A Shadow Thought!

drawing by ana traina ~ 2011 ~

Often, all a girl really needs is a good listening!

A Bath for Melancholy, you say?

Edith Wharton's Garden ~ photo by ana traina ~ 2011

 Everyone suffers from the blues now and then and wouldn't it be great if you could just wash your troubles away? Well, maybe you can with the following recipe from the Fairfax Still-room book (published 1651). I think it's worth a rubber duckie and a good splash, so...

To make a bath for Melancholy ~ Take Mallowes, pellitory of the wall, of each three handfulls; Camomell Flowers, Mellilot flowers, of each one handfull, senerick seed one ounce, and boil them in nine gallons of Water untill they come to three, then put in a quart of new milke and go into it bloud warme or something warmer.'

Mallows are Old World perennial with faintly musk-scented foliage and white or pink flowers

Pellitory-of-the-Wall is a humble, inconspicuous plant belonging to the same group as the Stinging Nettle and the Hop.

MelUlot ~ sweet clover ~

Senerick seed - The seeds of MelUlot, it possess antibiotic activity. Formerly used in herb beer; flowers and seeds used to flavour Gruyere cheese, snuff and smoking tobacco. Limited cosmetic use where hay-like aroma is required.

Isop ~ Hyssop

Ben Jonson says:
'A good old woman . . . did cure me
With sodden ale and pellitorie o' the wall.'

Just a Thought!

photo by ana traina ~ 2011

I'm looking for that magical place, I know it lies betwixt and between here and the invisible!

It's Not Easy Capturing Joy!

photo by ana traina ~ 2011

It is not easy to capture a scooting hummingbird on film, I should know, I have been trying since last summer without any success. Until, yesterday when my son pointed out that there was a hummingbird at our feeder. Excited beyond compare, I quickly got my camera and ran over to the window to see if I could finally capture this colorful, combative, and swagalicous wind-dancer on film.  O’ yes, I am happy to report that I was dancing, prancing, and high fiving around my kitchen,  deliriously high on the glories of the very favorable outcome of my very clumsy endeavor! So... then of course, you guessed it, I had to do some research. Here is what I was able to uncover and discover about the hummingbird and its lore.

A Hummingbird is a small bird of the Trochilidae family. The rapid beating of the hummingbirds wings (60 to 80 beats per second) makes the distinctive humming sound from which they get their name.

The vibration or song of a hummingbird awakens the medicine flowers. Flowers love hummingbird because nectar sucking brings about the reproduction of their families.

Hummingbird can fly in any direction – up, down, backwards and forwards. Hummingbird can also hover in one spot and appear to be motionless.

Because of their magical qualities, Hummingbird feathers have been used for a millennium in the making of love charms. It is said that Hummingbird conjures love as no other medicine does, and that Hummingbird feathers open the heart. Without an open and loving heart, you can never taste the nectar and pure bliss of life.

photo by milia kinkova

A dead hummingbird may be worn around the neck in a little bag, to give the wearer the power to attract members of the opposite sex, or it may be dried and a little powder dropped into the drink of the person whose love is desired.”

To a hummingbird, life is a wonderland of delight – they dart from one beautiful flower to another, tasting the essences and radiating the colors.

Beauty is the target, and Hummingbird’s mission is to spread joy.

A hummingbird can quickly dies if caged, caught or imprisoned.

The Aztecs believed that hummingbirds were the reincarnation of brave warriors killed in battle.

Hummingbirds bring rain.

Hummingbirds are linked to the Faerie Realm, and pass freely back and forth.

Hummingbirds migrate across great bodies of water by hitching rides on the backs of geese.

Hummingbirds are usually considered a good omen. If you see one, you can expect that something good is going to happen to you very soon.

Also if a person is lucky enough to be able to see a hummingbird as it is right at a flower, they will have great luck flower down upon them for the rest of their days.

