A Delicious Fruit

Ammonites are large, purple fruits found in Eastern Europe with inner flesh which is formed in sections which grow in a characteristic spiral pattern. Usually the flesh is mild and sweet. Picked too soon and it is bitter. Ammonites are used in preserves, jellies, juices and a local specialty, blue goats milk pudding.

Goats are fond of the fruit, and must be staked a good distance from ammonite trees to prevent their milk from taking on a strange, bluish hue.

Source: Pikiwedia.calm

A Nebula

Ammonites [Pron: am-on-night-ease] is an spiral nebula recently discovered in the sky in the neighborhood of Taurus by a middle school student. It is unremarkable.

Source: Pikiwedia.calm

A Delicacy

Ammonites are a delicious bun made with poppy seed flour and goats milk, baked in a spiral shape. They are refreshingly fragrant, said to leave one almost lighthearted with joy. Originating in Eastern Europe, their popularity is now world-wide. Set aside an entire day to make these delicacies.

Ammonites

Oven 350 degrees, 35 minutes

4 cups poppy seed flour
1 cup goats milk
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast + 1/2 cup water 110 degrees
1/2 cup poppy seeds
1 stick goats milk butter

Mix yeast with water and let it develop. Stir together salt and flour. Stir together goats milk and eggs. Stir yeast mixture into egg mixture and gradually stir in flour, mixing with hands. Form a ball of dough and let it rise until doubled. Knead; the dough will emit a faint squeaking sound. Let rise for one hour. Punch it down and knead until the squeaking resolves into a low moan of resignation. Let rise for one hour. Take small handfuls of dough and roll into 8" lengths. Coil into a spiral shape on a baking sheet. Brush buns with goats milk butter, sprinkle with poppy seeds, and bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until brown. Enjoy.

Source: Pikiwedia.calm

An Ancient Civilization

Ammonites were an ancient tribe of people living about 700 to 200 B.C.E. centered in what is now known as Eastern Europe. They are believed to have been related to the Picts and the Chavelles. Building their huts from clay and reeds, they built their villages in the form of a spiral shape. Their main contribution to civilization was their advanced husbandry of goats. They came to care for goats more than they cared for humans. Eventually, they elevated the station of goats to the degree that goats were kept within the huts, and the Ammonites slept out of doors in tents.

As a people, they mysteriously disappeared around the time of the Common Era. Some anthropologists believe this was due to the onslaught of viral infections, exacerbated by prolonged exposure. Others believe they were assimilated into neighboring tribes, who took pity on them and brought them in from the cold.

It is not know what became of the goats.

Source: Pikiwedia.calm

An Egyptian God

Represented in hieroglyphs between the reigns of Vacumen X and Telefon VIII, Ammonites [pron: Ammo-Nighties] was an ancient Egyptian God of Turbulent Weather. He was usually depicted with the head and hooves of a goat, holding a long wooden spoon or paddle in his hands. Legend goes that whenever trouble was brewing in the world of men, Ammonites stirred up the atmosphere with his wooden spoon, causing the clouds to whirl in a vast counterclockwise motion.

It is remarkable that, from the ground, the ancient Egyptians were able to perceive the circular and spiral motions of the clouds in enormous weather systems and storms.

Source: Pikiwedia.calm

More on Ethnic Fest

George's post on Baha'i Views on Ethnic Fest today was rather sweet.

Between Rock And A Hard Prayer

Years ago I attended a study on zikrullah, the remembrance of God, the symbolism in the Baha'i scriptures, and so on. I was so excited to hear one of the very familiar verses in the Long Healing Prayer in [I think?] Arabic. The verse goes,

Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One.

The verse in Arabic was so rhythmic, to my heart it was beautiful.

Today I was a little weary and listened to selected contemplative tunes on my iPod to try to stay focused on prayers at Ethnic Fest. Again I sat behind the booth and off to the side, so as not to be noticed or associated with the booth [who's that weird, large redhead muttering to herself?]

In the afternoon the proprietor of the Walk Fitness booth across the way returned with her light aerobic "walking" routines, a microphone, and extremely loud, rhythmic music. "Who says that just walking is not a good workout! You can do this right where you are! I lost seventy-seven pounds on this routine! Anyone can do this at whatever level you are! Work those abs! Walk walk walk walkwah, kwaw kwaw qua, quacquack . . .

The music was loud and strident.* So I gave up the narrative prayers in my prayer book, gave up the iPod, and sat on the bench by the Baha'i booth to say prayers along with the rhythm of the music. No one passing could have known, as I said them in my head. [Okay, maybe my lips were moving, like in first grade.] It's better not to resist, but to join the flow.

If you ever need to do this, here's the secret:
Ant al kafi, vant al shafi, vant al baqi, ya baqi,
Ant al kafi, vant al shafi, vant al baqi, ya baqi.

Thou the Sufficing, Thou the Healing, Thou the Abiding, O Thou Abiding One . . .

