Do, re, MI! (random musings)

July 12, 2007 at 3:17 AM (Inedible pleasures, random musings)

This would be what happens when a batch of candy totally doesn’t work out, (it was made of left-over syrup from another project anyway), and I decide to get vainly creative:

 

Speaking of left-overs, of late I’ve been trying to diminish my stock of frozen, already-made food from the freezer. Since I usually cook only for myself, it’s very easy to make too much of something; therefore I freeze what I don’t consume. And then, one day, I’ll happen upon a container of food, the taste of which I’ve totally forgotten; curiosity then prods me to thaw it.

It sounds like a winning system, but I’ve run out of space to add anything. And especially now is not a good time, as I like to freeze a few summer vegetables for use in winter….so, that means it’s time to relax and reflect back on things I’ve made over the past year. (Apparantly this means a lot of sambar and rasam! So, I had to make dosas….idlis for tomorrow)

Very thankfully, Bee of Jugalbandi has tagged me for random musings. 7 things….Here goes…

1

I am a total organization freak! I have always been this way. As a child, my parents never had to tell me to straighten my room because I had very particular spots for everything I owned; and if something was moved while I was away, I would immediately know when I returned.

I relaxed a little bit when I lived with my former lover of seven years in Kewaunee. He was a total slob! For awhile, I tried to “help” him, but seriously it takes constant vigilance to maintain a system: setting one in place is only half the battle. I gave up when my attitude became too frustrating for both of us- trying to “follow his trail” plus maintain my own things got to be way too much to handle. Reaching that point was a great relief, because then I could return to dealing with my own things, plus letting go of “getting on his back” allowed him to deal with the consequences of his habits (ie: having to spend a whole day putting things away before his parents came to visit).

I guess I just like to know where everything is. For me, it is utter bliss to be able to locate anything I own within 5 minutes.

2

This is a place I used to work at. A very memorable 2 years that ended on a full moon night.

3

I love rain. I love watching it rain from a sheltered place, or being right in it getting all wet. I love the cozy feeling of the sky covered by stratus clouds, a gentle rain just drizzling through the day. I love violent storms when the thunder crashes all around and lightening makes my hair stand on end. And the wind, oh how I love the wind…

The best storm I ever saw was on a trip through South Dakota- “pancake land” as I called it; you could see the horizon 360 degrees all around. The rain was so torrential that we had to pull over to the side of the road for awhile. We just watched. At any given time there was lightening to be seen somewhere in the sky. Absolutely magnificent!

4

I miss my grandmother very much. My father’s mother. She was not known for her cooking really, but when I was young she was very much a “second mother” to me, as my own was always too busy and too agitated for much one-on-one interaction. She taught me many things, least among them how to play card-games like rummy, blackjack, and unusual poker-games. Grandma had a nice, neat house with a huge collection of National Geographic magazines that I loved to read. 

Those and other things in her house were amazingly always in the same place for the many years that I knew her. Maybe I’m a little bit like her in that way. Above the console TV in her living-room hung a jewelry tree (these are traditionally made of broken pieces of costume jewelry) on green velvet that she had made many years before I was born. Despite its Christmas overtones (most examples are non-evergreen in form and mounted on black velvet), it stayed on the wall, in the same spot, all year long, year after year. When she died, I asked for it: 

5

I will always recall my first experience with chiles of any kind: I was 3-4 years old (until I was 4, my parents lived on the bottom floor of a divided house before buying one of their own, so this change of environment forms a good line of demarcation in the memory from my extreme youth) and had somehow managed to procure, from a kitchen-cabinet, several boxes of spices that I was fascinated to investigate… I ended up inhaling red-chile flakes into my nose! That was the beginning of the love affair…

The first thing I ever made for myself was a horse-radish-mustard sandwich….again when I was about 4. I am starting to consider that my folks might have been amused by this young food-preference for spicy things… 🙂

6

I dread unwelcome change- especially death. I’ve lost too many friends and family-members in the last few years to not be a bit saddened. And often death gives no warning at all, but there is no choice but to go on living, to cherish those memories of them…after all, it was all we really ever had of them. (this photo is of my friend Chuck, who died two years ago- at age 38- of meningitis)

I used to dread the approach of winter- it can really limit one’s enjoyment of the outside! But, these last few years it hasn’t been too bad- (less snow, more rain) I really think global warming is definitely taking place: our winters in Wisconsin seem to be getting milder, the growing season seems a bit longer; plants that were “iffy” for us to grow, to survive the winter, are doing fine. Selfishly I think it’s nice. Looking at the big picture worries me. I dread what may come to pass.

7

I’ll tell you what I have handy for reading on a small book-shelf in my study. It doesn’t necessarily mean that I’ve opened the book- some I’ve read entirely, some I’ve pecked at like a bird tasting a bowl of seeds, some just have nice covers so far:

Wealth 101, Roger and McWilliams

an issue of Parabola magazine

Hoyle Official Rules of Card Games

A Treasury of American Superstitions, De Lys

Digital Photography for Dummies, King

The Three Pillars of Zen, Roshi Philip Kapleau

501 French Verbs, Kendris

501 Spanish Verbs, Kendris

Mixed Bag, Hutchinson

The Trial, Franz Kafka

The Annotated Alice, Gardner

Period, Dennis Cooper

The Brown Fairy Book, Lang

The Olive Fairy Book, Lang

The Arabian Nights, Burton

Literature of the Eastern World, Miller, O’Neal, McDonnell

A La Carte…, Berger

The Electronic Revolution, Burroughs

The Better Homes and Gardens Story Book

Bhagavad-Gita, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

 

 

 

Thanks Bee….that was challenging, and cathartic as well…. I can see my audience meter plummetting as I speak! 😉

I’d like to tag:

Shilpa of Aayi’s Recipes

Manjula of Daalitoy

Musical and her Kitchen– oops! Tagged already I see..

Vee of Past, Present and Me

Trupti of The Spice Who Loved Me

Sharmi of Neivedyam

Cynthia of Tastes Like Home– tagged already

Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook– tagged already

Indira of Mahanandi

If they would like…