Tuscan Wild Boar Sauce

In Italy all recipes are local and very specific. Traipsing about Ravenna, Italy, two years ago, we happened upon a great restaurant with an enthusiastic owner who used fresh wine in everything (it turns to vinegar quickly). We were promptly fed wild boar sauce (use your best Italian accent to say that aloud as it is part of the pleasure) and chocolate cake. Wild boar sauce could be made with venison, other game, or even fresh pork in other parts of the world. 

This version of wild boar sauce is Tuscan. Lest you think that wild boar are running about, they are not. We're in Castiglioncello, a lovely seaside town, where we had a cooking class with Simon, and Simon knows a guy (that's how you get fresh wild boar in summer). If you understand Italian or just want to see some of the fun, take a look at Simon's cooking show. 

Tuscan Wild Boar Sauce

from Simon Devone http://www.ilboccatv.com

Ingredients

Wild boar butt with shank

Celery, remove tough outer green fiber

Carrot

Red onion

Garlic clove, remove the “anima” or green stem part

Sage sprigs

Rosemary springs

Bay leaf

Juniper berries

Young red wine

Olive oil

Vegetable stock

Double concentrate tomato paste
Tuscan Cocoa Pappardelle

Helpful Tools

Container with lid for marinade

Cuisineart or dice

Large saute pan

Large pot

Small pot

Directions

Marinade. In a container with a lid, place meat and bones. Cut vegetables into large chunks and add to meat. Add springs of fresh sage, rosemary, and a bay leaf. Add ten juniper berries. Cover all with wine. Soak for six to twenty hours. Drain and discard everything except the meat and bones. 

Soffritto. Start with fresh vegetables and use only one of each item- celery, carrot, red onion, garlic clove. Place all vegetables and fresh spring of sage into cuisinart. Pulse about six times until forms a medium dice. In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add vegetables (they should hiss when they hit the oil) and immediately turn heat to low. Add ten juniper berries and a fresh bay leaf. Pull needles from two rosemary sprigs and add. Gently saute until onions are clear, about 10 minutes. May add a spoonful of water as need to prevent scorching. Place cooked vegetables into large pot.

Sauce. Slice meat into bite sized pieces and brown it in heated olive oil in saute pan over medium heat. Add browned meat to large pot with vegetables. Add salt, pepper, and a cup of red wine to pot over high heat to cook off wine, about 3 minutes. Turn heat to medium low and allow to simmer. In small pot with a lid, simmer a quart of vegetable stock over low heat. In a heat proof container or measuring cup, add 4 heaping tablespoonfuls of tomato paste, 2 ladles of hot stock, and stir together until dissolved. Add slurry to large pot. Simmer without a lid. If dry, add more stock very slowly until reduced and cooked down, one to two hours. Discard bones and bay leaves. Add cooked Tuscan Cocoa Pappardelle and serve warm (do not serve with parmesan cheese).

Tuscan Wild Boar Sauce

Tuscan Wild Boar Sauce with Tuscan Cocoa Pappardelle

Tuscan Cocoa Pappardelle

from Simon Devone http://www.ilboccatv.com

Ingredients for Two

Flour (00 type), 200 gm

Eggs, 2

Salt, pinch or two as needed

Cocoa powder, 20 gm (10% by volume)

Semolina flour as needed

Helpful Tools

Rolling pin

Standing mixer fitted with dough hook can be used to form dough if available

Sharp knife

Large pot

Directions

S

On a clean surface place flour and form a well in the center. Crack eggs and dump contents into flour well. Add salt and cocoa powder. With fingers start mixing ingredient together from the center, incorporating more and more flour until it comes together to form a loose ball. Kneed the dough with heel of hand, adding bit of flour as needed until smooth and shiny, about 15 minutes by hand. Keep in mind that larger batches work better. Form smooth, shiny dough into a disc, wrap with plastic, and allow to rest for one hour. 

