This week I had planned on writing Part Two: Provence Revisited, but I was sidetracked by pristine fresh snow; a brilliant white palette for animal tracks and reflections of light. Provence can wait, for now it’s back to winter!
Our invigorating walks in the cold have been mostly on side roads and our steps are careful; plodding and heavier. Between wearing sturdy winter hiking boots and the snow covered roads, it feels as if my feet carry me along like the thick and heavy tread of snow tires! The slower pace gives one the advantage of noticing more and I am enthralled by the patterns of light and shadows on the snow.
A small puddle of water on the side of the road is transformed into an exquisite ice sculpture.
On Kelsey Road in Sheffield MA, we walked by a small marsh and Paul remarked that he thought that the tiny bumps and indentations covered with snow were called hummocks. I thought that they looked like a magical colony of snow elf dwellings! After checking on Wikipedia, we read that shallow wet depressions in swampy areas are also called flarks.
Walking along the road, we had a good deal of fun making up silly word combinations, but quickly realized that we needed to call on our dear friend Hal Ober, an amazing poet and writer. He writes a blog called The Old Hatchery. We asked him to come up with a fitting limerick and he willingly complied. Here it is!
Hummocks and flarks. Hummocks and flarks.
It’s enough to flummox the Brothers Marx!
Compounding the task with a limerick ask?
Why, I’d sooner recline in a hammock with sharks!
AND, then Hal also wrote a poem!
Boggier(but not a limerick)
A hummock’s a hollow,
A flark is a mound.
No, sorry!
I’ve got that the wrong way around.
If you slog through a bog
Here’s a field note to savor:
A hummock’s convex
And a flark is concaver.
Or picture a sine wave.
Why? Just for a lark.
The crest—that’s the hummock.
The trough is the flark.
Thank you Hal!!
AND, According to Wikepedia
In geology, a hummock is a small knoll or mound above ground.[1] They are typically less than 15 meters (50 ft) in height and tend to appear in groups or fields. It is difficult to make generalizations about hummocks because of the diversity in their morphology and sedimentology.[2] An extremely irregular surface may be called hummocky.[3]
An ice hummock is a boss or rounded knoll of ice rising above the general level of an ice-field. Hummocky ice is caused by slow and unequal pressure in the main body of the packed ice, and by unequal structure and temperature at a later period.
Hummocks in the shape of low ridges of drier peat moss typically form part of the structure of certain types of raised bog, such as plateau, kermi, palsa or string bog. The hummocks alternate with shallow wet depressions or flarks.
Strange as it may seem to some, especially this week with the whole country in crisis with a deep freeze, I love the cold weather. I find I have more energy and focus. After a long walk, I am ready to come back indoors and cook to my heart’s content. With a fire blazing in the woodstove, food can simmer on the stove for hours while I practice, plan for future concerts, read and write. In the summer, I feel languid and lazy. I am always trying to keep the house cool and cooking in general suffers.
While walking the other day, I passed a small farm that raises Highland cattle. Originally from the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland, their heavy fur is suitable for strong winds and colder temperatures. I was able to get quite close and could see puffs of steam come out of their noses as they exhaled. They seemed very contented in the snow; I think I might have found some kindred spirits!
**********************************
Safely back inside, I began to think about dinner. For the holidays, my daughter gave me a cookbook by the Israeli/English chef Yotam Ottolenghi called Flavor. Well known for his innovative recipes using a wide range of flavor combinations, his most recent book features plant based recipes. This is perfect for us. These days we are leaning towards a mostly vegetarian diet for a number of reasons: health, environmental concerns and I also happen to love the many different cuisines that use vegetables in flavorful and creative ways; Asian, Middle Eastern, Indian; the possibilities seem endless. Looking through the book, I saw a recipe for Tofu Korma that sounded delicious. Luckily the day I made it, we were snowed in- it took most of the day to prepare! The recipe with instructions will appear at another time!
I decided to make an Indian vegetarian feast that was a bit less labor intensive. I made the following dishes over two days: Day One- Curried Vegetables, Kidney Bean Dal and Brown Rice. Day Two – Indian Pan Fried Cauliflower and Whole Wheat Naan along with leftovers from the previous night! A true feast!
