happy thanksgiving

I am grateful for so much this year:  Three wonderful kids who really help me and appreciate me and give me so much joy.  An adoring husband who entertains me with his music and still makes me laugh so hard, after so many years.  A home to fill with happy memories and protect us from the elements.  Good food that we buy from our local stores and even better, the food that we now pick from our garden.  My parents and sibs, all of whom are sane and good people, and add so much to the lives of our children.  I see so much what a blessing it is to have family I can count on.  My wonderful friends, you know who you are.  My education, my writing.  My new part time jobs (more soon).  My blog and my blog friends.  And mostly I am thankful to God, from whom all things flow.

corner view~menu del dia

Living in the tropics in our somewhat international area there are many foods served in local restaurants.  One will find salads, soups, all sorts of meat dishes, rice and pasta dishes, and traditional foods from all over the world in our town.   There is no typical restaurant.  The one staple here is fish, as the ocean waters surround us and provide constant sustenance.  A favorite local fish is opakapaka, which is delicious, white and flaky.  Some of the foods that grow in this area are taro, pictured in the above fields, purple potatoes, a special type of onion, and pineapple.  We also have avocado, bananas, coconut, guava, papaya, mango, breadfruit, lychees, lilikoi, starfruit, longans, and other tropical fruits.  Much of the land in our county is covered by sugarcane, pictured below.  Of course, many of the local restaurants use these tropical foods as ingredients.  

For more corner views about typical restaurant menus around the world go to the sidebar here: Spain Daily.

i'm off!

In two days I will leave home and fly to northern California to attend a retreat with the magical, loving Amma.  I do this every November, usually with the entire family.  This is the first time I am going to a retreat by myself since 2004.  It will be good for everyone.  I won't be taking my camera, or blogging...so I'll see you all when I return, likely with some good stories.  In the meantime, may all of your wishes, and dreams, and prayers be granted.

papaya dish part 2

Here is what the dish looks like finished.  This one has no peppers.  Let me know if you make it!

corner view~favorite dish

My favorite dish these days is something I learned to make two years ago.  I don't even know what it is called.  An Indian monk taught me as he cooked in my kitchen, several dishes going at the same time, all recipes his grandmother taught him.  We call it "Swami's Papaya Dish."  Here is the recipe, in my style, which isn't too accurate with measurements:

3 hard as a rock green papayas

2 whole onions

1 green jalapeno pepper

brown mustard seeds

olive oil

tumeric

salt

Prep:

Chop all onions into small pieces, peel and remove seeds of papayas.  (Seeds will be white, not dark colored.)  Shred papayas through food processor, so it resembles cole slaw. 

Creation:

Cook mustard seeds in oil over medium/high heat until they begin to pop.  Then add chopped onion and more oil, brown this together, stirring occasionally, over medium heat.  Add 1/2 thinly sliced pepper (this is optional, this will make it hot).  Add papaya, and more oil, enough to make it moist, 2 tsp of tumeric and shakes of salt to taste.  Add a tiny bit of water if you want.  Cook til everything is soft.  Serve with rice and plain yogurt.  Be careful not to faint, it's so good.

Addendum:  If you can't get hard green papayas, ones that are slightly ripe work, but the dish will be sweeter. This is also delicious.

I plan to make this tomorrow, I will try to post "after" photos soon.  I have papayas growing on our property, perfectly green!   Below is them a month ago.  They are bigger and more plentiful now.  I'm so excited.  This papaya plant was a volunteer from my compost bin.  It's more like a tree. 

   

  Closeup of papayas a month ago.  They are rounder now.

For more corner views from around the world click here:  jane

introducing vanessa and a french dish

One of the things I love about having a blog is "meeting" other bloggers.  A woman I recently discovered has a blog that I am enjoying.  Her photography is subtle, and unique and has a life-ness about it.  I can't think of a better word.  She is offering a giveaway today of a handmade journal, and I wanted to spread the word about it.  So hop on over to Second Spring for a moment, and check it out here: vanessa 

In order to enter she is asking people to name their favorite holiday kitchen delight.  Mine is candied nuts...

Well for my post I had to post a photo...kids of a thing with me...and that got me thinking about a new dish I created, inspired by something I had in the French countryside this summer.  My dish was made with duck, but I used chicken in the dish pictured above.  I am not a big recipe follower, I tend to make things up as I go.  Here's what I did, it was incredible.  I browned chicken legs in salt and a little olive oil.  Then I made a mixture of white beans, onion, garlic, a touch of basil, oregano, and holy basil (of course), salt, oil, a little white wine, a little water to keep it moist, and fresh chard from my garden :).  Then I just baked it.

The heart shaped dishes are all I could find at the store in a small casserole dish size.  No doubt you will be seeing some pies and other delights in these dishes.  I got one for each family member.

Happy autumn!  It feels like fall here now.  The weather has cooled a tad and I bought pomegranetes today!

acknowledgement

What do you say to a mother-in-law that you never knew?  I guess you start with thank you.  Thank you for the gift of your son.  Thank you for encouraging him as a musician.  Thank you for studying music from the age of two, when your parents discovered your talent on violin, after someone gave you a tiny one to keep you quiet in bed as you recovered at home from a serious illness.  Thank you for giving up your childhood to pursue music at such a young age.  Thank you for bringing your family to America so you could study at the New York Philharmonic.  It's hard to believe you played solo at Carnegie Hall when you were only ten.  I wish I could have seen that!  I wish there had been YouTube then, or video cameras.  I wish I could have met you.  And I wish you could see our children, and hear them in all of their musical talents.  Skylar is a songwriter, Annabel sings most beautifully, and Shawn is great on the drums.  Your son is such a wonderful father and husband.  Joyous music fills our house.  I feel like this is partly because of you.  And maybe you do see our children where you are now.  But I'm sorry I missed knowing you.  

corner view~contrasts

Sometimes contrasts are obvious and extreme -- day and night, life and death, peace and chaos.  And sometimes contrasts are more subtle, and may go unnoticed by the casual observer.  But when living the experience, these differences are strongly felt.  My experience of contrast is like that.  When you live where we do in the topics the sun shines virtually every day and there is very little contrast in the weather.  In our town, we rarely even get rainfall.  Everyone here is so happy and surprised when it rains! The plants practically vibrate with joy. 

We got a really cloudy day recently, and it stayed that way the entire day, no quick rainshower and then the sun popped out.  The sun was hidden from us all day long.  It was such a contrast for me.  No need for fans, or air conditioning, and a good ten degrees drop in temperature.  I almost got out a sweater!  And I had an incredible urge to bake and make squash soup.

That day felt like an American east coast fall day, sans the palm trees and the sound of the ocean in the distance...but the sky, she was beautiful, brooding, mysterious, moody, grey and colorful and dark.  Like a gentle yet strong female presence coming to make itself known and stir things up a little.  And it was a nice change.

For more corner views on contrasts:  go to this blog and click on the list at the top right: jane

homemade pizza and giveaway

This is what we have been treated to recently by our oldest child, no doubt inspired after our time in Italy this summer.  The pizza includes fresh basil from the garden, of course.  More and more plants and vegetables  are getting planted in our garden everyday.  It will be interesting to see what this inspires in our daughter's choice of cooking this winter. 

Meanwhile here is a memory of Italia...

And please check out this fun giveaway at my friend Nicole's beautiful blog, here. This giveaway is especially for moms with little girls who love dress up! I miss it when my girls were at that stage, but I do have a little niece...

p.s. Added later.  See my daughter's post for today on her blog Skywriting.  Guess we're on the same wavelength.