Roll out ball of dough on a clean surface with a bit of semolina flour to prevent sticking. Roll dough only in one direction, turn a quarter, roll, and repeat until even and about 1 mm in thickness. Gently roll/fold sheet into a ribbon about 10 cm long. Cut rolled dough into thick strips approximately two fingers wide. Pick up each strip and run through fingers. Place ribbons in small bundles, onto a sheet dusted with semolina. 

Bring pot of water to boil and add generous pinch or two of salt. Add pasta and cook until al dente, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain and add to sauce. Serve hot.

Simon demos pappardelle strips

Tuscan Cocoa Pappardelle

Rustic Tart Shell

Ingredients

500 gm flour

250 gm butter

4-6 Tbsp of iced water as needed

Fruit mixture

Helpful Tools

Large bowl

Pastry blender/cutter or Standing mixer fitted with paddle blade can be used to form dough if available

Spatula

Rolling pin

Baking sheet

Directions

Place flour into large mixing bowl. Cut butter into pieces and add to flour. Continue to blend butter into the flour until resembles fine pebbles of uniform size. Add iced water one tablespoon at a time to flour mixture and gently combine with spatula after each addition. After four to six tablespoons of water, the dough should start to just stick together; it should be a tad drier versus wetter. Press dough to form a disc. Allow dough to rest covered for 15 minutes. On a flat surface with a sprinkle of flour as needed, roll out the dough disc into two to three centimeter evenly thick sheet. Place sheet onto large baking sheet, ideally with a lip to insure that it contains any cook-over. Fill with fruit mixture. Turn edges of dough onto fruit. Bake 375ºF (190ºC) until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Rustic tart shell with apricot fruit mixture

Apricot Fruit Mixture

Ingredients

Apricots

Sugar - need .5 gm of sugar for every 1 gm of apricots

Fresh squeezed lemon juice, 1 lemon

Helpful Tools

Large pot with heavy bottom

Directions

Rinse fruit, drain, cut apricots in half, and discard pits. Weigh apricots and place into large pot. Calculate how much sugar is needed - .5 gm of sugar for every 1 gm of apricots.  Pour sugar over apricots. Add juice of one squeezed lemon. Turn heat to medium high and stir to prevent sticking. Cook until thickened and apricots just start to breakdown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Pour into prepared rustic tart shell and fold edges up and onto fruit. Bake 375ºF (190ºC) until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Apricot fruit mixture

Called by a Tuscan Apricot

The lure of a tree draped in apricots was too much! Warm jam is one of the great pleasures in life.  Jam was made without a scale, without a recipe, and without my jam pot, but it was made. If you have yet to eat warm jam, get thee to a farm stand. Buy some sugar and a lemon. Find a heavy bottom pot and await the most delicious moment of your day...

Apricot tree in Tuscany

Tips for Tokyo Summer Travelers

Summers in Tokyo are hot and steamy, and in 2020 a lot of travelers will be heading to Tokyo for the summer Olympic games. As hindsight is 20/20, I'm noting what I learned from my travels and sharing these summer travels tips for Toyko:

1. Travel light
Portable, light suitcases that can easily navigate the tight spaces of trains, smaller hotel rooms, and crowded public spaces are essential. Fewer belongings are better than wrestling with too many bags! A reasonably small roller suitcase and a backpack or bag work well- especially one that slips over the suitcase handle which also reduces back strain. I made my kids use carryon suitcases for their stuff and had them put their electronics, book, sweater, and snacks in a backpack for easy access. I had a larger suitcase with half of it stuffed with OU t-shirts (see #7 below).

2. Pack quick drying clothes
Laundry in Japan is generally dried on the clothesline or rack. Public laundries do have dryers, but if you only have access to a hotel or apartment amenities, laundering items in the sink will require you to hang them up to dry. Quick drying clothes (polyester fibers, nylon, etc.) ensure your clothes are dry and ready. This particularly is relevant to your underwear but also applies to most things of thick cotton which can take a long while to dry. Pack well by bringing less- follow the 5 4 3 2 1 rule, choose coordinating colors (pick one scheme), and roll your stuff up.