If you so desire to Plan A Hummingbird Garden ...here's a list of Hummingbird Favorite's Flowers!          
            Bee Balm (monarda spp)
            Cardinal Flower (lobelia cardinalis)
            Columbine (Aquilegia spp)
            Coralbells (heuchera sanguinea)
            Fushia
            Impatiens (Impatiens wallerana)
            Nasturtium (tropaeolum majus)
            Petunia
            Phlox
            Red-hot poker (kniphofia)
            Scarlet sage (salvia spendens)

            Vines..
            Japanese honeysuckle (lonicera japonica)
            Trumpet creeper (campis radicans)
            Passionflower (passiflora spp)
            Clematis

            Shrubs..
            Butterfly bush (buddleia davidii)
            Flowering quince (Chaenomeles)
            Tree tobacco (nicotiana glauca)

            Trees..
            Tulip Poplar
            Siberian Crab Apple
            Japanese flowering crab apple

A Bit O' Honey!

photo by ana traina ~ 2010 ~

I have always wanted to keep bees, but alas, I have to admit they frighten me... So with high hopes that knowledge would give me courage  here is a bit of Honey lore that I was able to uncover and discover... Bees are known to have magical properties, and they are extensively featured in folklore from many different cultures ~

In some areas of New England and Appalachia, it was believed that once someone died, it was
important for the family to "go tell the bees" of the death. Whoever kept the bees for the family
would make sure the bees got the news, so that they could spread it around.

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs used the honeybee as the royal symbol, during the period between 3000 b.c.e. and 350 b.c..

The Greeks believed that a baby whose lips were touched by a bee would become a great poet or speaker. 


If a bee flies into your house, it means that someone is coming to visit. If you kill the bee, the visitor will bring you bad news.

Stingy or quarrel-some people, it was believed, were never successful in producing honey.


Several deities are associated with bees and honey -  Aphrodite, Vishnu, Pan, Cybele , and Ra,  just to name a few. 


Ever hear the phrase "busy as a bee"? Bees in a hive work repetitively a the same task all day long. A bee who goes out foraging may fly as many as ten miles a day, gathering pollen and nectar to bring back to the hive, over and over again. According to the National Honey Board, a bee may visit more than two million flowers to gather enough nectar to make just one pound of honey. Thus, bees are associated with hard work and diligence.

If a bee lands on your hand, it means money is coming your way. 


Bees are, in some cultures, associated with purity. This is because the worker bees that produce honey never mate.

In Celtic mythology, the bee is a messenger between our world and the spirit realm. Bees are also associated with wisdom.
Bees and honey are often connected with Yggdrasil, the World Tree.

In Finland there is a belief that if a girl bakes a honey cake on Christmas Eve, keeps it in her bed overnight, and then gives a piece to her sweetheart, he will remain true to her through life.

One of the best old recipes for Honey wine that I know of comes from a 17th century book called "FROM THE CLOSET OF SIR KENELM DIGBY KNIGHT OPENED".  In this book Sir Digby outlines a some great recipes and just reading the book is quite fun just to see some of the processes that he used to make his mead.

TO MAKE EXCELLENT MEATHE or Honey Wine
"To every quart of Honey, take four quarts of water. Put your water in a clean Kettle over the fire, and with a stick take the just measure, how high the water cometh, making a notch, where the superficies toucheth the stick. As soon as the water is warm, put in your Honey, and let it boil, skimming it always, till it be very clean; Then put to every Gallon of water, one pound of the best Blew-raisins of the Sun, first clean picked from the stalks, and clean washed. Let them remain in the boiling Liquor, till they be throughly swollen and soft; Then take them out, and put them into a Hair-bag, and strain all the juice and pulp and substance from them in an Apothecaries Press; which put back into your liquor, and let it boil, till it be consumed just to the notch you took at first, for the measure of your water alone. Then let your Liquor run through a Hair-strainer into an empty Woodden-fat, which must stand endwise, with the head of the upper-end out; and there let it remain till the next day, that the liquor be quite cold. Then Tun it up into a good Barrel, not filled quite full, but within three or four fingers breadth; (where Sack hath been, is the best) and let the bung remain open for six weeks with a double bolter-cloth lying upon it, to keep out any foulness from falling in. Then stop it up close, and drink not of it till after nine months.

This Meathe is singularly good for a Consumption, Stone, Gravel, Weak-sight, and many more things. A Chief Burgomaster of Antwerpe, used for many years to drink no other drink but this; at Meals and all times, even for pledging of healths. And though He were an old man, he was of an extraordinary vigor every way, and had every year a Child, had always a great appetite, and good digestion; and yet was not fat."

