Dashi!

I can't believe I have waited this long to do something as simple as making dashi.  I think perhaps its mystique came from a childhood friend.  She was half japanese which was very unusual for the rural area where I lived.  When I'd visit her mother was always cooking the strangest foods.  She'd slap seaweed over a gas flame to brown it and ate noodles out of a small bowl with chopsticks.  She also slurped (gasp) and drank from her bowl (double gasp).  My momma would have knocked me into next week if I did either of those things!

What could be easier than simply slowly boiling this  sea "vegetable"?  I am not sure if I'm supposed to eat it so I tossed it after it cooled.  It was a bit chewy and tasteless.

I just finished my first cup of dashi with white miso.  Very comforting I might add.

What comforts have you enjoyed lately?

Moosewood Sunday July 29, 2012

Greetings!

In celebration of life, love and the pursuit of happiness I invite all of you to join me this Sunday.

For me Moosewood Sunday is preparing a Moosewood recipe with an old friend.  She, like you, is separated from me by a long distance and this is our way of connecting for a mutual task.

For you it can be anything you wish.  A moment you share with someone, beauty that takes your breath away for a moment, a reflective time,  a good meal, a good book.  I don't care.  Just anything you do that makes you feel alive, loved or happy will do.  And it doesn't have to be on Sunday either.

I do hope you'll share an experience we can all enjoy.

I will post my Moosewood experience on Monday sometime and I hope you will come back and leave a link or a comment (or both) to yours.

Til then,

Love life and practice random acts of kindness,

Cheers,

Mary

Nothin' Much To Say

Hello Dear Reader,

I felt compelled to write a short note to explain my absence.  After blogging for about a year I got really busy at work and then I just ran out of things to say. I decided early on I wasn't going to disclose a lot of personal information about the other people around me and I've kept to that.  It does make the blog a bit impersonal on a level and I certainly enjoy reading about the lives and loves of those who do put themselves out there in a very personal way but it isn't my style.  I would like to think you get to know me in the way I write and the subjects I discuss and not from me telling you directly. 

I love reading blogs.  Some bloggers write everyday about the most mundane and sometimes private details of their lives, some relate the progress of projects,  some just journal.  I'm not certain where blogging fits into my life.

I love "meeting" people from different places.  I'm a loner by nature and this sort of interaction suits me.  I like having no obligation to be social and can visit whenever the mood hits me.

I write the blog at work as my home is a no computer zone for me.  I spend 9 hours a day glued to a computer and once I've left the office I'm done with them.  I find that this type of work makes me more tired than any other job I've ever had in my life.  I can't say that I dislike the work.  I don't.  I love what I do.  I just don't like being stuck in front of a computer so much.  I don't have much in common with my co workers either.

So, I am going to enter into a rather random phase of blogging.  I may not always be positive, or happy, or instructional in anyway.  But one thing I will promise you is I will be real.  I have grown weary of the other forms of social media.  It all moves too fast for me.

I'm headed to the woods for a few days.  I wish I could say I will be alone with just me and the animals, but it is a family visit (a new baby arrived a month ago).  I am just glad that my brother lives out in the boonies, the backwoods of Kentucky where I can enjoy the peace and quiet.  Everyone else stays in the house so that leaves me free to sit in the shade with the beverage of my choice, or stroll around in the woods or take long drives.

I had dreaded this trip until just a few days ago.  I am NOT a baby person at all.  I like the young 'uns when they can talk and walk.  Thank heavens my family knows this and doesn't expect me to do much aside from the expected oooooohs and aaaaaahs.  And most importantly, it is a pretty baby so I can say so.  I'm not one to tell people lies and you certainly can't tell someone their baby isn't pretty!

Here's to a new round of blogging!

Cheers!