3. Carry a hand towel
Public restrooms rarely provide paper towels or air dryers in Japan. The Japanese carry small hand towels for drying their hands in the bathroom. Purchase a small (wash cloth sized) hand towel- easily found in a variety of stores- look for absorbing fibers and darker colors.

4. Skip the water bottle
Japan has vending machines on top of mountains. My point here is that vending machines are every where in Japan. It's hot in Tokyo, and you'll want that drink cold. Skip the reusable bottle, and plan to purchase beverages as needed. I recently observed a Tokyo business man in his suit pull out and chug a liter bottle of o-cha at a cross walk- convenience stores sell single servings as well as half and full liter bottles. Restaurants do not generally provide refills in Japan, and in Japan, a small beverage is smaller than in America. Hydration might cost you a bit more in Japan, but you will need your fluids, and you'll appreciate them cold.

5. Pack out your garbage
Garbage can be complicated in Japan. At it's simplest you can find containers for "burnable" and "recyclable." However, you often have to pack out your garbage which means it is something to be mindful of that when you create trash, you'll need to think about when and where you can dispose of it. Sometimes this means carrying it for a bit. For example, some vending machines have a recycling collection for the bottles, but not always. Don't expect to readily find trash cans for your food wastes or hand wipes.

6. Hygiene products
I struggle the most with choosing which hygiene products. I've got curly hair so in humid weather the kind of hair products I use changes the way my hair behaves. In Japan, I opt for only taking hair gel as I can generally rely on the hair products in the hotels and onsens to be reasonably good, at most I would add conditioner. I also bring sunblock for my face, face lotion, deodorant, and contact cleaner. Everything else I can skip or buy there. Most of my Japanese friends buy toothbrushes at the convenience stores. You can even buy underwear at a convenience store in Japan- but you need to be a fairly small American (I wear a small in America but a large in Japan).

7. Gifts
Japan is a gifting culture that is alien to me- people give gifts when they go to your house, when you come to theirs, and so many other occasions that I don't understand. I often find myself in the awkward position of receiving a gift without one to give. Luckily,  much of the gift giving is food based; it's easy to use it up (this is my minimalism coming out). Bring something from your hometown to share- whether a special spice, t-shirt, a jar of jam- then take it with you if someone invites you over.

8. Get a rail pass card
It's safe and easy to get around Japan whether on the train, subway, or bus. The subways, trains, and buses are easiest with a rail pass. My husband thoughtfully brought our Suica cards from five years before. These electronic cards make daily travels (and using those vending machines for cold drinks) infinitely easier and more efficient since you won't have to fish for coins or make your jet-lagged fogged brain count- add yen to your card and the fare is deducted electronically. Different rail (and bus) lines such as East Japan Railway Co. versus private, etc. may use other cards like the Pasmo. In an around Tokyo, either work for most of your transportation needs. The station agents can help you navigate platforms, train lines, and generally assist you with directions, but there's also an app.

Vending machines in Japan

Traveling Alsace

Thirty years ago my strongest memories of traveling Germany by train are of castles, gardens, herb chicken, and my mom polishing off the last of our German chocolate in Italy. Since then, I've changed and so has Germany.

This time around my family, husband and two children, toured Alsace in a rental car with the main objective being to visit trenches from the Great War and an old friend. We visited Ettlingen, Stuttgart, Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Trier, Darmstadt, and Frankfurt. We also toured the Maginot Line at Ouvrage Schoenenbourg and the trenches from the Great War in the Vosges Mountains. Walking to the train station in Frankfurt, Arabic dominated the conversations around me. The city is now about half native born Germans. Still big mugs of beer and sauerkraut are ever present on menus, but the dining options have expanded to include Arabic, Lebanese, Turkish, Pho, and Japanese restaurants. The smokers also seem to have multiplied.

