A Well-Stocked Cupboard

This weekend was the first time in a long time that we have been homework-free, and the weather was beautiful. So we had a classy picnic. We took the Wildflower Sweet Potato sandwiches and magazines and books. It was a really beautiful day in the park by a small stream.

We had a great time on Saturday night making apple pie. I asked MK in DM to send the recipe, since he makes the best apple pie, which isn't too sweet. We had a bit of overflow with the filling, so we also made some pretty intense apple crisp too.


It was pretty delicious.


Tonight I decided to use up some pumpkin from the freezer to make muffins. I let Kavi sit on top of the refrigerator, and he was pretty happy there. Then when I opened the cupboard, he flew straight up to the top shelf. It was the first time he'd ever considered going into the cupboard. I don't keep anything on the top shelf because I'm normal-person-sized. He whistled a lot up there, probably checking out the awesome acoustic properties. This is my "bare ingredients" cupboard.


-吴碧芙

Memory

Long before I thought of going to China, I heard a story about our family friend Herb. (Of course, Herb had many stories.) He had been a missionary in China. After returning to the States, a few years later, he was cleaning out his garage, when he stopped and said, "I smell China." It was as if the scent had traveled from China and landed in Minnesota.

That moment where a scent meets a deep memory or an emotion is wonderful. In Anatomy I learned that olfactory experiences are processed in the same place in the brain as memory, and differently from other senses. But scent sometimes transports me to a place I can't explain, something from childhood, something from which I only remember a feeling, and not a place or person.

I often wonder what will trigger that reaction of "smelling China" for me. Many things come to mind, like burning garbage and exhaust fumes. The good and more subtle come to mind too, like the Bread Diary, the deep, cool, wood and incense of a temple, or the stinging oil used during a leg massage.

Pineapples remind me of China too. The vendors would have it cut and ready in plastic bags with toothpicks to make it easy to take and eat. I cut up a pineapple tonight and immediately took out the garbage.

I was overcome with the scent of lilacs. The hedge between our apartment property and a large, barren field, the hedge I've seen many times before, is actually a long row of lilac bushes, more than 40 feet long, in white, lavender, and dark purple.



I haven't lived in a place with lilacs in 4 years.

-吴碧芙

Sandwich Cred

Cred is something people can respect you for. If your beard makes people at a food co-op look at you a little differently, a nod of respect, you've got Hippie Cred. If your nose ring helps make the scary, skinning, all-dressed-in-black-stuff-that-laces-up woman feel like talking to you on the plane to Omaha, you might have some Goth Cred. If you can make a wonderful sandwich two weeks in a row, you might be well on your way to Sandwich Cred.

As I was sitting studying on the couch, there was some banging around in the kitchen. Then, the most delicious aroma began to circulate. It was a mixture of sweetness and the tang of boiled wine. It was the first step in my favorite sandwich. 文大男 had looked up the ingredient list and the recipes for the ingredients that couldn't be bought. This is the fig confit with rosemary.


The confit reduced and was pureed in the food processor. Fennel, an ingredient I had forgotten about, was marinated in a lemon juice sauce. The sweet potatoes were roasted in the oven. Then we were ready to start building the sandwich, starting with spreading confit on the bottom bread. (文大男 agreed to be the hand model for these pics.)


Potatoes, mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, arugula, and spring greens were added in order.


The last bit of love was the balsalmic vinaigrette.


It was the absolute recreation of the sandwich I thought I would never taste again! Oozing with goodness, the depth of the flavors tingling through every bite. Sweet, savory, a little sour...the true test of a good palate.


-吴碧芙