook's review for more a more in-depth look at this collection.

addendum: books i haven't read yet but probably also fit into this category and the authors are good

future of another timeline, annalee newitz
river of teeth, sarah gailey
provenance, ann leckie

addendum 2: books that i wasn't super into but other people like very much so maybe check them out and decide for yourself

all the birds in the sky, charlie jane anders
the tensorate series (the black tides of heaven, the red threads of fortune, the descent of monsters, the ascent to godhood), jy yang

i've been baking a lot more since the pandemic hit california. i honestly didn't do any baking at all before aside from the occasional dabble in an overnight no-knead bread. the kitchen-aid stand mixer that andré and i received as a wedding gift has gotten more use in the last couple of months than it has in the almost three years since we received it. i've been baking a lot of sourdough, and have mostly settled on my preferred interpretation of the tartine country loaf. i can finally make some really good chocolate chip cookies. and, most recently, i tried my hand at the english muffins that made a bakery in my hometown famous.

the model bakery is on main st in st. helena, ca, which is the small napa valley town where i grew up. we had acme and bouchon bread in the supermarket, but model was where you went if you wanted some good coffee and a fresh loaf. at some point their english muffins became world famous - they were even on oprah's favorite things list afew years ago - so when i was feeling homesick recently, i decided to try to make some as a way to use up some of my sourdough discard.

fortunately, model published a cookbook back in 2013, and the muffin recipe was one that was promoted on several blogs, including serious eats. i took that recipe and made the slight tweak of replacing first 200g, then 300g of the flour & water with my sourdough discard, which i keep in a jar in the fridge. i still made the biga the night before and i still use yeast. the flavor of these muffins is really incredible. they are light and pillowy and very decadent.

i have been successful doing both the bulk fermentation and the prove overnight, so imo whichever one works better for your schedule will be fine. just make sure you take the shaped dough balls out of the fridge an hour or so before you cook them.

one thing that definitely did not work - in my most recent batch, i forgot that i wanted to use my discard. my starter is 50/50 ap/whole wheat flour, so i thought that i could just add a small proportion of whole wheat flour into the dough instead. big mistake! the muffins turned out small and dense. the longggg fermentation of my sourdough discard must be what made the addition of whole wheat flour work.

up next, i will probably try out what it would be like to replace the biga with a leaven and/or replace the yeast in the bulk of the dough with natural leaven.

what follows is my adapted recipe, feel free to try it out!

english muffins with sourdough discard

adapted from the model bakery cookbook via bakepedia
yield: 12 muffins

ingredients:

[biga]
75 g high-protein white flour
60 g warm water
¼ tsp instant yeast

[dough]
165 g warm water
¾ tsp instant yeast
1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1½ tsp fine sea salt
300 g sourdough discard, 100% hydration
360 g unbleached all-purpose flour

[cooking]
yellow cornmeal
ghee

instructions:

[biga]
at least 1 day before cooking the muffins, combine the flour, water, and yeast in a small bowl to make a sticky dough. cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 12 hours or up to 24 hours. the biga will rise slightly.

[dough]
combine the biga, water, sourdough discard, yeast, olive oil, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. affix the bowl to the mixer and fit with the paddle attachment. mix on low speed until the mixture looks creamy, about 1 minute. mix in 285 g of the flour to make a soft, sticky dough. turn off the mixer, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let stand for 20 minutes. 

mix in enough of the remaining 75g flour to make a soft dough that barely cleans the mixer bowl. replace the paddle with the dough hook. knead on medium-low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. 

turn out onto a clean work surface. the dough should feel tacky but not stick. shape the dough into a ball. oil a medium bowl. put the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil, leaving the dough smooth-side up. cover with plastic wrap. 

let stand in a warm place until almost doubled in volume, about 2 hours. (the dough can also be refrigerated for 8 to 12 hours. let stand at room temperature for 1 hour before proceeding to the next step.)

sprinkle cornmeal over the entire surface of a half sheet tray. using a bowl scraper, scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. it will be sticky! working one at a time, cut an 80g piece of dough, shape it into a taut ball, then set it seam side down onto the sheet pan. you can sprinkle more cornmeal on the top or try and flip it to coat, whatever's easier. 

loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap. you want to allow room to rise but not so loose that air gets in and the balls form a skin. let stand in a warm place until the rounds have increased in volume by half and a finger pressed into a round leaves an impression for a few seconds before filling up, about 1 hour. if you didn't do a cold bulk fermentation, you could also stick them in the fridge overnight for a cold prove. be sure to take them out an hour before you plan to cook, so they come to room temperature.

[cooking]
to cook the muffins, melt enough ghee to coat the bottom of a large, heavy skillet (preferably cast-iron) over medium heat until melted and hot, but not smoking. in batches, add the dough rounds to the skillet - they will expand quite a bit so leave space between them. cook, adjusting the heat as needed so the muffins brown without scorching, adding more ghee as needed. the undersides should be nicely browned, about 6 minutes. turn and cook until the other sides are browned and the muffins are puffed, about 6 minutes more. transfer to a paper towel–lined half-sheet pan and let cool. (it will be tempting to eat these hot off the griddle, but let them stand for at least 20 minutes to complete the cooking with carry-over heat.) repeat with the remaining muffins, wiping the cornmeal out of the skillet with paper towels and adding more ghee as needed.

to serve, split each muffin in half horizontally with a serrated knife. when they're fresh they don't need toasting, but it can't hurt. keep in an airtight container for as long as you can last without eating them all - i've found that they start to degrade in quality after 2-3 days, even with toasting. serve with butter and jam or as part of a breakfast sandwich.