Alsace is a region that depending upon the era was framed as German, French, Independent, or some variations of that as borders and sides seemed to have flipped with regularity. The countryside is beautiful, green, and rolling and consists of vineyards, hayfields, and cornfields. Traveling by car with a GPS in this area means negotiating different cultural systems, but no border controls.

A specific approach to life can be hard to absorb when bouncing daily between countries, but the cultures do vary. In Germany, most things are open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. In France, things open from 10:00 am to 12:00 pm and then again from 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm, but you won't be able to dine until at least 7:00 pm. This is important to remember if you have jet lag, like to eat lunch, or trek somewhere to take in the sites. We were forced to eat cheese biscuits for lunch in one small French town. Eat dessert at the restaurant you dine at in France as the ice-cream shops close when the restaurants open. In France, road signs appear to be randomly placed, sometimes intensely and then when you are sure you are lost, maybe, maybe, they will throw you a bone. You learn to stay the course or follow the cyclists.

I travel with a general agenda, no guide book, and go for local recommendations which over the years has worked well, same for this trip. A German friend recommended the app Booking.com to find hotels which I did set up before departing.  We stayed two nights in most of the hotels we booked and found all of them to be helpful and accommodating to a family of Americans. However, my international cellular plan through Verizon proved worthless. The ATM was our currency friend as we learned that credit cards are not as widely appreciated in Europe as in America- at one hotel, we had an extra trip to the ATM so we could pay the bill in cash. We walked between seven and ten miles a day through trenches, cities, and museums. Despite my reluctance to leave home, I was so very glad I did.

"Passports need to be out of your pockets and in your hands," bellows the blue suited man barking at passengers just off of a nine hour flight from Germany. I'm carrying the contents of my daughter's stomach in a small white bag. My daughter leans into me. My son throws everything on the floor and is suddenly taken with the idea of moving his body. My husband fumbles to scan our passports in a do it yourself kiosk we are forced to use. Welcome to America my mind screams.

Highlights of places we visited:

Darmstadt, Germany
Hessiches Landemuseum Darmstadt

Ettlingen, Germany
Fav hotel: Erbprinz Spa Hotel

Frankfurt, Germany
Historisches Museum Frankfurt
Deutsches Film Museum

Mulhouse, France
Coolest Museum tickets (fabric pieces): Musee de l'Impression sur Etoffes
Hardest hotel to find: Kyriad Hotel

Strasbourg
River Boat Tour
Palais Rohan
Musee Historique
Appart'Hotel Odalys Green Marsh


Stuttgart, Germany
Hotel Domino
Porsche Museum

Trier
Roman Ruins- Porta Nigra, Stadtmuseum
Where all the Chinese are: Karl Marx Haus
Hotel Am Ufer

Archimedes Screw in a park in Ettlingen, Germany

Castle in Germany

Maginot Line at Ouvrage Schoenenbourg in France

Some of the rarer old buildings in Stuttgart, Germany

Porta Negra, Roman Gate, Trier, Germany

Bubble maker in front of the cathedral in Trier, Germany

History Museum in Darmstadt, Germany 

Trenches in the Vosges Mountains

Along the French German border of Alsace in the Vosges Mountains, the trench lines from the Great  War, 1914-1918, remain as a memorial to the fallen. The fiercest battles occurred early and most intensely during the first eighteen months of the war before settling into a dead heat. We visited two different trench areas, the Hartmannswillerkopf site (HWK) also known as Vieil Armand and The Musee Memorial du Linge at Orbey (Haut-Rhin).

A walk along the trenches or a look through sights that soldiers once used develops an appreciation for the proximity of the lines, mere feet from each other, and the difficult conditions in which the soldiers endured on the mountains that ate 30,000 men. Crosses line marked graves. Ossuaries contain the bones of both the French and the German soldiers. Signs that warn visitors of ordinance hazards add an element of reality, but the most menacing sights remaining include shriveled hunks of metal and rusting rolls of barbed wire. 

