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| You know it's fall when the fair is in town! |
Yes, it's that time of year. And whew, what a wild ride these past 12 months have been. As if I didn't already feel old beyond my years, a couple weeks ago I attended my 20th high school reunion. 20 years - yikes!!!
Since the kids were born, I haven't gone back home as often as I used to, which made this visit a rare treat in many ways. First of all, it was truly delightful to see my old classmates. I hadn't really kept in touch with people and didn't make it to the 10th reunion, so in almost every case, it had been 20 years since I last saw them. Not only did everyone look really great - let's hear it for southern Californians taking good care of themselves - but it was awesome to find that personalities hadn't changed one bit, or voices, or facial expressions. These last two probably sound a little silly, but it really touched me that 20 years melted away so easily while we stood around chatting. I tried to get some dancing going but somehow grooving to 1992 hits by Color Me Badd, Bobby Brown, UB40, etc. felt a bit awkward in the year 2012 and nobody did it with much enthusiasm. Come to think of it, those songs made for pretty awkward dancing back in the day, too...
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| The one picture I managed to take at the reunion - too much fun visiting with everyone! |
In addition to seeing old friends, I got to spend lots of time with my hilarious family. The kids were in seventh heaven, hanging out with so many fun cousins and relatives. Me too. Having grown up in a close-knit family where teasing was a sign of love, it's always seemed strange to me to be an adult and not get ribbed all the time. Plus, what's not to like about being able to have an outdoor pool party in October? And the tumbleweeds, don't get me started on all the fun you can have with tumbleweeds! Apparently now people even stack them up and spray them white to look like snowmen at Christmastime - Martha Stewart must have come up with this one. When I was a kid all we did was roll them as we ran alongside and hit them with sticks. I finally got around to looking it up and tumbleweeds come from the Russian thistle plant, by the way.
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| Cousins! |
On top of all that excitement, there was the food. There are certain things that my hometown really excels at food-wise, and I was so fortunate to be able to enjoy nearly all of them during this visit. Several were sweet treats: Dewar's chews, Dewar's peppermint ice milk, and Smith's happy face sugar cookies. As far as I'm concerned, they have no rivals and I have never even tried to replicate any of them, which makes visits home that much sweeter.
In the savory category, we have two broad categories: Mexican food and Basque food. If you know anything about California agriculture - my hometown is at the center of it - the Mexican food specialty speaks for itself. To this day, I judge any Mexican restaurant immediately by its salsa. (Nearly every one I've been to on the East Coast has failed miserably.) As for the Basque food angle, I didn't know that a majority of Americans of Basque descent in the U.S. are in California, many of them in the central valley. I mean, growing up I either knew or knew of plenty Basque families and there were tons of Basque restaurants, but I just didn't realize how concentrated the population was in our area. So while I've never tried Basque specialties like pickled cow's tongue, as a child I had plenty of opportunities to become a connoisseur of what's known as "the set-up" - a family-style spread of nearly all vegetarian dishes that make up the first course of any Basque meal. It's a rather odd-sounding assemblage, but take my word for how delicious it is in combination: cabbage soup, beans, salsa, sourdough bread, cucumbers, cottage cheese mixed with mayo, boiled veggies in a white sauce, and lettuce salad. The sourdough bread+butter+salsa combination alone is phenomenal. Beans I usually dump in the soup, which is kind of bland until you pour in a bunch of salsa... you get the idea. It's very filling in and of itself. And interestingly, after all the meat-based entrees that follow the set-up, meals usually end with big hunks of blue cheese and sherbet. Really. I would love to do a food anthropology study of Basque restaurant food, which would of course give me a great reason to visit the Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France in the hunt for its origins.
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| Cabbage, carrots, potatoes, broth, beans, bread - the food that revolutionaries are raised on. |
Last but certainly not least, there is a longtime restaurant in my hometown called Cafe Med which makes two Turkish dips that are very dear to my heart. Yes, I said Turkish. (Turn head to the side and spit in disgust for their treatment of Greeks during the war.) The red dip is simply called "Turkish Salad" on the menu, but from my research I believe it's an adaptation of "Ezme", a traditional Turkish condiment, minus the pomegranate syrup. The green dip is "Zehog" and its ingredients are nearly identical to the red dip, but spicier and without tomato. The dips are served with the most flavorful, softest white pita rounds that I've ever had, always straight from the oven. I usually eat so much of this appetizer that I honestly cannot name any other item the restaurant serves.
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| Fresh pita with ezme & zehog |
The pita recipe I got from here: http://momgrind.com/2009/02/26/pita-bread-recipe-homemade-soft-and-fabulous/ - and they were pretty amazing. We'll see how they are tomorrow after sitting overnight.
And below is my approximate recipe for the dips - all I had was the ingredients list to go on, but I have to say, I think I got pretty close on my first try. My mom introduced me to the idea of serving them with hummus also, and I think she nailed it - the creamy coolness certainly helps with the heat.
Ezme - Turkish Salad
In a food processor, blend:
- 1/3 cup yellow onion, diced
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 1/2 anaheim chile or 1 small jalepeno, chopped
- 2 T canola oil
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
- 1/4 cup tomato paste - more if you like
- 1 celery stalk, chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
In a food processor, blend:
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 1 anaheim chile or 1 small jalepeno, chopped
- 2 T canola oil
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
- 1/2 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
Lately the weather has been mostly rain, rain, rain, which does nothing for one's spirits, but it certainly has given me lots of practice in fire-making (I still stink at it but I'm blaming the situation on wet, hard wood). And it makes me appreciate days when you can get a shot like this:
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| A beautiful day on the Appalacian Trail |
