Jan 2, 2013 (ok, an hour late)

Today I undecorated my Christmas tree. I had plenty of time, so I got very organized. I put things I was tired of in a bag that will be either Freecycled or donated to Goodwill. This is the box of unbreakable ornaments that can be hung on the lowest branches, so that my cat won't break them when she bats them around. She is going to miss her friend the tree, which has been so much fun to hide under when my daughter's dog Leo is visiting. She taunts him, then sprints away, and he can't follow her under the branches. If cats could laugh, she would.

                                               

Unwrapping the lights from the tree; I've had these for at least 20 years. They have a little control box with 10 different flashing and glowing settings. My favorite is random soft glow, so they look like

stars in the sky. Such a peaceful effect. I hope they never wear out,

because they are very special and I don't know if anyone else makes

them. I bought them at K-Mart, which used to exist in my childhood

neighborhood, but that's been gone for years now.

No picture, but I tried an idea I've had for a long time this year. I got some Martha Stewart glass paint and painted each bulb of a set of 150 white Christmas tree lights. It sounds very tedious, but it was very relaxing for me. Now I have lights to put on my windows in the perfect shade of soft pink, not the garish magenta pink that's mass produced. My lights are one of a kind! They turned out soooo pretty.

 I tend to save things. Today I had time to go through the whole stack of Christmas cards I've received over the past 25 years or so. Some were from people I've lost touch with, some are from people it took me a long time to even remember. I decided to save only the ones which were "picture cards", because I had to draw the line somewhere.  One mystery, though, was two cards I received from my friend in MN for two years in a row, both referring to some great thing I had done. This would have been over ten years ago now, and I just could not remember what I had done that made her so grateful. I finally took a picture of this card tonight and texted it to her and asked, "what was it I did?!?" Once she told me, it all came back. When she was a young single mother and her toddler son's father was in jail, she was having a very hard time. For Christmas, I sent her a care package of toys and books for him, because I know what that is like. She is doing great now, has a beautiful house and a wonderful husband and good job, but she's never forgotten what I did for her that year. It touched her so much that she sent me heartfelt thanks for two years in a row. Things like this make me feel like I made a difference to someone, and that's a really good feeling.

Gratitude and Catitude

Sometimes I just feel almost overcome with gratitude. Right now, the feeling is inspired by an article I just read about twin boys, one of whom identified as female from the very beginning of his life. I can't even imagine the pain, anguish and confusion that father felt, saying goodbye to his son and eventually accepting and welcoming his daughter. I hope one day all such children can be blessed to be in a society that accepts them for who they are, and that their families respond with so much love. As for me, my gratitude comes from never having to face such a tremendous ordeal with my own two children. We went through enough drama and upheaval just with the usual middle school issues, I am thankful every day that they are both happy and healthy and have no major life challenges on this kind of scale.

Grateful also today and every day for my new job, the people I love working and being with who make me feel valued, and positive work that I love doing, in a beautiful environment. Work and life feel more in balance than they have in a very long time. Grateful for the sweet, warm, fuzzy, purring little kitty draped over my shoulder watching as I type this, even if she is a naughty Christmas ornament snatcher. Grateful for a refrigerator full of healthy delicious food. Grateful for a beautiful Christmas tree and the special decorations that each carry their own indelible memories. Grateful for Christmases past and people I have loved and who loved me, gone now but still ever close in heart. Grateful for breathing, for moving my body without impediment, for enough money to meet my needs if not all of my wants. Grateful for new opportunities, new friends, old friends, good coffee, warm winter days that make travel easy. Grateful for the shoulder massage of tiny little white paws.

A Pearl of a girl.

Do try this at home.

India is home to the oldest civilized culture on earth, dating back some 3,000 years. In all that time, an amazing wealth of knowledge was amassed, from spirituality to health and everything in between. I've become increasingly interested in the time-tested healing power of Indian foods, which usually incorporate potent, colorful, fragrant and delicious herbs and spices. Turmeric, a relative of ginger, is included in most dishes, as are onions, garlic, cloves, cardamom, cayenne, ginger, tamarind, fenugreek and many others, dependent on regional cooking styles. It's become a fascinating journey for me, and I have only scratched the surface so far.

