I’ve been doing this National Haiku Writing Month thing now for a couple of weeks, and it will come to a close as February transitions into March. Today, I’m going to utilize the daily prompt from NaHaiWriMo: homemade soup. It’s a reference to a post from two years ago at around this time when some of my European colleagues made a fantastic soup at Glover Gardens during an open house for my team.
pot luck perfect in-the-moment lentil soup my colleagues rock
The Europeans were the first to arrive and breezed into the kitchen with overflowing grocery bags, tons of energy, and a plan to create a homemade masterpiece. The ringleader is wearing the chef’s hat.
To read the whole story and check out their kick-butt (that’s a technical term) recipe for lentil soup, click here.
And if you want more soup recipes for a cold and rainy winter’s night, I’ve got a couple:
Foodie friends, I received an email today from Food & Wine magazine that I want to share with you.
Dear Food & Wine Reader,
Not long after the invention of photography in the early 19th century, photographers began training their lenses on food. As part of a yearlong celebration of Food & Wine’s 40th anniversary, we’ve gathered40 milestone moments in food photography.Chefs, historians, and photographers all gave their input for this collection. Some of these photos capture the zeitgeist of their culinary era; others sparked dining trends—and some even changed the course of history. From diplomatic dinners abroad to the Greensboro lunch counter sit-ins, from behind-the-scenes moments on set with Julia Child to the nascent days of social media latte art—here are the photographsthat have forever altered how we perceive food and food culture in America.
Food & Wine Editors
If you’re interested in food, food history, food photography or just cultural history in general, I encourage you to click on the links and view the photos with their short stories. As a teaser, I’ve included a couple below.
I love this picture of Julia Child on the set of her TV show, taken by her husband. As the story notes, it illustrates just how much goes on behind the scenes of a cooking show.
The Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University
The one below is from 1910 – can you believe it? The article describes the difficult process that the photographer (artist!) undertook in the developing and printing process to get this final product. I don’t know much about photography (yet), but even I can see how the dots on the photo connect all of the elements in this still life.
Wladimir Schohin, Stilleben, 1910 / Courtesy of Amatörfotografklubben I Helsingfors rf, Finland
The next one is from McCall’s magazine in 1943, called Lemonade and Fruit Salad. I love how stylized it is, right down to the use of the leaf-shaped napkin rings to anchor the fruit. I’d like to recreate that look sometime for a luncheon or afternoon tea (if I had those kinds of parties; maybe I’ll start).
And also, the current issue of Food & Wine is all about food and photography. It is excellent! They turned photographers loose for a large segment called “Cooks and Shooters” and the stories and photos are wonderful. The recipes are all from these articles by the photographers, and it is cool to “see” the world of food through their eyes.
And finally, because there are still a few more days in February, National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo), here’s a haiku for all of those venerable food photographers.
portrait, still life or action shot – delectable! here’s looking at food
This artist’s studio, a room preserved as it was at one time at the Museum of Montmartre in Paris, inspires me. I knew when I first saw it that I wanted a room like this.
a room of her own (where the self can be known) is a treasure
More to come on this topic as the room of my own becomes a reality.
On Go Texan Day, I’ve no hat, boots, cattle…just jeans and attitude!
Today is Go Texan Day in Houston.
You might not know what that is, if you’re not from ’round these parts.
It’s the official start of the annual Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, which is a big deal to many around here. Not being a cowgirl, I haven’t been to the rodeo in years, but you can’t miss Go Texan Day, even in the office environment. Folks wear western garb to show their Lone Star pride, and the 11 trail rides that started around the state some days back all converge on Memorial park later today, where they camp overnight before joining tomorrow’s parade. You really can’t miss them; 3,000 riders on 11 different routes into the city tend to make an impression. That’s the point.
Map from Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo site; click to read about the trail rides
I snapped these photos from my car window as I was coming back to the office from lunch on the Thursday before the rodeo in 2014. I was on the Tomball Parkway access road, and lo and behold, there came the covered wagons behind me! It was the Sam Houston Trail Ride, ten wagons and 75 riders headed into Houston from Magnolia, which is 70 miles from the rodeo destination. Needless to say, I was late getting back to the office, and needless to say, I didn’t mind because the show was worth it. Only in Texas!
Every trail ride has a trail boss, who plans the ride, coordinates with the wagon boss, rides in front, and is responsible for keeping the horses, riders and the public safeThe wagons are coming!With one day left in their trip, the riders look a little tiredThe horses weren’t fazed by the automobile traffic at all
And, because I didn’t post a haiku yesterday, missing my one-a-day commitment for February, here’s a repeat of a recent one (before National Haiku Writing Month / NaHaiWriMo) with a similar theme:
Texas Cow Eyes
drop-in visitors on a rainy afternoon gotta love Round Top
A longhorn and his little buddy in Round Top, Texas; see the whole post here – photo credits to Rosemary Luning
Posting a haiku daily during February for National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo) has me digging up some of these little poems that I’ve written and stowed away. Many were created in moments of reflection or times of sadness in which the haiku exercise was a way to process grief or tragedy. Today’s is one of those.
turbulent journey, abrupt and violent ending ~ now on the peace train
The suicide was my brother’s. His pain is over, but the grief ebbs and flows like the tide for all of his loved ones.
