Saturday, August 29, 2009

Welcome into my house..


welcome into my house come alone and follow me...

..throw your coats and handbags..and your underwear of course..on my bed and make yourself feel like home...it isnt one of "those" parties...no superintellectual talk while i say something like "i can taste green and..er* white bread in my wine"...no no no..its the finale of the Spicy Sunday Blog Tour and its all about having fun..laughing and eating...take a seat..feel comfortable while i see what i got for you...

but before we start the fun...i have to say that i am so happy to have you all here (i know you come on mondays , wednessdays, fridays ect as well but today you came to party:-)...when i dived into this part of blogland i was totally flashed by all of you wonderful and inspiring people...because i knew most of you before by your stories and books and even discovered new and awsome artists here...i wanted to be part of this comunity so bad..and i wanted to stay...and you let me...when i discovered the spicy sunday blog tour i thought that it was a great idea and a lot of fun..and wished i could take part in it..which i told donna without knowing that she and marina where the awsome minds behind the tour...and donna said oh no problem..whats the spice of your choice..you can join us..and now..i am the finale...which makes me a bit afraid...what do you expect? eating sushi from the naked bodies of delicate asian girls? truffels and leaf gold served by black muscled servants...arabian belly dancers feeding you fork by fork with feasans and quails?...i hope not..because i ll serve you chutney..and oil...and vinegar..i ll post it in three chapters (plus a little contest in the end :http://desantiagospussyshack.blogspot.com/2009/08/you-are-invited-to-orgy.html) and i hope you will like what i made up for you...

..and of course you know all that i wasnt meant to be the grand finale of this wonderful tour..but even though i m so fucking happy that its me (yes above i said afraid but..i m happy-afraid) i want to think for a moment of the awsome person who was meant to be the original host for today but couldnt make it unfortunately...stay strong!

...and maybe you wanna know why i have chosen chutney...i tell you why...even though its still summer..but when you step out on your balkony really early in the morning you can smell this almost bitter arome in the air..and when you sit in the evening on your deck you notice that sundown is earlier and earlier each day..nights are getting colder...you can taste it...autumn is comming...and this is the time of the year where i start to make chutney..a few weeks where its sure that when you call me in the evening that i ll say " gosh i m tired i made 6 kilo of fig-chutney today."..the next day it will be the same the only difference is that it ll be mango-chutney or peach-chutney...another chutney every day...i do this since i was a boy of the age of 6 or 7...my favourite aunts always cooked marmelades and chutneys and i loved it when i was allowed to come into their big kitchen and help..they would tie a towel around my waist and let me stir and cream the cooking marmelades or let me help to cut the peaches into small pieces...for days and more days the house smelled like cooking sugar...with the sour sweet twinge of vinegar or the fruity fresh arome of lemons and limes..my aunts didnt spoke much..but you could feel they where happy...there was a lot of laughter in the kitchen and my aunts drank wine or homemade cherry liquor while i drank cherry or plum juice from a wine glas....since both of my aunts died i ll cook the marmelade and the chutneys..now i do it in my own kitchen..sometimes alone..sometimes with my sister jadine..this year i teached my godsons how to prepare brambleberry marmelade the way my aunts always did it..we where standing in my kitchen and marek and sebastian were stirring the cooking dark redness of the marmelade with the very same cooking spoon my aunt ikla always used...i said "not so much sugar.. aunt ikla always made sure that there is a bit of sourness in the marmelade" while i mussed up his hair..i cant discribe that moment but it gave me sting...this bitter-sweetness you feel when you miss someone and you know there is no way you ll ever meet again...i wanna meet my aunts again..talk to them, drink with them and touch their faces...thats why i cook chutneys and marmelades..thats why i prepare oils and vinegars the way they did all their lives...when my aunts died i took wooden spoons, bowls and knives from their kitchen...i went home and searched for a place for them in my own house...i have two books with their recipes for spice-mixtures, chutneys, marmelades and all the dishes and meals they liked to cook...but i havent all their recipes..sometimes when i want to cook something the way they did i close my eyes and i m a child again..i see their hands cutting the meat and puting it in the marinade..i smell the fresh grounded pepper and i remember how they let me lick the honey off of the spoon..most of their recipes i could cook by heart but still i need those books..i run my fingers over their handwriting and the stains left by all the soups and meals they cooked...one year i found a sage leaf inbetween the last pages of one of the books..one of my aunt must have put it in there years ago...sometimes jadine and i cook together...we go to buy the ingredients and stand side by side and cut all the things we bought...we dont need to speak a lot..we both think of our aunts..jadine was seven when my first aunt died and now in the age of twenty she still remembers everything...do you remeber that purple sun hat aunt ikla always wore(shit..i had confused whore and wore..thats..i m..blushing all over) in the garden?..both of us start to giggle and i pour another glas of wine for both of us...the kicthen smells like rosemary and thyme and red onions...soon the meal is done..we stand next to the oven and think about our aunts...they are alive...