A Bit of Odd and End ~ Digby doesn't say anything about yeast! However, you will need yeast... and any old yeast will do.

Alas, with all this tempting knowledge, I am still afraid of bees, perhaps, I shall try again next year!

maude and nico

Please, It is not a British Plant!

ana's garden ~2011

This year I grew the herb HYSSOP in my garden. I knew very little about this fiery-purple herb, so of course, I just had to look it up. Here is what I was able to uncover and discover in my research... While it may not be British plant, it is quite a literary herb, indeed!

Iago: 'Tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our
gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners; so that if
we will plant Nettles or sow Lettuce, set Hyssop, and weed
up Thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs or distract
it with many, either to have it sterile with idleness,
or maimed with industry, why, the power and corrigible
authority of this lies in our wills.

--- Othello, act i, sc. 3 (322).

We should scarcely expect such a lesson of wisdom drawn from the simple herb-garden in the mouth of the greatest knave and villain in the whole range of Shakespeare's writings. It was the preaching of a deep hypocrite, and while we hate the preacher we thank him for his lesson.[128:1]

The Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) is not a British plant, but it was held in high esteem in Shakespeare's time. Spenser spoke of it as--

"Sharp Isope good for green wounds remedies"--

and Gerard grew in his garden five or six different species or varieties. He does not tell us where his plants came from, and perhaps he did not know. It comes chiefly from Austria and Siberia; yet Greene in his "Philomela," 1615, speaks of "the Hyssop growing in America, that is liked of strangers for the smell, and hated of the inhabitants for the operation, being as prejudicial to the one as delightsome to the other." It is now very little cultivated, for it is not a plant of much beauty, and its medicinal properties are not much esteemed; yet it is a plant that must always have an interest to readers of the Bible; for there it comes before us as the plant of purification, as the plant of which the study was not beneath the wisdom of Solomon, and especially as the plant that added to the cruelties of the Crucifixion. Whether the Hyssop of Scripture is the Hyssopus officinalis is still a question, but at the present time the most modern research has decided that it is.

Some Culinary Uses

Hyssop is a favorite of the makers of bitters, digestives and liqueurs (Absinthe, Benedictine and Chartreuse), but many people find it too pungent to use much in cooking.

Use this herb sparingly; it can easily overpower the other flavors in a dish. Only two or three leaves or flowers suffice for an individual serving of green salad. But a little hyssop can be a pleasant surprise in simple fruit dishes such as compotes or stewed prunes. It will add a great deal of interest to a peach cobbler, which might otherwise be sweet and mellow but not much more. Just sprinkle a scant teaspoon of ground dried hyssop, or twice as much of the finely chopped fresh leaves, under the crust. A pinch of the herb is good in pea soup and in lentil and mushroom dishes.

Sausages, pâtés, and meaty stews are often seasoned with this robust herb. A little hyssop will anchor the flavor of a savory fruit sauce for duck, goose, or turkey.

In Israel. hyssop is sometimes used in place of thyme to make za'atar. It is debated whether today's hyssop is the same as the herb mentioned by that name in the Bible, and the matter is unlikely to be settled definitively.astes so good with fish that in parts of Panama the leaves are fed to live, stocked fish, which then acquire the flavor of the herb.

Bits of Odds and Ends ~

It seems likely from the following passage from Lily's "Euphues, the anatomy of wit," 1617, that the plants were not named at random by Iago, but that there was some connection between them. "Good gardeners, in their curious knots, mixe Isope with Time, as aiders the one with the others; the one being dry, the other moist." The gardeners of the sixteenth century had a firm belief in the sympathies and antipathies of plants.

A Shadow Thought!

drawing by ana traina ~ 2011 ~

Sometimes, sweeping the clouds can make the wild flowers grow!

A Manly Diary - Adventures in Onigiri - by Liam A. Cohen!

photo by ana traina ~ 2011

 One day, I was working on a little project of mine, my CNC 3D printer if you must ask, and the most mysterious thing happened to me.  I noticed that I had run out of both nyloc nuts and 3mm by 30mm bolts, what a catastrophe!  I went into the town to see if my local hardware store had any nuts and bolts of the correct size, alas, they had none.  Ah, and there lies the rub! What is one to do on a hot and rainy summer's day? Then, suddenly I was struck by a stroke of brilliance!  I decided that I would cook up a scrumptious, Japanese style dinner.  