The pan fried cauliflower, seasoned with cumin and black mustard seeds, turmeric, ginger and garlic is based on a recipe by David Tanis who is a contributor for the NYT Cooking column. Tanis has worked as a chef for many years at the renowned Berkeley restaurant Chez Panisse; on my wish list to visit! I found the cumin and black mustard seeds in out of way container of Indian spices that I had purchased a while ago from a wonderful store called Kalustyan’s in Manhattan. Ideally spices should replaced after a year and I know that my supply is getting a bit old. Kalustyan’s has a great online store to order spices, but I think I will hold out until I can visit Curry Hill, the area between Lexington Avenue and 25th to 30th streets. I will also plan to visit Pongal an excellent vegetarian Indian restaurant in the neighborhood and will most definitely order a dosa!
The naan was surprisingly easy to make; the only ingredients were whole wheat flour, yeast, salt and yogurt. I kneaded the dough in my mixer with a dough hook and they cooked very quickly on a hot griddle. The fun part was holding them over an open gas flame with tongs and they puffed up!
Curried Vegetables
Ingredients:
2 carrots cut into diagonal slices
1 zucchini cut into diagonal slices
1 cup frozen green beans
6-8 cherry tomatoes
1 medium onion diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
To Make Vegetable Curry:
In a large saucepan pan, heat olive oil.
Add onions and saute until they soften and turn light brown.
Add garlic and ginger and saute about a minute.
Add cumin, salt & pepper to taste and curry powder and saute for two minutes.
Add vegetables and saute for two minutes.
Add a bit of water and cover pan. You can always add more water if the mixture gets too dry and the vegetables are not soft enough.
Reduce to a simmer and cook until vegetables are soft about 30 minutes.
Remove cover from pan and cook for a few minutes. You want a thick mixture-if there are bits of caramelized onion, garlic or ginger on the bottom of the pan this is good! Stir them up into the mixture.
Enjoy!
Kidney Bean Dal
Ingredients:
2 cans organic kidney beans drained and rinsed
1 small onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 bay leaf (if you have fresh curry leaf, this would be great!)
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro for garnish
To Make Kidney Bean Dal:
In a medium sized pot, heat olive oil.
Add onion and saute until it softens.
Add garlic and ginger- saute one minute.
Add turmeric, cumin, salt and pepper to taste.
Cover with water and bring to a boil.
Reduce to a simmer and cook until onions are soft and liquid is almost gone.
Uncover and cook a bit more until all liquid is gone.
Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve.
Enjoy!
Indian Pan-Fried Cauliflower
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small cauliflower, cored and sliced into 1/2 pieces
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1/2 cup frozen peas
To Make Cauliflower:
Heat a large saute pan or cast-iron skillet over medium to high heat.
Add the oil and when it is hot, add cauliflower in one layer. Let it brown and then stir. Season with salt and pepper and cook about 5 minutes more.
Push cauliflower over to one side of the pan and add a bit more olive oil.
Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and tumeric and when the mixture begins to sizzle, add ginger and garlic.
Add peas and stir well.
Add water to almost cover vegetables, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.
Cover pan and cook until the cauliflower is tender and the liquid is evaporated, about 10-15 minutes, the timing can vary.
At this point, you can cook the mixture a few minutes more to brown and crisp things up.
Enjoy!
Whole Wheat Naan
Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
small pinch of sugar
2 tablespoons non-fat yogurt
1 teaspoon salt
lukewarm water
To Make Naan:
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, pinch of sugar, salt and yeast.
Place the yeast and salt on opposite sides of the bowl, this is because salt will adversely effect the yeast if the are mixed together while still dry.
Add yogurt and a small amount of water and knead briefly to make a smooth dough. You can continue kneading by hand for 5 minutes, but I used the dough hook on my mixer for 5 minutes and it was fine!
Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for about 2 hours until it is doubled in size.
This is one of the fun parts- punch the dough down and knead for a couple more minutes.
Make 6-8 portions of the dough into balls and allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. The dough will rise again a bit more.
Lightly dust a working surface with flour and roll the balls into ovals or circles, do not roll out too thin.
Heat a skillet on medium-high heat, place the rolled whole wheat naan over the heated skillet and cook on both sides. You will notice brown spots come on the top and the naans will puff up with air pockets.
This was my favorite part. If you have a gas flame, you can optionally cook it directly over the flame once it is partially done on the skillet and let the breads puff up over the open flame!
You can smear some butter over the hot breads if desired!
ENJOY THE FEAST!!
Happy Rest of Winter! For the warm weather lovers, spring will be here soon! Stay warm and safe!
An addendum: hummocks and flarks on today’s snowy walk on Kelsey Road!
A Musician's Travels 