Relishings

IN MY HEART : : Memorial Day

Today we remember the Uncle I never knew, Harold James Berry, jr.

He was smart very tall and the older brother my father idolized. He played varsity football, basketball, and captained the undefeated 1943 Kingswood baseball team. Shortly after the end of baseball season he enlisted in the Army, volunteering for parachute training. When I was growing up, my father reminisced about the time shortly before his brother shipped out to New Guinea, the neighborhood gathered to watch his brother jump out the second story window in his uniform and paratrooper boots. Everyone was so proud. 

Uncle Harold made his first combat jump in the Leyte Mountains behind enemy lines. While on patrol, he was one of a group that captured valuable maps from the Japanese. He later took part in the Luzon action before being killed outside of Manila on March 20, 1945. He was twenty-one. His awards include the Bronze Star with V Device and one Oak Leaf Cluster, Purple Heart and Combat Infantryman Badge. 

When my uncle died my father forged his birth certificate and joined the Marines. My grandmother's loving and physical heart broke. She went to bed for decades and never got up. The family never fully recovered. 

My father went on to interview hundreds of veterans, listening to their stories, and writing books about their memories. I believe my father missed his brother every day of his life. 

It is possible that no one alive remembers knowing my uncle. He never had a family of his own, his teachers and siblings are gone. But we remember. My oldest son, soon to be the last age my uncle knew, bears his birthday. My brother and nephew, a superb baseball player, carry his name.

I look into my uncle's eyes and see a young hero. Perhaps he was a bit scared, perhaps used to being the captain, he felt a sense of obligation. I see a young man who couldn't have any idea of what he was getting into. 

Today we remember. For all those men and woman still at war, we remember and hope, so much hope, they can return to their familes someday soon. 

 

 

IN MY HEART : : April and then May

April and then May

By Kate Barnes

April and then May,
violets up in the field,
the ewes with their twin lambs;

time has decided
to turn into spring again
after all.

The maples are unfolding their leaves,
chives stand green at the kitchen door,
the black flies have decided to come back;

and the work mare has her new foal
capering over bluets in the pasture,
and the hall smells of daffodils;

and everything
is divinely ordinary – 
the deep ruts in the field track,

the spring overflowing,
the excited swallows,
the apple trees

budding for perhaps the hundredth time –
and the pruned boughs budding too
that must bloom just where they lie.

 

 

Kate Barnes is the daughter of Maine writers Henry Beston and Elizabeth Coatsworth. She has two books of poetry in print, “Where the Deer Were” and “Kneeling Orion.” She has four grown children and lives on a farm, which raises blueberries and hay. She was Maine’s first poet laureate.

 

 

IN MY GARDEN : : Sense of Summer

Yesterday morning the sun finally, finally, (I feel the need for one more) finally came out, and with it crept forth the smells. Like the sounds of the first peepers or bullfrog, the first scents of summer bring it all back. The smell of fresh mowed grass and the many fragrances of the garden whisper softly that summer is a coming in. So we went out and did some sniffing. 

There was the sweet grape scent of Iris

the first woodsy musky whiff of Nepeta and a teaser taste of luscious Lilac

the young light blush of Lilies of the Valley and my favorite Narcissus, the late blooming Poeticus 

 

and the flowering punk like Sand Cherry said, "weird huh, but you gotta admit kinda good right about now", as the sublime Apple said almost nothing at all but still seemed to lift me right off my feet. 

I flew forward or back to fresh cucumber sandwiches and rope swings and sea sailing. 

Then I found myself gladly landed on this here and now : heady scents, open doors, bikes, tank tops, and fishing poles.

Ah summer...I can smell it. 

 

 

IN MY STUDIO : : Off the needles and out the door.

Sometimes sweaters take forever. There are starts and stops, lost directions, christmas gifts to make, tear outs, other projects, and just plain life. 

I started this sweater last summer cruising the coast with my family. When I look at it now I remember deserted cove swims in icy waters. I remember long car rides to Boston, cozy after ski fires, movies with the family; quiet moments amid a busy world. It has been a year of knitting and living all woven together in yarn and and in memories. 

Like my life the sweater has short comings and short cuts. There are stitches dropped during the distractions of much activity. Some measurements are a bit off due to my impatience. But also, like my life, it is one of a kind and fits me perfectly in every way. 

The pattern is from Tahki Yarn. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Eco Cotton purchased at Halcyon Yarn. It is a heavyweight cotton that is perfect for a chilly spring and gives quite a lot. The green is the exact shade of an oak leaf the moment before it bursts open-which seems to be happening all around me this morning in Maine. 

IN THE GARDEN : : Still Raining ?

Every morning I have been getting up early and spending a couple hours digging in the dirt. In the pouring rain. And I have noticed that there are those who seem quite pleased with the present condition of uber-moisture. 

 

There is the shade garden,

 

 

the seeds and the seedlings,

 

 

the orioles in the apple tree, 

 

 

and that darn chipmunk, looking fat and alarmingly close to my strawberry blossoms. 

