Solace

Ancient Chinese Remedy -

Take one chicken soup each day for one week
May have better effect when eaten while watching
Old movie or sports game on television
Some cracker may also make more yum yum

- - -

Easing in to the mid summer days, the humidity rises, the sun blazes, the reading session at the dock moves to an earlier hour of the morning.

Soon the days will consist of the gray haze that looms over us in the dead of summer, as the grayness of winter looms in mid February. It is the anti-pole, the extreme opposite. It is the reason why some cannot abide summer in the Carolinas. I do my best to find activity that allows tolerance and brief escape. Going to an ice box theatre for a matinee. Going for a swim. Taking a nap while a fan gently whispers a cool breeze overhead.

Some of these have been blue summer days. The question of when the right job will come along. The intent to make each day meaningful and productive and not fall into a funk that debilitates the motivation of moving forward, seeking the answers and making some progress, regardless of what it is.

I planned this pleasant day to be a day in the kitchen. A day to make happiness food, comfort food. To make use of the harvest of neighbors gardens. To taste the tangy sweetness of the first locally vine ripe tomatoes. To crunch on crispy cold cucumbers. To crisp up some fried okra that was just picked yesterday.

I returned from the market to a marathon of "No Reservations" with (have I mentioned my favorite foodie?) Anthony Bourdain. Oy vey, will I get anything accomplished today? Possibly, intermittently. This is not just an indulgence, it is my geography lesson.

Shanghai, Dali Province, China. The cormorants assist the locals in fishing for their food. I wonder if the cormorants we spotted on the north shores of Lake Robinson Crusoe are trainable?

I retrieve the remains of the butterflied lemon Chicken a la Nigella Lawson that I made on Friday. Just enough to compose a chicken salad a la Annie's Natural Cafe. Olives, Nuts, Herbs. It's the Best, if I do say so. One of my most fulfilling sabbaticals was working as the salad girl at Annie's in the early '90s. The folks I met during that time are irreplaceable. It also makes me happy that the very same kitchen is now home to Giorgio at Trattoria Giorgio, where he masters the art of the finest Italian fare that I have ever sampled.

So to cure what ails me, to wrestle with my culinary muse, I will prepare the Bongo Bongo Soup of Traitor Vic's, the original version having been made with Toheroa clams from New Zealand.
Alongside the Bongo Bongo I will stir and fry a Shrimp Chow Dun, a specialty from Don the Beachcomber in Palm springs, CA. You may find these and many other exotic and fascinating recipes in "Taboo Table" by Beachbum Berry.

And while I pass the time in the solace of my own home, I travel vicariously with Tony, and Beachbum and savor the flavors of the world and the memories of meals in faraway places and what in inspiration they have been.

Tomorrow, Cold Cucumber and Yogurt soup and a new outlook.