Vicki Lane's Blog, page 523

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Seduced by. . .

When people ask why in the world John and I left the suburbs of Tampa where we were raised to buy a mountainside farm in North Carolina, I usually say that we were seduced by The Whole Earth Catalog and Mother Earth News.

I was cleaning out an unused cupboard the other day and there, along with a slide projector, a box full of change ($219.50), and a bunch of outdated reference books, were those amazing, life-changing catalogs.  I still remember when I paged through the first Catalog -- suddenly everything seemed possible. I could order a yurt. . . or a book on building a log cabin. Soil test kits, coffee grinders, a guide to film making, common sense childbirth arts and crafts, a ship captain's medical guide (useful when one is days or weeks from medical assistance,)  Snugli baby carriers, underwater prospecting techniques, Cuisinaire rods, the I Ching . . .
Access to Tools, the Catalog's subtitle promised. And though I had a college degree, I quickly realized how very much more there was to learn. English lit was all very well but the Catalog laid out a tempting smorgasbord of potentialities -- art, craft, homesteading, design, engineering, practical philosophy. Our horizons expanded

Obviously, we were drawn to the back-to- the-land niche ( though there was a brief flirtation with the idea of living on a boat. . .) Many of the books on our shelves today were ordered on the Catalog's recommendation.
Now, of course, the Internet offers almost unlimited access to tools and learning.  But I can't bring myself to part with these iconic bits of our past.  And who knows -- they may yet inspire me toward something else.

A Weighty Question

I don't know . . . What do you think? Does this paint job make my butt look big?

Bzzzz . . .

. . . bzzz . . . . . . bzzz . . . . . .bzzz . . . . . . bzzzy day! And the winners of the bound galleys are Joan in NZ, Merisi in Vienna,  NCmountainwoman, and Deanna in Missouri!  Congratulations and you all will need to send a snail mail address  to  vicki__laneATmtnareaDOTnet

Gumbo

High on the Hog by Jessica B. Harris traces the African-American experience and the influence of African foods and African-American cooking on the American cuisine.  I really enjoyed this fascinating look at the history of the African Diaspora and the origins of some very familiar foods.
I was thinking about this today when I was in the garden picking some okra. According to Harris, the word okra is from the Igbo language of Nigeria -- where the mucilaginous pods are called okuru.  It was grown in the US by the early 1700s and was certainly on the menu at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello.
I made a simple gumbo with my okra, sauteeing the sliced pods  in bacon grease with chopped onion, garlic, and green peppers, then adding chopped tomatoes.  
Served over rice, it's gumbo -- a dish with definite African antecedents.  Again according to Harris, the word gumbo come from the Bantu languages where the pods are called ochingombo or guingombo. History in a bowl!

Porch Flowers

Self-sown morning glories... ... back every year. A bit of a weed but oh! how welcome... Such elegance of form and color! Angel-wing begonia -- descendant of one of my grandmother's plants ... Its heavy truss of blooms is almost hidden by those spotted leaves.

Making Greek Yogurt

All that lovely fresh Jersey milk has inspired me -- it's been years since I made yogurt and when I did, it was with one of those weenie little yogurt makers that produces about five cups.  I wanted QUANTITY!  And besides, that weenie yogurt maker is nowhere to be found.


So after a consultation with Mr. Google, this is what I did.
 First I heat a gallon of milk (I'd skimmed off most of the cream) to 185 F and hold it at that temperature for 15 minutes, stirring frequently so it doesn't stick on the bottom of the pot.
Cool to about 110 F (the specially marked yellow thermometer came with the weenie yogurt maker)  then stir in starter yogurt. In the blue bowl is about a cup of store-bought Greek yogurt that I'm using as the starter.
Get the statrter well mixed into the warm milk then pour the mixture into clean quart jars. Put the jars (four of them for a gallon of milk) into a cooler and fill two more jars with hot water from the tap. Add those to the cooler, cover with a towel, close the cooler and let the yogurt incubate for 7 -8 hours. I was amazed, when I opened the cooler after 8 hours, at how well it had retained the heat. And now I had four quarts of yogurt.
  But I wanted Greek yogurt which is thicker, so I first poured off the whey that had risen to the tops of the jars then lined a colander with a clean white handkerchief and dumped in the drained yogurt to let even more whey escape. (I saved the whey to moisten the dogs' kibble -- the dogs call this a good idea.) After draining the whey, my four quarts of yogurt had become two quarts of Greek yogurt.
And the next morning. . . Greek yogurt, sliced South Carolina peaches, and cereal . . . with a side of coffee and mystery.

Courtesy of the Jersey girls.

August Is . . .

Dramatic sunrises . . . A bounty of tomatoes . . . The sweet-spicy fragrance of gardenias at my door . . . Clearing away summer's weeds to plant a fall garden. . .
And ending a rainless day with a pale bit of a rainbow.

FAQ - Do You Ever. . .

Q: Do you ever read your own books, once they've been published?

A: Until recently, the answer would have been No.  But last month  while I was at Wildacres, I read The Day of Small Things (and found it better than I remembered.) And yesterday afternoon, when the bound galleys (these are what get sent to early reviewers) of Under the Skin arrived, I began to page through, just to see how it looked in print, and somehow found myself caught up with the characters and unable to put the book down.

Ridiculous!  I hear you saying.  And of course, I know what the story is and how it ends -- I did write it after all.  


But I think that what caught me is that in this, the fifth book in the series, Elizabeth finally seems like her own self, rather than my creation.  For the first time, Elizabeth speaks in first person point of view and she's a somewhat different Elizabeth that the woman in the first four books. I found her somewhat unexpected.

As I've mentioned before, when I finally complete a book and send it off to my editor, I'm sick of it and never want to read it again.  But, of course, I have to -- slowly and carefully during the various stages of editing. And this kind of reading -- looking for errors -- is serious no fun and once again, I feel if I never have to read these words in this particular order again, it will be okay by me.
It's been about a year however, since I struggled through the last proofreading of Under the Skin. And this time I was reading fast and for fun - no looking for errors (though I did note one page where I'd used  the word smile or some variation thereof three times in quick succession.)
But on the whole I'm quite pleased. And I hope fans of Elizabeth will be.
Now, about these bound galleys.  Most are spoken for for but I'd like to do a little drawing for two of them.  If you'd like to be entered, just say so here in the comments or send me an email saying so. I'll draw two names Sunday evening and post the winner on Monday.

Morning in the Garden

Parsley seed heads . . .
Flowering garlic chives . . . Look! A hawk! Parsley seed heads . . . Flowering garlic chives . . .