so..i hope that wasnt too cheesy but i really had to tell you why i serve you chutney today...did you all brought your spoons?...okay..let ´s start...:-)

30 comments:

Marina said...

Oh, Danielle, it's wonderful! It is so great to have you as part of our group.

Your post is so beautiful and touching! "most of their recipes i could cook by heart but still i need those books..i run my fingers over their handwriting and the stains left by all the soups and meals they cooked..." Family memories are so important - lovely that you and your sister share them, and that you pass them on to your godsons.

I'm going to go back to re-read your recipes and excerpts - will stop back in again. Thanks so much for sharing all of this!

Danielle said...

@ marina
you know i love early birds..and today you are the earliest bird..^^

family is a very important subject for me..i dont know if i m ruled by my latin genes...by the klichee of the big family thing going on..but for me thats the most important..my aunts both were wonderful exentric and creative women..both were poets and both were awsome cooks...i m happy you like my turn of the spicy sunday tour..:-)

Emerald said...

The word "cheesy" did not occur to me once as I read this. I felt captivated by such a moving and evocative sharing from your childhood. Thank you so much. I also cried as you spoke of the bittersweetness. How beautiful that your aunts passed on this experience to you and that you have continued to recall it and now share it with us. Thank you.

Danielle said...

@ emerald

thank you so much..i was really afraid that i sound to cheesy or boring ...nown i start to feel relieved and hope all you willn think the same/good way about my post..:-)

Craig Sorensen said...

Not Cheesy at all, Danielle!

I absolutely love such memories, and find myself drawing on my own experiences as I read those you expressed. How fine to have such wonderful family memories, and the recipes to bind the present with the past.

You are to be applauded for stepping in and doing such a fine job in these circumstances.

Ich freue mich, die Festlichkeiten zu schmecken!

Ausgezeichnet! Kostlich! Prosit!

(with apologies for my very rusty German...)

Danielle said...

@ craig

thank you a lot and you know i like your german..:-)))
i m really happy how you all liked the post so far since i was really afraid its cheesy or boring or just simply not written well enough..but you guys make me feel good about it now...:-)

and yes..i really love my memories...the blend of happyness, bitter-sweet and sadness is a feeling i never could discribe but i dont wanna miss ...

Sommer Marsden said...

ah what a nice image. those are the best bits of time spent, the way you described. now i have to go-um--down and see what you've done below!

and fall is coming! thank goodness!
xoxo
s

Danielle said...

sommer! i m glad you came over..err*..under????

the image is fab isnt it? i took the photograph from the title of a catalouge for knifes and spoons..:-)

thank goodness? you can say that because you live somewhere hot ..:-))we had just a few warm days this year and i feel like " damned..that was it allready???"..:-)

Erobintica said...

lovely

Danielle said...

@ robin

hey robin..thank you!!!

neve black said...

What a wonderful and so non-cheesy surprise to wake up to today! I love chutney and I think I'll use all the recipes you've given here.

Your post is filled with love and deep, thoughful memories, Danielle. It's gorgeous.