I looked on the inter-webs and found two dishes that I had particularly enjoyed when I was in the motherland.  The first being, onigiri, a Japanese bento-box food that consists of a rice-ball wrapped in nori, or toasted seaweed, with a filling of any kind on the inside.  The second was called Dango, a sweet rice dumpling with nothing inside of it, but topped with a delicious salty-sweet, caramelized sauce.

Recipe:

Onigiri Ingredients:

Sushi or Sticky Rice - any amount
Toasted Nori (seaweed)

Onigiri Filling Ingredients:

Salmon (canned or un-canned)
Mayo
Wasabi Powder
Soy Sauce

There are no particular measurements because the onigiri can differ in size, and the filling can be made to anyone's particular liking.  After you have cooked the rice and made the filling, you must wet your hands thoroughly in salt water.  Then take a handful of rice and start squishing it into a ball, then make a "v" shape with your hand and start to turn the rice ball into a triangle.  After doing that for a while, when the rice is nice and firm, poke a hole in the rice ball and insert your filling.  Then repeat the last step to recreate the shape of the onigiri.  The final step is simply to wrap the onigiri with nori in anyway you desire.  Also, as an added note, a triangle shape is not necessary, any shape you want is just fine to make.  

photo by ana traina ~ 2011

Recipe:

Dango Ingredients (dumplings):

Rice flower (Japanese rice flower is the best, but any other will do the job)
Water
Bamboo Skewers

Dango Ingredients (sauce):

Soy Sauce - 28mL
Rice Vinegar - 1/2 Tbs.
Sugar - 55mL
Water - 105mL
Mirin (Rice Wine)(Optional) - 1 Tbs.

For the dumpling part of Dango, there are no measurements because every rice flour one buys is different, and to get the correct consistency, one has to experiment with different amounts.  The correct consistency is rough, easy to make the rice dough into a ball.  After mixing the rice flour and the water, and getting the correct consistency, it is time to start rolling the dough into little balls.  The balls do not have to be of perfect shape, just relatively a sphere.  Remember to wet your hands before you make the balls, otherwise they will stick to your hands and you will not get the right shape.  Next, we must boil some water on medium heat.  After the water is boiling, put the rice balls into the boiling water.  Wait until they rise to the top; when they rise to the top, make sure to immediately submerse them in cold water.  After that, they can be put on the bamboo skewers, usually five to a skewer is how it is done.
 

The sauce is really easy, all you have to do is mix all the ingredients in a sauce pan and put the pan on high heat, and mix.  After all of the ingredients are mixed together you should see like a coffee colored liquid.  After that, wait until the liquid caramelizes, or turns a light, translucent brown.  Gradually mixing the liquid, when the whole liquid has caramelized, the stove can be turned off, and the liquid should be left to cool for a few minutes.  The longer the liquid cools, the more viscous it will get.  Finally, when the sauce cools, it can be poured and draped all over the dumplings, and they are ready to serve!!!

After a few hours in the kitchen, I finally finished. I had created 11 onigiri, 3 of which had been eaten in the process, so 8 were left.  I had also created 5 sticks of Dango.  Both of them were very delicious, and very filling.  It was a good replacement for making my CNC printer, and was a worthy endeavor to increase my skillet of life! 

photo by ana traina ~ 2011 ~

Thank you very much for listening and happy dumplings to all!




 

A Shadow Thought!

photo by ana traina ~ 2011~

Some days you wake up and you just feel something is... different!

O the Shadow of a Dragonfly!

photo by ana traina ~ 2010

The dragonfly 

by
Matsuo Basho

The dragonfly
can't quite land
on that blade of grass.

The Bronze Fennel!

ana's garden ~2011

This year I decided to plant Bronze Fennel in my garden, not really knowing if it were the same as ‘normal fennel.’ I chose it for its fine clouds of feathery, bronze-purple leaves, and its sulphur-yellow flowerheads. I thought it would look lovely in my garden and I was right. Now, I am happy to report that besides its stunning looks, the uses of Bronze Fennel are exactly the same as the 'normal' fennel.