 

IN MY KITCHEN : : Dreaming of Sunshine

 

After what seems like a zillion days of rain, we are trying to remember that it has only been four.We are dreaming of the sunshine. We are recalling the day the Indigo Bunting sat in the peach tree, and the bees buzzed and blooms were perky not slouchy. 

But we are also a little bit grumpy. There are some sniffles. There are some new brace-filled sore mouths and there is a poison ivy rash moving up my shoulder toward my face, destined to bloom fully the moment it is time for Charlotte's graduation photos. Yep grumpy.

It is time for some Kitchari. 

 

 

Kitchari is easily adapted to what ever type of balance a body might be needing. On a day like today cold, damp and heavy, I make a warm uplifting soup; Kapha balancing.

I used Heidi Swanson's Green Lentil Soup Recipe from her Super Natural Every Day as inspiration, picked some chives in the rain, and felt better just smelling this soup cooking. 

 

DAMP DAY SOUP

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, ghee, or extra-virgin coconut oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 tablespoons minced ginger
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
5 1/2 cups / 1.3 liters vegetable broth or water

1 1/2 cups / 10.5 oz / 300 g chana dal (or other split pea), picked over and rinsed

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon Indian curry powder
1/2 cup / 125 ml coconut milk
Fine-grain sea salt
1 bunch fresh chives, minced

Combine the 2 tablespoons butter, onion, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in a large soup pot over medium heat, stirring regularly, until the onions soften, a couple minutes. Add the vegetable broth and lentils and simmer, covered, until the lentils are tender. This usually takes 20 to 30 minutes, but can take as long as 50 minutes.

In the meantime, warm the 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat and let it brown. When it starts to smell nutty and fragrant, stir in the curry powder and sauté until the spices are fragrant, less than a minute.

When the lentils are finished cooking, remove from the heat, stir in the coconut milk and 1/4 teaspoon salt, and puree with an immersion blender. You can leave the soup a bit chunky if you like, or puree until it is perfectly smooth. Stir in half of the spiced butter, taste, and add more salt, if needed, typically a couple of teaspoons if you used water instead of a salted broth. Serve drizzled with the remaining spice butter and sprinkled with chives.

Serves 4 to 6

 

 

I made some chapatis, which honestly are faster to make than driving to the market to buy, and so much better. 

Tummies are feeling good, moods seem to have lifted some, and the scratching has subsided I think.

But, still it rains...

 

 

 

IN MY HEART : : Bones, Blood and Butter

 

 

My Friend lent me the above book the other day. "Be prepared", she warned, "you are not going to want to put it down." And she was right, I didn't. 

Gabrielle Hamilton is a gifted storyteller and a beautiful writer. Lately I have been loving memoirs written by smart, funny and slightly bad-assed women. Gabrielle is the most bad-assed of them all. And did I mention the book is also a bit about food ? 

As the youngest of five children left to fend for herself after her French mother and artist father split up, Gabrielle almost loses herself to a life of sex, drugs, and rock in roll. She gets an education, a girlfriend, backpacks through Europe, opens a restaurant, and marries an Italian man; and food is a supporting theme throughout. It's a great read.

Shop Indie Bookstores

So now that I am finished and I must put it down, and am without a book for this evening, I stumbled upon this for a little more background: 

Gabrielle Hamilton interviewed by Charlie Rose

Enjoy. 

And am now in need of some book recommendations... 

 

IN MY KITCHEN : : Making Do

“When you cook, you are not just working on food, you are working on yourself, you are working on others.” - Shunryu Suzuki Roshi

There are few things that bring me more of a creative rush than heading out to the garden with my old harvest basket set to feed a big table of unexpected guests.Truly. I am in my element: it is my theater, my art, my poetry and the most honest way I know to offer myself up to those I love. 

I have had loads of practice over the years. I have learned to cook, chat, sip, and wing it simultaneously. There is no time to be fancy, no reason to impress. The food is so fresh it creates it's own little opera with the smallest of fuss. 

A big bowl of warm rice. Some garden greens, garlic scapes, onions, asparagus sauteed in a bit of coconut oil, ginger, and soy sauce. A mammoth alien mushroom fresh from the farmer's market. A bit of meat and tofu. Simple. Followed by a rhubarb crisp, because this time of year you just can't get enough of that tanginess. 

The table is set and I sneak out right before we sit down to pick a bouquet. It is placed on the table as my thanks for bringing these good people together and in celebration for all our blessings.

Flowers, we have flowers again and that alone brings me such joy. 

IN MY STUDIO : : A place of one's own

 

 

Yep it is really happening ! Ignore the water spots on the ceiling; they are old. 

After scheming and cleaning I have gone from this to this.

Next rainy day I am moving in cause outside in the sunshine, there is a lot of this going on : 

 

Happy Weekend all !

IN MY KITCHEN : : Colorful Palette

 

 

 

Au Revoir Parsnips, Bonjour Bright Lights ! It has been so nice to see my plate full of action, hue, embellishment and contrast. The days of beige are gone for now. Celebrate. The sun is shining...somewhere today !

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Raisins and Pine Nuts