The inflow of bullets, mud, and blood are no more, but the impact of long ago explosions on the landscape can still be seen in overgrown bombed out craters. Charred, denuded mountain sides of wartime have regrown and filled in over the past one hundred years with the larger trees and hardwoods that once provided the raw materials for the trench scaffolding and fires.  As the flowers dance on gentle breezes, trees shade the sun's intense rays, and roots hold the once muddy soil in place, an awareness of violence and yet, a sense of peace permeates both sites. A monument at HNK honors the fallen of both sides and the museum at the other tells more of the story, but at both locations, the bucolic natural setting counterbalances the gristly history of combat on the front line trenches of the Great War and stands as a place to honor the hard earned friendship between France and Germany.  

Trenches of WW1 Vosges Mountains

Coiled barbed wire in the Vosges Mountains

Danger Explosifs

View from a trench

HNK cemetery

Packin' a Suitcase

What to pack in a suitcase for Europe? 

Pack two tops for every bottom, bring a mix of bottoms some of which are quick to dry, easy to spot clean, things that are casual yet dressy- something that works for dinner and that can vary with the weather- leggings for colder nights under long skirts are an easy add, a pair of pants, a shorter skirt. Always pack a swimsuit (you never know when an onsen spa, pool, or water park will be on your agenda), jeans, a scarf, and a jacket or blazer (to dress up pants and add a layer of warmth).

Roll together the top, bottom, and any undergarments needed to keep it organized. Pack the rolls tightly into a bag or suitcase. Use a stuff sack or plastic bag that seals to keep either the dirty laundry or the clean clothes separated in your suitcase. Some hotels do have laundry facilities but on vacation it's best to minimize chores. Roll up pajamas with fresh underwear for those who bathe in the evening. If you have nylon stuff sacks, fill them with additional undergarments such as socks, tank tops, and panties, otherwise just roll and stuff them into one side. Vary the extra tops to flex your choices for hotter or cooler weather by packing thinner or thicker fabrics and longer or shorter sleeves.

For kids or those who struggle with staying organized, use a rubber band around each outfit which helps with counting outfits packed, plus later when the suitcase explodes, and for some reason this always happens to my children's bags, anyone can discern what's clean (still has a rubber band around it), what goes with what (still has a rubber band around it), and when they're out of clean clothes (it's all chaos). 

For accessories, I tend to go with low value and non sentimental jewelry such as beaded necklaces, a packable hat, a pair of sandals (plain black Chacos), and usually a pair of closed toe shoes (varies by trip). If the clothes' colors match or compliment each other, it simplifies everything. 

When packing a suitcase for vacation or a flight, it's great to pack light, but my main goal is one suitcase and one carryon. Minimizing toiletries helps, but, I prefer to bring my own razor, hair conditioner, hair goop, skin lotion, sunscreen, toothbrush, and toothpaste. Hotels in Europe rarely supply hair conditioner. I manage without conditioner by traveling with a small bottle of Aveda hair serum. The desire to feel comfortable both while traveling and after arriving means if I have to check my bag so be it, but really my one suitcase is of the size that I can carry it on the flight. Be sure that whatever carryon you take that you can actually lift it to place it in the overhead bins.

For carry on items that both dull the senses and entertain, pack an eye mask, earplugs, a scarf (for blocking light and warmth), a real book, a notepad, pen and mechanical pencil, an empty water bottle, a zip bag with a widget full of audiobooks, headphones, and the necessary cords and plugs for a mobile as well. Travel paperwork for where I'm going, necessary identification, any medications, Motrin and Tylenol, hand wipes, sunglasses, eyeglasses, a contact lens holder loaded with saline, toothbrushing items, nail clipper, tweezers, and extra layers for cold flights like leggings, socks, and a sweater are worth carrying on the plane. Though I wear little makeup, I do keep an item or two in my bag along with lip moisturizer. My husband drags along the camera and memory card which he managed to recharge through a hotel shaver, no new Euro plug needed, but that was luck.

When my kids were little I always brought a thermometer and decongestants. Now I limit it to band aids of various shapes for the cuts and blister crowd. In light of summer travel trials, some kind of anti-itching (kaiume) cream might be a good idea.

