Foodie Thoughts

I actually wanted to write about loss and misery but decided we have all had enough of that! Much more fun to write about food and recipes. Food is our comfort, our bete noir, our love and our hate. We eat to live, to feel better, to share and because we can. Our relationship with food starts with our mother's milk and we search endlessly for the rest of our lives for that same nourishment and comfort.

I have a love/hate relationship with food - I am seriously overweight and so pretend not to care or cook but quietly stock up on sugar highs with biscuits and coke. When I do cook I prefer it to be for other people - it seems pointless to me to go to a lot of trouble for just myself. Perhaps that is the nub of all the problems right there.

I happily cooked for eight in Canada and enjoyed so much the sharing of cooking and eating that was such a big part of the holiday. Meals were about families and sharing and the fact that they were all delicious was almost incidental. But they were - delicious.

My friend Roshni sent me this link - I couldn't write it better or evoke the same kind loving memory of a childhood pleasure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVNcs_lEC74

For the first time last year I actually knew what it was to  be hungry and to have no food. I was lucky, it only lasted a few days but it gave me new found relationship and respect - we must eat to live. If we are honest sometimes we live to eat!

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Journeys End

So - I'm back head spinning with loads of new experiences and filled with new found confidence optimism. Just hope it lasts.

I have always loved to travel and this  trip was no exception; airport lounges are full of peoople who look, lost and excited and with my Calcutta ability I alaways find someone to talk to and hear their stories. Jesse was the prime teller of tales - some tall and some so enthralling as they took to another tine and place where men rode horses do take part in roundups and broke horses as if it was a simple part of living.

Coming home had me weeping at the airpot - it seemed that I had taken so long to find Gail and then she was gone from  sight and from my reach. I do hope it doesn't take another forty years -not sure if I could bear it.

Isn't it passing strange that we make these frienships and that they endure. Within an hour I knew I had really my old friend again and all was sell in the world again, and so it will be.

I don't want to be boring so thought  the recipe I cooked for Gail's birthday night  treat -so here goes

For six people you will need

6 chicken pieces - thighs and breasts

Plain Yoghurt

One inch cube of fresh ginger

2 garlice cloves

1 tsp each of cumin and coriander (both ground)

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/2 tsp paprika (for colour)

1/2 dried ginger

Salt

Juice of a lemon

Take the chicken and make shallow slices  horizontally across the top then in a large bowl add the chicken, salt and lemnon juice and leave for a few minutes. Thed add the chicken mixture to anothe large bowl and stir int the spices. Cover well and put in the fridge for at least 24 hours

The Sause

I pint thick crean(cream fraiche works reallywell )

I pack of butter

1 tsp Coriander

1 1/2 tsp Cumin

1/4 Ground ginger

Tomato Paste

1 tsp Garum Masala

Pinch of cayene

1 inch gube of ginger finely grated

Squeeze of lemon juice

1/4 tsp of sugar

• Melt three quarters of the butter in a heavy frying pan
• In large jug mix the other ingredients making sure the Tom paste is full mixed in. Taste a and add in some more sugar/tom. paste and salt to taste.
• Heat gently and don't worry if it seems to split - just stir hard and it will all come together - later on it splits a litttle but don't worry because now it can.

Place the chicken on a lined baking tray or on a bbq if in the summer. Cook it on a high heat for 35/40 minute checking halfway through and pour off the juices into the sauce mix.When is cooked place the chicken in the sauce and keep warm.

Serve with Basmatie rice and Naan Bread

Enjoy - we did

xxxxxx

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Building Cathedrals.

There were three men sitting at the side of a road cutting stone for a new cathedral. The first one muttered and moaned, complained and wished he was doing anything else but this.  The second worked solidly and thought to himself of all the money he was making for his family. The third smiled and thought, 'I am building a cathedral.'

Seems to me that the story sums up my life so far - my blog, I think, is my cathedral and what a gift to be able to decorate it with stories of Canada.

Last night Gail brought down her wedding pictures to show me and with them an album that she thought might be a treasure chest - she didn't really know what was in it. Inside was an envelope and out of that fell a picture of me at 15 - angry, haughty and soooo cool. It was like taking a look into the past - I hadn't seen the picture since it was taken by Desmond all those years ago and I had forgotten that Joanna.

This  miracle that I am a part of; finding old friends, seeing old friends and making new ones just gets better and better. We went on a road trip to Montreal and Ottawa to see Gail's two sisters Debbie and Christine. Debbie is in Montreal with her husband Peter (of whom more in a minute) and her her two lovely kids Cheryl and Alex whilst Christine lives in Ottawa with her husband Steve.

The travelogue stuff I will save for the photographs when I get them. I want to talk about the amazing warmth and hospitality. Debbie is Gail's younger sister who we levitated, tortured and swore to secrecy about all of wrong doings. She never told. She is now an artist, a teacher of fashion and one of the most grounded and happy paople I have ever met. Her children are amazing - Cheryl at art school doing animantion and with a fascination for Geishas - her handmade hair ornaments exquisite. Alex, rather shy but with a wicked glint of mischief and so lovely, works with metal. And tehn there is Peter.

As I walked into Debbie's I was struck by the beauty of some big canvasses on the wall and by an exquisite harpsichord inlaid with different woods and decorated with paintings and piercings that seemed to be pure Art Deco. All made/painted by Peter. And then I met his guitars - you must, must go to the website and see them. They are works of art, sculptures inlaid with exotic woods and gems that play as a guitar should. http://www.exoticguitars.com/ Please, please look and if you think of a way to get them to the Ozzy Osbornes and Keith Richards of this world let me or Peter know.

I am overwhelmed by kindness, bloated with great food and so happy. Travelogue coming soon.

Image via Wikipedia

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