You can pick the young stems and leaves as required. Collect 'bulb' as soon as big enough to be useful. The flower stalks are collected just before they bloom and can be eaten like celery. You must collect the seeds as they mature and then harvest the root in spring.

Culinary Uses: The entire plant is edible. Seeds are added to sausages and baked goods; the leaves are used with fish, vegetables, cheese spreads and soups. Fennel can be used in/with salads, sausage, pork, duck, fish, cabbage, cucumber, onion, herb butter, cheese spread; seeds in desserts and breads. The 'bulb' can be used cooked or raw as a vegetable. The greens can be used almost interchangeably with dill and the seeds can be used ground in lentil soups, whole in boiling water for rice and brussels sprouts, or added to breads. Seeds and leaves used with fish, in soups, salads and dressings.

Medicinal Uses: Excellent digestive, suitable for babies in tiny doses. Also used to treat respiratory congestion, conjunctivitis, styes, diarrhoea, cystitis and other urinary tract infections, to eliminate hookworms, to increase flow of breast milk, as a soothing eyewash and the chewed seeds will freshen the breath. It is also used to reduce appetite in slimming regimes. Helpful for cancer patients after radiation and chemotherapy. May improve the libido in both males and females. Fennel oil can be rubbed over painful joints to relieve rheumatism and may be added to gargles for hoarseness and sore throat and cough.

LAST BIT OF ODD AND END ~ Fennel and homosexuality are related in Greek mythology where the Greek God, Dionysus, fashioned a sexual 'wand' out of a fennel branch to satiate his desire for a newly deceased male lover, with whom he was never able to consummate his relationship.

Not the Nameless Nix, But...

photo by ana traina ~ 2011

Yesterday, I went down to the Green River looking for my Nameless Nix, alas, he was nowhere to be found. However, I did swim into this delightful young Nixie! It took a while for him to notice me but when he did, he broke into this...

Math rap

Yo I'm a math nerd, I spit out equations
But don't forget I'm also a master of persuasions
You can't resist the urge of that
Which is the last theorem of the famous Fermat

If you take the integer with modulus p,
Then square it and raise it to the power of three
You know there is nothing you can do against me
Because no one else can prove the irrationality of e

Who else would have guessed that i to the i is real
A formula with imaginary trig, that is the deal
A brilliant man named Euler is my hero
Because e to the power of pi times i plus one is zero

My life is a long problem integrated by parts
But its okay because I study the work of decarte
I think therefore I am, this is sentential logic
Are you still with me or are you feeling lethargic

I wish I was the derivative of your function so I could lay tangent to your curves
If you are ever feeling lonely you know I'm on reserve
Although, all this to me may sound rather imaginary
But I know your used to it, for you it's quite ordinary

Did you know there are some different sized infinities
However none of them compare to my mathematical abilities
Some say that the set of all sets is simply a paradox
But to me set theory and numbers really do rock



Enchanted by his song, I asked, if he would record it for me. He said, “We’ll see...” And then quicker than a wink and a glimmer, he disappeared beyond the bottom of the sea...

MATH RAP BY LIAM A. COHEN

An Olde Lyme-Ginseng Men's Hand Cream Recipe!

photo by ana traina ~ santa monica ~ 2011

AUBREY’S OLDE ENGLISH LYME-GINSENG MEN’S HAND CREAM...
Recently, I came across this incredible recipe for men’s hand cream, and I thought I would share it with you. It has also come to my attention that this pungent, heavy duty hand cream would also make an excellent gardener’s hand cream or for anyone who has hard working hands. It was created just for Natural Hand Cream by Aubrey Hampton, an herbalist and cosmetic chemist. The cream serves as a protective coating and with regular use will improve dry, chapped, and red hands. Although there are 14 ingredients, the recipe is easy to prepare.