Sometimes trips have a unique purpose such as a bike or ski trip requiring special clothes, add those items. For example, on a beach trip add a coverup and flipflops. For a big city trip, add a dressy pantsuit- warm and appropriate for nearly any occasion. 

The purchase of Verizon International call plan for Germany proved worthless. Wifi spots, usually at hotels, airports, and some cafes, were mainly free. We had no internet service when on the road which made the GPS navigation in our rental car invaluable but not infallible.

Safe travels!

Sunburnt Feet & Frostbitten Toes

Barring four years in high school, I spent most of my childhood down south. However, I'm a Yankee, of some sort, by constitution. I tend toward writhing glances versus the spoken word, unsweet tea or, even worse, hot tea instead of sweet tea ya'll, and reading books, not the bible, in coffee shops. It's not just the heat that stifles.

Lured onto the church bus by promises of candy and prizes, my mom rightly let me figure out for myself that my butt on a foldout chair or planted on a wooden bench were the real prize. My fascination with droning fans probably began at a three hour bible study I demanded to attend. By age nine, I started declining bus rides to bible study even though it cost me a few friends. 

I wanted to fit in, but an uptight bookworm with a misguided sense of equality and a modulated Midwestern cadence is not easily accommodated. I liked all the wrong things- anoraks instead of polos, funky shoes instead of flipflops, and the occult held more appeal than the Southern Baptist church.

"Do you take Jesus Christ as your personal savior," a young man queried me in earnest before having the gumption to ask for a date. "Personal? No. No, I don't," I replied. "Well then, there's nothing more for us to talk about," he said. Open and shut, black and white, and the world of gray, Protestant, dismissed in the blink of an eye. The heat of my car welcomed me as the feeling of having just missed a death knell to my spirit washed over me. 

Still, nearly every woman I knew or knew of, got married around this time. I began to get comfortable with the idea of being single forever even if it did feel like a case of leprosy. I counseled myself that Christ ate with the lepers. 

Then there was the time a neighbor threatened that something might happen to my house because my roommate dated a black man. "Some people frown on that sort of thing around here," she said. I shrugged at her comments. There was not much that could be said to the neighbor though she did tell me it wasn't her that I needed to worry about but those other people. "Other people?" I asked. We left the middle of the road by the mailboxes in a stalemate. I didn't act as frightened as she intimated I should be. I opted not to mention it to my roommate, it was the little thing I could do to stop the insanity from spreading. 

The stifling window of how a woman may conduct herself, what interests are deemed appropriate, and my own inability to fit the southern girl mold with aplomb sent me in search of alternatives.

Now, I visit the Redneck Riviera, admire the fit and not so fit ladies, and linger over the long drawls, noting the ways I never could quite catch. I eat grouper, greens, and grits. The handbags bursts with color. The beer is mass produced. I drink a cocktail, walk in the sugar sand, and I am grateful for staying true to some parts of myself. There's still plenty more lost causes filed away in my drawer of truths to reckon with someday, but for now, I'm glad to be heading north with both sunburnt feet and frostbitten toes.

. 

Within and Beyond, Safe Travels

A friend is heading off to the wild blue yonder not for a job, the reason most people I know move, but to see what lies beyond the confines of the hills that surround us— the thrill of adventure calls. 

Once upon a time I was hellbent on departing just as now, I’m hellbent on staying. “There’s no place like home,” has long been my mantra wherever I’ve lived and even when I’ve clearly not been a local— Spain, Bahrain, and Japan. I longed for those adventures and needed them to stretch my tolerance, appreciation, and widen my radar of awareness. Things that are you versus other are more obvious when you are outside of them. There even comes a day when you can’t return to a certain way of living or thinking— the confines of racism or the shackles of sexual repression come to mind-- they are embedded in some places but not in others. 