My good friend has recently shared his family's recipe for spicy fish curry with me, and although he is in the UK and I am in Wisconsin, we cooked it "together" through the magic of Skype video chat (love my new Mac laptop!). It was my first time cooking with tamarind, and shopping for the correct form of it was a new and fun experience for me. Luckily we have an amazing Asian food store in Madison which carries all types of foods and products from Mexico, the Philippines, Iraq, India, Morocco, Israel, China, just about every middle eastern or Asian country. Surprisingly, I even found a can of my favorite Cafe du Monde coffee and chicory there, which hails from my beloved New Orleans...may all her precious sea life now rest in peace... But I digress. Tamarind has a rich, savory and slightly sour taste; it's one of the main flavors in Worcestershire sauce, so for those of you who have never tasted tamarind, that might give you some frame of reference for how delicious this dish is. Here are the photos of the finished result, which was, I must say, amazing. (My dear friend is home in India for two weeks visiting his family, and I am missing him and our daily Skype chats just a wee bit. I can't wait til he comes back and brings new recipes from home to share with me via our Skype "cooking classes".) ॐ

Click pictures to see larger in more detail...and yes, those are Mardi Gras beads still sitting on my table from my birthday trip there in February. They make me smile every time I see them. 

Here is the recipe, paraphrased. The fish that is normally used for this dish in Hyderabad is not one I recognized or could locate a translation for, so I used my favorite fish, catfish. One large catfish should feed at least three hungry people, or one very lucky empty nester mom such as I for three days...plus the leftover sauce, which made a nice vegetarian rice dish on the fourth day. For a side dish, I made some simple saffron rice (basmati rice cooked with a couple of pinches of good saffron, a few dashes of cumin powder, and a handful of red lentils just for added texture). This is sooooo good! I hope you'll try it and tell me your impressions.

Spicy Fish Curry

Cut one good sized catfish into 1 - 2 inch thick slices (I don't like the deboned fillets; the bones seem to help keep the fish moist and impart more rich flavor). Wash the cut fish pieces and rub with salt and turmeric two or three times.

Put the tamarind pieces* into hot water and let soak, we will use the juice.

Cut one medium onion into small pieces. Chop green chilies (I used serrano, I think; they were just labeled green chilies at the Indian market) one or maybe two, if you want it spicy. I used one. You may want to remove some or all of the seeds if you don't want it too spicy. (I love spicy!).

Place the cut fish pieces into a medium size frying pan with the onions, green chilies, a tablespoon of turmeric powder, salt depending on how much fish you have, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon red chilie powder if you want it even more spicy, a tablespoon of dhaniya powder (coriander powder), and 2 tablespoons of garam masala powder (available at Indian and sometimes other stores). Add three tablespoons of olive oil. Mix all of the above with your hands (I used disposable plastic kitchen gloves because of the hot peppers) so that the spices infuse the fish well. Pour in the tamarind water*.

The tamarind water should be enough so that all the fish pieces are slightly floating; the fish will steam in that liquid. Place the pan on the stove on high heat until it reaches a fast simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low and continue to simmer about 15-20 minutes. Remove the lid and cook until fish is cooked through and the tamarind water is much reduced into a gravy-like sauce. Do not overcook fish. Serve with rice (traditional) or your favorite side dish.

*This is the correct form of tamarind to buy for this recipe:

It comes wrapped in a block like this; you just break off a few hunks and soak them for awhile in hot water. Maybe half an hour, until they are very well saturated and soft, and can be broken apart easily. For this recipe, we used nearly half a block, and probably 3-4 cups of hot water. Once it's well soaked, you stick your hands in there and squeeze it all up a bunch of times, separating the tamarind fruit flesh from the fibrous parts. Then you press it all through a sieve, and compost the stuff left behind. It doesn't take long. The end result is tamarind water.