Photo credits to my son; he took this in Galveston on his 19th birthday. Our family has a special connection to the seashore, as you’ll note in my days by the water .
A friend with young children sent me a couple of pictures today that reminded me how precious and fleeting that time of life is when your children are small.
The pictures of my friend’s little one were all smiles, joy, simplicity and innocence, evoking memories of when my son was a toddler.
I remember the way my heart grew beyond its capacity when I became a parent – and that the way my son looked at the world changed my own perspective on life and what’s important. It still does.
That was just a few minutes ago. But somehow my son is 20 now.
The author Elizabeth Stone said:
Making the decision to have a child – it is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.
She’s right.
So this haiku is dedicated to all parents of little ones (and once-little ones who’re all grown up now) as today’s effort for National Haiku Writing Month (NaHaiWriMo).
Spring is breaking out early at Glover Gardens, and the backyard is like a bird sanctuary. I have a new DSLR camera that I am learning how to use, and have taken to carrying it with me as much as I can when I’m outside (weekends only; I have a corporate job with a long commute). I am not good at schlepping the camera around yet and marvel at how pro photographers lug around all their equipment, ready to seize that great photo op when it appears. There are so many peripheral skills that they have to support the primary one of knowing what would make a great photo, and how to use their sophisticated equipment.
If you’ve been following Glover Gardens, you’ll know that I’m observing National Haiku Writing Month (#NaHaiWriMo)and posting one haiku per day in February. I started late, and it is a little more difficult than I thought, but I’m going to see it through. Fortunately, the backyard at Glover Gardens is a source of inspiration for me.
joy in my backyard: Mama Cardinal ponders life while I sit and watch
Mama Cardinal looks all aroundChecking me out to see if I’m a threatPerched above the feeder to survey the surroundings (is it safe? is it safe?)Finally, crunching on a seedLooking at me again before going for that next yummy seed
This point of view of this blog is (usually) positive, but sometimes contemplation requires lamentation.
Hubris, invited, accepts, and stays for good (bad). What price ignorance?
Hubris arises in many ways. I leave it to you, Dear Reader, to apply your own meaning.
The haiku was created as part of the NaHaiWriMo initiative, a commitment to produce one haiku per day in February. Read more here.
And you can find lots more Glover Gardens haiku here, most of it unfailingly positive, (except for the one about beets) honoring such favorites as cats, flowers, food and Dads.
I hate beets! They make a promise with their glorious color that they cannot keep with their taste. To say it in haiku:
dear beets, please explain the dichotomy between your color and taste
Most foods are A-OK with me, but beetroot is tops on the Bad List, along with alligator and mayonnaise (the jarred kind).
I’ve tried to like beets, really I have, but they taste like the dirt they come from. I’m not even sure they are actually food! Maybe the first human who ate them were just really hungry.
Photo from The Goods, which has a nice article about beets, including their health value and history (I still hate the pernicious red root, but it’s a good article)
My son’s godfather (known as the Raconteur here – see this post about his margaritas) used to come to my house so we could cook crazy things together oh-so-many years ago. I was alone at home with a small child and the Raconteur, who was yet to be married, had spare time, adored my child and is an adventurous cook and eater. We once we tried a dish that used ground fenugreek on chicken served in a beet-yogurt sauce. It was so bad that it was funny – my musician husband actually laughed out loud when he arrived home at around midnight and we served him Fenugreek Chicken with Beet Sauce. It was close to inedible. I’m not hating on the fenugreek; the beets just spoiled the whole dish.
What were we thinking?!!! It was actually the Raconteur’s fault; I was a doubter the whole time but he thought beets had gotten a bad rap because of the way our moms served them – pickled, from a can. His theory was that fresh beets with fresh yogurt (I think we made that, too) would be a whole different animal. Nope. Tasted like dirt.
The Raconteur married the lovely Kat-Woman, and we still find time to cook together when we can, now as a foursome with the Grill-Meister (another beet-hater). Kat-Woman also hates beets. But the subject keeps coming up. It seems like they want to like beets. (What’s up with that???) Last month, Kat-Woman sent us a text with a photo:
Continuing our discussion about beets…… Maybe this version will be edible?😆😳🤔
I doubted it. And since I never heard back from her about this travesty (beet hummus???), they must not have been edible.
Then today, this message and photo:
We’ve found a way we will eat beets. They do it right in London.
Beetroot and Goat Cheese Risotto from a restaurant in London; photo courtesy of Kat-Woman
They keep going back to the beet thing. I’m still very, very doubtful, but the thing is – Kat-Woman and the Raconteur have excellent palates and we love many of the same foods. I might just have to try this the next time I’m in London. Maybe.
While I’m confessing my feelings about beets, I’ll have to admit that I’ve never tried borscht. I should, it’s a traditional food that a foodie should have knowledge of…but again, it’s got beets in it! Convince me, someone!
Or maybe not. Beets are beets, and I’m a beet-hater.