In some ways living abroad made me hyper aware of how American I was in terms of language, my approach to authority, and in daily rituals like meals. New experiences that touched undeveloped longings in me, were embraced with a sureness that some might have seen as adapting to another culture, but for me it was the centrality of the human experience that helped me to see with new eyes or to embrace something missing in my own cultural experiences, a new way home.

I face the task now of integrating seemingly random experiences from different cultures into one way of being which also changes with circumstance and other experiences like parenting, missteps, and new found joys. I picked a place to do this that has a mix of people rooted in other places and so it is tolerant with the roundabout approach to local ways. It is also a place with traditions and ways that rub and press in upon me both good and bad. However, I don’t have to go to say Italy to find my way to things I love or to let go of things I don't. Finally or at least more often, I can see at home what I once could only notice when I was away. I brought new eyes home.

The food front is an easy obvious place to explore. 

Travel means tasting new foods and combinations, so I did. From dancing shrimp on a table in Japan to grilled sparrow in Lebanon to roast bear in Russia, it’s enough to make a woman go vegetarian even if she doesn’t live in the hills of Ohio dotted with hippies. Sometimes I longed for American breakfasts of hash browned potatoes and omelets or particularly the comfort of milk tea and toast with butter and jam especially when faced with a breakfast of steamed rice and grilled fish or ful medames. Food is a universal and yet a local experience, but don’t mess with breakfast too many days in a row or you’ll find you revert to childhood. Meanwhile, food trends in America follow headlines like a tennis match— gluten free, thwack, low carb, unhh, vegan, sloomph!  You can go anywhere in a kitchen which is probably why I've found myself spending more time in my own kitchen over the years. There are other coves of discovery, but for now food is the easiest to share.

As my friend stretches outward, I seek to stretch inward-- to notice the subtle signs that call me. Adventures beckon us from both within and beyond. Safe travels wherever you are called! 

Girl Scout

I set off for Girl Scout camp for leaders not long ago. I was and I wasn't prepared. After I got there, I realized I had glossed over the packing list when I found myself wishing I had a pillow. My backpack worked in a pinch. I used the same styrofoam cup all weekend, but next time, a reusable mug might be in my stash even though it wasn't on the official list. My pajama top worked as a towel, but I wished I had remembered that I wasn't sleeping in a hotel. Camp wasn't only about packing flails, it was also about experiences and building skills.

Here's a picture of my situpon made of a vinyl tablecloth and duct tape-- you can stuff them with almost anything from leaves to newspapers to padding. The knots and lashes class taxed my brain, but in the moment I was able to tie things up. I sang camp songs and earned quals in hiking, fire building, and camping. The closing camp ceremony was planned and implemented as a group so we learned as newbies and pros alike from each other.

Sure, my feet were cold, I got only one shower in three days, and the food was local, mainly from Walmart, but I appreciated that other women got up and cooked for me and forty-nine other women, and I'm ready to take a Girl Scout troop on a camping trip!

No Place Like Home

If I had ruby slippers, they would take me home in the present, every time.  I used up all my travel Jones with forty plus years as military baggage. I don't regret it, but that particular scratch, no longer itches. Now, I like puttering about the garden, working at my desk, and the quiet that exists no place else, plus my favorite people are here. 

Sure, I grumble about cooking and cleaning, but traveling makes me appreciate the food at home. As much as I loved eating ramen and coal fired pizza in New York City, I'm thrilled to be back at the farmers market and harvesting the containers on the deck.

While in New York, the intensity of processed and packaged foods overwhelmed me. It occurred to me that one of the most radical things to do is to cook at home, with real food. Buying local food, using local food, means supporting the local economy, instead of corporations that are really interested in the wallet, not health, plus the food is fresher and more flavorful. Cooking also gives you control of fat, sugar, and other additives that need to be limited.

Grow your own food. I once scoffed at this concept, but really, containers are small and manageable. I put three packages of pesto into the freezer which were made from the clippings of a hanging basket of basil that grew while we away. If you come to chez Jordan this summer, you might be eating pesto.