1 package (10.5 ounces, or 325ml) “silken” tofu
1/2 - cup organic aloe vera gel
1 tablespoon - citrus seed extract
2 tablespoons - evening primrose oil
3 tablespoons - glycerin
3 tablespoons - shea butter
2 tablespoons - 100-proof grain alcohol or vodka
12 drops - Siberian ginseng tonic
2 drops - essential oil of ginger
8 drops - essential oil of lemongrass
8 drops - essential oil of lemon
2 tablespoons - essential oil of lime
6 drops - essential oil of grapefruit
1 tablespoon - almond oil

To make ~

First, place the tofu in a blender. Add the aloe vera, citrus seed extract, evening primrose oil, and glycerin. Now blend until smooth. Then add the shea butter to the blended ingredients. Now it is time to add the alcohol; ginseng tonic; essential oils of ginseng tonic; ginger, lemongrass, lemon, lime and grapefruit, and the almond oil. Now you must blend until the mixture is smooth. And last but not least pour into clean lotion bottles, label, date, and don’t forget to refrigerate, where it will keep for up to three weeks!

A hint of advice ~ When you first apply the lotion, it may feel a bit sticky and clingy and scent strongly of lemon and lime. Never fear for only after a few moments the aroma dissipates and the sticky-wicky feeling is gone!

A Shadow Thought!

drawing by ana traina ~ 2011

Wandering up near the clouds can change a girl!

The Emerald Muse!

photo by ana traina ~ 2011

In French, the word "absinthe" means "wormwood." It was also known as the "green fairy" during its heyday in France in the 1800s. The Green Fairy is the English translation of La Fee Verte, the French nickname given to absinthe in the 19th century. The nickname stuck, and over a century later, "absinthe" and "Green Fairy" continue to be used.

Absinthe is an anise-flavored liquor or spirit that is made by steeping wormwood (wormwood has been defined as the quinine of the poor) and other aromatic herbs (hyssop, lemon balm, and angelica) in alcohol.

Absinthe was the “drink of the day” for artists, writers, and poets in Europe in the late nineteenth century. It was known as the drink of the Bohemians. The bohemians were self-impoverished artists, writers, musicians, free thinkers, and counter culture types. Manet, Toulouse-Lautrec, Degas, Picasso, de Maupassant, and especially Vincent Van Gogh are associated with absinthe. The "green fairy," as absinthe was known to be called for purportedly causing hallucinations, is thought to have encouraged Van Gogh to cut off part of his left ear.  

Last bit of Odds and Ends ~ The scientific name for wormwood, Artemisia Absinthium, may have come from the Greek Goddess of fertility, the forest, and the hunt....Artemis. She is said to have delivered wormwood to the centaur Chiron, who was a great healer, to use as medicine. Aside from using the herb to relieve cramps and treat certain diseases, many cultures historically believed it could protect the genitals and promote fertility. 

Green Fairy Cocktail


1 ounce absinthe 

1 ounce water 

Juice of 1 lemon

2 teaspoons egg white

1 dash Angostura bitters

Shake thoroughly with ice and strain into a cocktail glass.

For more delightful tidbits and recipes I highly recommend this book! 
Paul Owens,Paul Nathan'sThe Little Green Book of Absinthe: An Essential Companion with Lore, Trivia, and Classic and Contemporary Cocktails [Hardcover](2010)

The Visitor's Lesson!

photo by ana traina

Since the beginning of June I have had a ravenous red squirrel visit the bird feeder that sits just outside my kitchen window. She usually visits while I am having my morning coffee. She is an acrobatic wonder and a delight to behold! She has amazed me with daring high wire acts while racing through the tree branches. I have enjoyed her antics for many mornings now, and I have finally decided that it is high time I name her.  So, from this day forward my fuzzy red friend will be called, Mrs. Junious Jones. It had also occurred to me that perhaps my new friend was here for a reason. Of course, this thought made me curious, so here is what I was able to uncover and discover...

The Tree Squirrel, also known as the Red Squirrel is a very special animal. It is one of very few wild animals that have adapted to humans and learned to coexist with them. It can live on both natural foods and hand outs, such as the seeds from my bird feeder.  Its large tail makes it the most recognized mammal on Earth.

The squirrel's common name can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, where Aristotle used the word "skiouros," skia meaning shade, while "oura" means tail. Thus the meaning "he who sits in the shadow of his tail" was recorded. Centuries later the French created a noun "esquirel" to describe this animal. From this the present word "squirrel" was derived.