I may stay awhile at the pussy shack, if that's okay? :-)

Danielle said...

neve..you know the pussy shack is happy to have you here..and so i am..i m really glad you think my little post isnt cheesy at all..:-)

and please tell me when you try the recipes..:-)

Donna said...

Oh, my, Danielle, what fabulously bittersweet finale to our spicy Sunday celebration! The combination of flavors here is amazingly potent. We have that amazing image (that faint shadow of red on the spoon really intrigues me for some reason) and then such a welcoming invitation to leave all starchiness and pretension at the door (I will, thank you very much--or at least as best I can ;-).

And then you bring us right into the the kitchen of your childhood and the kitchens of our own childhoods. I treasure my mother's recipe box in just the same way, and even though I know the ingredients, I take out the card in her handwriting as a kind of opening to a familiar ritual.

I understand your feeling that showing your soft, secret places--unprotected by cleverness or bravado or some pose--will make readers roll their eyes and say "oh, this is so uncool." I have a lot of trouble with that, too, myself. But--it's always easier to see this with someone else--your post here has touched everyone deeply because you were telling us your truth so honestly and beautifully. It touched us because we all have similar memories and similar experiences of loss of some sort.

I think taking risks like this is the coolest thing of all!

It is a complex blend--sweet, bitter, sour, like a chutney. Truly a perfect way to end the summer. Thank you so much!

Danielle said...

donna donna donna..thank you so much ..you know how i love your epic coments..they are smart, sexy and soft, as well as funny and wise..each one a chutney itself!

of course you know how i feld like about this since we emailed enough ..that i was so happy and also scared and all..and now i m happy only since everything goes well..all guests are happy, everyone has a full glas and a cozy seat and we all can enjoy the last day of this wonderful tour you and marina organised for us...it was fun..and i hope for more..:-) how about a home made liquor tour?..^^

the truth is so hard to tell at times..because its a fragile thing..intimate and bare of defense..so i went on my knees..naked in front of all of you..and i knew you wouldnt harmnor hurt me..:-)

Danielle said...

neve dont say nothing..i know you like me naked and on my knees..:-P

Donna said...

Oh, Danielle, this is a real pleasure to be here in your fragrant party pad. It's also surprisingly freeing to be lounging about with no underwear on ;-).

It's kind of nice to be naked when everyone else is so accepting.... Hmm, homemade liquor might be beyond my small talents, although I'd love to hear your recipes. I remember a Japanese friend making her own plum cordial. I'm more of a red wine drinker, sake's good, too. But an after-dinner liqueur is always a special treat.

What are you serving tonight?

Danielle said...

@ donna

actually making liquor is really easy..almost as easy as infuse vinegar...i can offer home made cherry liquor which i learned to prepare from my aunts too...or limoncello..a italian lemon liquor i learned to make when i was in amalfi....

and i also have a recipe for cherry liquor where the main part is..red wine!!!..:-)

Isabel Kerr said...

Ciao Danielle,

I'm so sorry to be so late! Just a little overwhelmed with all that is summer here.

If it weren't for a certain Jazz teacher Aunt, I wouldn't be here so your memories resonate with me. And I think the combination of real and fantasy is very powerful. I also love chutney and all things Indo/Asian.

Wonderful post! Delicious food, love the snippets, so evocative. I'll have to come back and savor it all again and again.

Ciao e a presto, Isabel

Danielle said...

@ isabel

ciao isabel...you are never too late..i m sure there is enough seat left for beloved guest..:-)

i m happy you like the post since i totally enjoyed your part of the spice tour very much as well...maybe you like to take part in my little contest and chose your favourite snipped and give it your own ending..:-)

i think its the first time that you visit me..isnt it? so thank you a lot for hopping over and for leaving such kind coments..and feel free to come again..:-)

Isabel Kerr said...

Thank you so much Danielle. And thank you for the wonderful invitation to add an ending to one of your beautiful snippets, I would SO love to do that but ich bin sehr m[eu]hde. (can't find the umlaut :) )

Ciao, ciao.

Danielle said...

@ isabel

oh you dont have to do it today...the contest runs a few days more...:_)

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