Today, we ate our first nastridiums, marigolds, and borage, grown on the deck in pots. It's high time to get a few things into the garden so that we can reap the benefits of uber local foods. If you haven't tried marigolds, they are a must! 

As exciting as other places are, there is no place like home.

Happy Mothers Day!

Homage to a Bakery

Since I'm in New York, I wanted to check out the bakery that brought the no-knead method to fame, the Sullivan Street Bakery (533 West 47th Street, NYC ). I saw a sign for bread and pizza classes too late. Next time!

Instead, I tried a tart with potato, onion, rosemary, and black pepper and a sandwich with soft scrambled eggs and prosciutto with a cup of tea. Definitely worth the trek.

I put ten miles on my new ugly shoes. My feet hurt. I need to go home.

Observing New York

During my few days in New York, I've noticed a few things.

-People are nice, even helpful. The hotel desk clerk warned us that our minibar is possessed, "Don't touch it, don't even go near it." 

-Despite my expectations, there are heterosexual men here, though, half of the guys that I think are gay, because they are wearing tight pants, pointy shoes, and short jackets, are just European. 

-Women carry handbags, even if they also wear a backpack. You have to check backpacks at the museums so a small purse is useful. Wish I had thought of this when I was packing because carrying my wallet in my hand at the museums is getting old.

-New York is walkable, but after fifteen miles, my feet hurt. I bought a new pair of shoes-- unattractive, but my toes can wiggle in them. 

-People are from everywhere, I keep hearing languages from the world over, but if pressed, everyone speaks a little English.

-Old people and little kids walk faster than I do, or maybe it's that my feet hurt.

-There is no place like home, hotel beds are lumpy.

-New Yorkers call their mothers. I've heard many variations of "Mom" today, kind of sweet.

-I like the museums, the shopping is fine, and the restaurants are plentiful, but the city exhausts me. Then I went to Evensong at Saint Thomas Church (5th Aveue, NYC). The acoustics are amazing, the singing is beautiful, and I felt restored.

Two Bowls of Ramen

Deprivation, nearly two years, makes one do things like eat two bowls of ramen in one day. 

Ivan Ramen Slurp Shop is very good, though the location, Gotham West Market (600 11th Ave., NYC), feels a tad slick. My husband referred to the place as being "too Chipotle-fied." However, we did meet Ivan Orkin at the not yet open (May 9) second location (25 Clinton Street, NYC). He kindly chatted with us and said to come back. (They signed a ten year lease.) The Clinton location looks to be more of a neighborhood restaurant, and based on his awesome broth at the Slurp Shop, I'll be back.

Meeting Ivan Ramen, 25 Clinton Street, NYC

Because we ate early at the Slurp Shop, we decided to stop off at Totto Ramen and wait with the crowd. It's so much easier to wait when you're not hungry. The shop is small with the ambiance of Japan, minus the thumping music. Plus, I still wanted to get menma (bamboo shoots) and a soft boiled egg with my ramen.

After two bowls of ramen, our bellies sloshed back to the hotel.

I've seen a few produce stalls, but it seems woefully inadequate for a gastronomic city the size of New York. The search for produce led me to Chelsea Market which is full of bakeries and restaurants, but slim on produce.

My husband, ever more insightful and able to cook than I, reminded me of his college friend from New York City, who once said, "This is how you make fried rice in New York City!" The friend then picked up the phone. Apparently, not everyone cooks, the kitchens are small, but, there's plenty to eat on the streets and they deliver.

My husband is wondering if I've maxed out on ramen yet. Stay tuned, I've got a day or two left. 

Slurp Shop & Totto Ramen

Pastry Shopping

I stopped in for pan au chocolat, apple tart, and a croissant at Eclair (305 East 53 St., NYC 10022). I was the first customer by twenty seconds. The treats were delicious, and Athenians need not despair. Z Bakery's offerings, though only weekly, are on par. After the initial queue cleared out, I smiled as I listened to the owner give a French lesson to his front assistant. My French isn't so bad.