Her keynotes are gathering, preparedness and activity. Her cycle of power is year around and peaks in autumn. She symbolizes problem solving, resourcefulness, storing for the future, planning ahead, balance in giving and receiving, playfulness, warning, discovery, change and getting rid of what isn’t needed, be it objects and/or negative emotions, memory and beliefs.

The squirrel teaches people there aren’t any obstacles that can’t be surmounted. Any problem or threat can be overcome by going into a higher place of the mind and forming a plan of action.
The squirrel is one of the very few wild animals who is trusting enough to eat from a person's hand, so one of her lessons is for people to learn to drop their defenses, and learn to trust more. Another lesson is that there’s time for everything in life. The balance between rest, work and play is crucial to harmony and well-being.

I have come to the conclusion that I have a lot to learn from Mrs. Junious Jones, so I’ll be sure to keep my bird feeder well stocked!
 
Last bit of odds and ends: Some Squirrely Lore...The Pennsylvania Dutch believe that when her tail is extra bushy and her fur is thick, the winter weather will be severe. People in some European countries think that people lose their hunting skills if they kill a squirrel.

Love and the Artichoke!

photo by ana traina ~ 2011

Native to the Mediterranean region, the artichoke is the edible flower bud of a thistle-like plant in the sunflower family. It is eaten as a vegetable.

Its botanical name, Cynara scolymus, derives from the Latin canina meaning canine and the Greek skolymos meaning thistle. Its English name comes from the Arabic al-khurshuf also meaning thistle, which became articiocco in Italian, and ultimately artichoke.

Artichokes are one of the oldest foods known to man. Zeus was said to have turned a scorned lover into an artichoke.

Catherine de Medici, who was married to King Henry II of France at the tender young age of 14, is credited with bringing the artichoke from her native Italy to France, where its success was instant.    

Artichokes are said to be aphrodisiacs.

Technically, an artichoke is a flower.
       
According to Elizabethan folklore, the artichoke was created when a beautiful woman angered the gods and was turned into a thistle.

Ancient physicians prescribed artichokes to enhance the flailing libidos of men and as a remedy for a variety of physical ailments.

Roman scholar and naturalist Pliny noted the artichoke was more esteemed and valuable than any other garden herb at one time in ancient Rome.

German poet Goethe was apparently not so enamored of artichokes. As he said in his book Travels Through Italy, "the peasants eat thistles." He apparently did not much care for artichokes.

In Castroville, California, the artichoke capital of the USA, silver screen siren Marilyn Monroe was named the first Artichoke Queen while on a publicity tour in the Salinas Valley and central California in 1948.

In full growth, an artichoke plant can spread nine feet in diameter and stand five feet tall, and one plant can produce over 20 artichokes a year.

Baby artichokes are simply normal artichoke buds that grow lower on primary artichoke stalks.

LAST BIT OF ODD AND END: According to folklore, the juice of an artichoke, pressed out before it blossoms, will restore the hair on a bald head, but it's unclear if you are supposed to rub it on your head or drink it.

Carduos 

(Artichokes with Egg) Ancient Roman Recipe

Carduos (from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria III,19,1) Carduos: liquamine, oleo et ovis concisis.

Translation Cardoons: Liquamen, oil and chopped [hard-boiled] eggs.


The plant referred to here is probably the Cardoon, Cynara cardunculus (also known as the artichoke thistle, which is a thistle-like plant of the Asteraceae (aster) family. However, it's the stems and leaf bases of the cardoon that are consumed rather then the flower head (as for artichokes).

Ingredients: 8 globe artichokes
120ml olive oil
1 tbsp liquamen (fish sauce (Nam Pla))
 4 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

Method: Remove the outer leaves from the artichokes then trim off any spiny tips and remove the chokes (if present). Whisk together the olive oil and fish sauce. Arrange the artichokes upright in a small pan, cover with water and pour the oil mixture over the top. Bring to a boil and continue boiling until the artichokes are cooked and tender (about 25 minutes). Remove the artichokes from the pan, sit on a plate and sprinkle a tablespoon of the chopped egg over each one.

Find more recipes from Apicius' De Re Coquinaria along with information on Apicius and his cookbook, all part of this site's Ancient Roman recipes collection.

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