November 2007 - A Sweet Honey Frenzy
Ellen and I went with a bunch of friends last night to hear Sweet Honey in the Rock * (see more at the end of this post) and I invited everyone over for some soup and salad beforehand. I really did intend to make something simple but a delightful frenzy took over and I ended up making a couple of soups, a huge chopped salad, some lebne and TWO deserts. I made everything at breakneck speed - cooking two or three things at once and ending up with a clean kitchen and a bunch of yummy stuff in less than 2 hours!! It was a wonderful evening - fabulous friends, great grub, and marvellous music!
If you don't know Sweet Honey you might want to check them out - they are a spectacular acapella group who've been singing their hearts out since the mid 1980s. They weave spiritual and political and social threads into their beautiful, intriguing, magical songs.
As a child I studied music at high school but any time we had to sing I was singled out to keep my mouth shut. Although I could hear music what came out of my mouth didn't work so well.
As an adult I questioned many received wisdoms and this was one of them. I loved music so much and could hear it and play it so well it didn't make sense that I couldn't sing it.
Ysaye Barnwell, one of the founding members of Sweet Honey, gave a singing workshop in London in the late 80s and I signed up. By the end of that weekend I was not only singing, I was singing every damn part from soprano all the way down to bass. And so was every single other person in that group.
It was wonderful to hear her live and feel the love and gratitude I have towards her for helping me to find my singing voice. It was a transformative experience that literally changed my life. I joined a choir a few years after that workshop and have never looked back. I'm not a good singer but the thing is this, singing massages my soul - it nourishes the parts that other activities simply do not reach - and so I've become a bit of a singing slut - always on the lookout to singing my little heart out, wherever and whenever that may be!
http://www.sweethoney.com
March 7, 2008: A Small Rainy Day Frenzy
Debra came to visit this week and we had a fabulously theatrical time. We saw a Tennessee Williams play at the Hippodrome Theater - Suddenly Last Summer - and Rosenkranz & Guildenstern are Dead by Tom Stoppard at the Across Town Repertory Theater. We loved them both.
Today it rained cats and dogs as well alligators and bobcats. It was relentless - dark, and very, very wet. A small kitchen frenzy came upon me and I made a divine little vegetarian soup and a scrumptious (not vegetarian) chicken with preserved lemons and saffron. We had Roasted Roots and Couscous with the chicken and Bread AND Butter pudding for 'afters'.
August 18, 2007 Not Just A Breadmaking Frenzy
The Breadman breadmaking machine arrived yesterday. My whole life I have yearned to bake bread. And failed. It never rises. It always tastes like crap. My first loaf in the breadmaker was almost perfect. This morning I made fresh (organic) butter in it. Yup you read correctly. I put in some cream in the BREADMAKER and churned half a pound of butter. What a crazy and wonderful world we live in!
Breakfast - everything home-made - everything organic! Wholewheat bread slathered with butter, topped with Butia (Pindo) Palm Fruit Jelly. Incroyable!
This evening I made another loaf - this time with just a teaspoon of honey instead of 2 tablespoons of barley malt (the malt gave it a rather strong but not altogether unpleasant taste) - and half wholewheat and half white wholewheat (whatever that is) flours instead of all wholewheat. I timed it so that Ellen - who has been out of town since just before the breadmaker arrived - stepped in the door as the cooking cycle came to a close and the whole house smelled of freshly baked bread. This loaf is closer to perfect. Life couldn't be gooder. OK maybe I could be thinner (which isn't happening any time soon now).
We had bread and butter with one of my favorite, soups: Watercress. It's has a delightfully delicate taste and looks so pretty served in a white cup or bowl.
The next day I had an Iron Chef Evening in the kitchen - making lots of 'dishes' none of which I had made before, all of which I made up as I went along!
I started with fish - Grouper. It isn't a fish I know well and I marinaded it in lime juice, soy and olive oil which I had blended with basil and lemongrass from the garden. It was meatier than we like - I like fish to melt in my mouth and this one needed a lot of chewing.
I made three accompaniments (each of which would stand brilliantly on their own as a divine little vegetarian dinner): mashed cauliflower and peas, a squash souffle and an eggplant and tomato stack.
The were all absolutely delicious.
There was Butia (Pindo) Palm Fruit Sorbet for desert but we are too stuffed to even contemplate it. Go to the Edible Plant Project Website for full details!
And so to bed!!!
This morning I had Peach Kuchen and Chocolate Pudding for breakfast ... leftovers from last night's feastlet. It reminded me of when I was maybe 8 or 9 - my brother and I would creep downstairs after one of my parent's parties and eat cold, leftovers - macaroni and cheese and chocolate cake with the dregs from the wine glasses - the red and the white - mixed into a delightful, pink Sunday morning cocktail.
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