Galangal

The chicken soup I made using this galangal (Apinia galanga) rhizome, Tom Kha Gai, following (mostly) the recipe in Diane Morgan's Roots, was really quite fabulous.  A fish curry with similar spicing was also tasty.

Galangal is in the Zingiberaceae, the ginger family, and, as the edible part is a rhizome, it resembles ginger visually (well, about as much as an iris looks like ginger).  The smell and the flavor are not ginger-like,  It does have warmth, but not heat, and has very definite citrus notes.  We will be buying it again.

Love and rodents

One of best surprising, "but wait, there's more" benefits of marriage to The Mister is now being related to My Brother-in-Law and My Sister-in-Law*.

Not only are BiL and SiL good cooks, good conversationalists, good at playing with nephews, and generally people with whom we enjoy spending time, they also are fabulous gift givers.  Case in point: this year's Christmas gift from the Massif Central in France.  Yep, they managed to find groundhog (or at least Alpine Marmot) hot pads.  How do they know me so well?  How did I get so lucky?

The convention of plush marmots including (from left to right): Phil (groundhog, Marmota monax), Marmie (alpine marmot, Marmota marmota who spent the four years we lived in West Virginia stuffed in a vase), the yellow-belly (Marmota flaviventris) and the Vancouver Island (Marmota vancouverensis) staring at the new hot pads in my living room this morning partially compensated for my sadness at not getting it together to throw a groundhog party or send groundhog cards this year.  Driving to the next town to eat sausage and pancakes for a groundhog dinner then made my day.

Celebrate rodents and spring, wherever you may be.
Happy Groundhog Day!


*My Parents-in-Law are also lovely people with whom I like spending time, but I do not consider that a surprising bonus, as I consider "reasonable chance of getting along with in-laws" a valid criterion when considering potential mates.


    

Sometimes we melt

And then the roots fall off our faces.

2014, The List

I'm a sucker for end of the year lists.  While eating Korean food with The Mister in Salina, Kansas last week, I noted, "Korean food definitely goes on the list for 2014, along with Boise."  Understandably perplexed, The Mister asked for clarification-- what, list, exactly, were we talking about?  And I didn't know, except that I knew that my 2014 list included Korean Food and Boise.
I've given it considerable thought since then, and have mentally constructed many variations of the 2014 list, including the witty accompanying commentary.  However, I have 11 minutes before I celebrate the beginning of 2015 with Dianthus and Aster (we are celebrating the new year in Newfoundland-- if one is not going to stay up until midnight, why not celebrate half an hour off from the rest of the world?) so I am going to post without commentary, with the hopes it will prompt me to write more.

1. Korean Food
2. Soccer
3. Boise
4. Cha cha cha
5. CHASA
6. Cauliflower
7. Acting like a grown up
8. Moving towards music
9. Cultural exchanges within a culture
10. Trees

That will do for now.  Happy New Year!

Not so deep

Image to accompany earlier posts on hills and fog.  Nov. 2014

When I planned Roots Year, I knew I was going to be seeing my cousins and aunts and uncles over the summer and the Mister's paternal connections at multiple points.  Shortly thereafter we were invited to the Mister's maternal family reunion and made the decision to spend Thanksgiving with his aunt and cousins rather than driving to see a large hall full of third and fourth cousins.

At each family occasion, and then again with the three funerals I attended in the last two months and the current holidays, I felt certain I would leave with something profound to say about roots here. I'd investigate who I am and then write thoughtful analogies between familial roots and botanical roots.  Perhaps I still will.  Someday.  I do want to. 

Disproportionate bases?

In the meantime, I watched the movie Wild with the Mister on Monday.  I think the Mister was disappointed, but the movie struck many hiking-related cords with me.  I was reminded of my Outward Bound experience, 23 days without a toilet in 1991, and the lessons I learned from it.  The big lesson, much like Cheryl Strayed's Wild lesson, was "I don't ever have to do this again."  Which seems flippant but was totally profound.

So, my thoughts from family gatherings are not deep: they mostly involve food, noses, and eyebrows, but perhaps that is not a problem.  Lots of roots are shallow.

Sparkle where you may

My actual resolution for 2014* was to go to a sparkly dress event, wearing a sparkly dress.

Notice the cork corkscrewing through the air.

A week ago it looked clear that I was going to fail at this resolution.  I had sparkled in a pink dress with my Kansas friends over the summer, worn a dress to the opera in Colorado, and looked great in artsy painted silk at the food contest/benefit dinner at which The Mister was a judge, so I wasn't totally lacking in dress-up, but I hadn't worn a sparkly dress to a holiday party, which I publicly resolved to do.

Wife of Judge

Last Thursday afternoon I e-mailed a Kansas friend to find out if she were going to be in town this week.  By Friday morning we had a party planned for Monday.  And so I wore velvet and sparkles to eat snacks with friends in a small house in Kansas.  There were fewer of us than expected (crud is going around) and we talked about unemployment, funerals and weird skin conditions while acknowledging chronically ill spouses, miscarriage and depression.  There was no dancing, no men, and no pictures taken.  You'll have to take my word that our cheap jewels were outlandish.

Crying tears of consolation and clearing pet hair from my skirt was hardly with glittering ball of my imagination, however the evening was fabulous.  There was friendship. And in the glow of friendship, we all sparkle bright.

Thanks to you all for your friendship.

*Roots year continues until February.  I have thought lots and lots about family and metaphorical roots.  Someday I will organize the thoughts enough to type them.

There's Something About Fog

These images may or may not reflect the mood around here, but they do speak to the weather.

Oct. 2006 West Virginia

I grew up mostly without fog and still find it noteworthy and mysterious.

July 2005 Newfoundland

May 2007, Ecuador

October 2006, West Virginia