Just call me the baqi lady.

* There's a pun in here.

Ethnic Festing

I'm sorry about not posting sooner. Extremely busy. I also haven't brought my computer out of town with me when I go.

Today I left early for Ethnic Fest in Wright Park, downtown Tacoma, WA, arriving on time for a good parking spot and in time to help set up the dual Baha'i booth for teaching people who wander by. One side of the booth is full of information for people to look at or take with them as they learn about the most recent messenger or reflection of God for this day. The other side of the booth is dedicated to children and their parents. It's very simple: using different colored "pony" beads reminiscent of diverse human skin shades, children are assisted to construct a simple bracelet to take with them. They learn as they do this about the principle of unity in diversity, which is pretty much the underlying theme in Ethnic Fest.

My self-appointed task is to sit well behind the booth, I hope unobtrusively, praying for the success of the teaching efforts. I bring a portable chair, water, prayer books, and go for it.

To my surprise today, there was a booth for a walking fitness organization across the way from the Baha'i booth, demonstrating their walking routine with joy and enthusiasm, which I appreciated. The surprise was that I recognized one of my co-workers. This is an individual with whom my relationship at work has always been very difficult. However, the prayers I was saying were very powerful, so I think I was much more willing to let go of previous feelings about this lady. I went to greet her at the end of her routine, gave her a balloon and a hug. We're scheduled to work together on Wednesday and Thursday, so I'll continue to pray and to visualize us being happy and working together with harmony.

Saying prayers for an extended length of time, especially aloud, is strenuous. Saying prayers aloud feels too strange in my house; I used to have a critical husband, so I got used to reading prayers to myself. In the surrounding cacophony of the festival, with several stages of music in various parts of the park, my voice is conveniently swallowed up, so I feel more free to read aloud. Anyway, I think tomorrow I'll bring much more water.

When I say prayers for most of a day it tends to remind me of the Babi heroine Tahirih who prayed all night prior to her martyrdom; then she donned a gown fit for a wedding, and handed a lovely handkerchief to her executioners with which to strangle her, and in a spirit of great love, devotion and detachment, went to reunite with her Maker.

I'm working at memorizing the authorized Farsi version of this verse from the Kitab-i-Iqan:

How resplendent the luminaries of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast the oceans of wisdom that surge within a drop.

~Baha'u'llah

My non-official transliteration into Anglicized syllables:

Cheh aftahb hawyeh
mah'aref keh dar zareh
mastur shadeh
va bahrhawyeh
hekmet keh dar qatreh
penhangashteh.

See the rhyme? We don't get that in English. Cool, huh?

The Princess and the Pea

The lowly pea. My former son-in-law called them, "little green dots. Stupid little green dots." He hated peas, I imagine because somewhere in his past relationship with peas, force was involved, but I love them.

There is a phenomenon I've noticed which makes vegetable split pea soup especially creamy and good, whether making beet with pea, cabbage with pea, or whatever. This only happens when cooking peas in the pressure cooker [for me, so far] but they almost disappear into the soup as individual entities, leaving a creamy, delicious texture that is so selfless it blends into whatever flavors emerge from the other ingredients. I used to focus on cream soups, adding soy milk for the creaminess, but peas are creamier. Peas are wonderful.

Die to the world that thou mayest live in Me.

~Baha'i Scripture

All because under the right conditions, heat and pressure, split peas give up their individuality and devote their all to the whole soup.

Yum.

And the Beet Goes On

I finally got to be one of the nurses going home early tonight; low census continues. I was glad. For one thing, the definition of a Monday [or, in this case with the holiday, a Tuesday] continues to be "one or more sunny days preceded by two days of rain." So it was nice to get out. I bought some groceries and came home, prewashed some fabric I bought yesterday, washed the dishes and made beet soup, this time in the pressure cooker. I've noticed with regular pea soup, that the pressure cooker version is greater. Possibly this is because the soup is cooked more thoroughly and the flavors meld better.

After my post the other day I looked up beets and diuretic on the internet [my favorite engine, Dogpile] and found several sites claiming various benefits from foods such as beets, cabbage, garlic, apple cider vinegar, and so on. While I haven't learned how to check out the research of the info or the credentials of the person posting, so scientifically this is all dubious until proven, I like to think foods have medicinal as well as nutritional value. It's a feel-good thing. Lots of correlation between various sites.

On my days off I did some sewing and inventing to solve some fashion problems I have. [Close your eyes, guys.] Because of my sloping shoulders, regular bras slide off my shoulders, so I wear sports bras. Well and good, but then the straps usually show with most outfits. Since recently I created a nearly perfectly comfortable and simple scrub uniform top pattern which I love, there was a problem because of the fit of the neckline. So then it was necessary to create a bra pattern with straps which neither fall off nor show. And, I can't believe this--I was successful! Yay! Anyway, I'm going crazy buying cotton fabric with all-over designs to sew for uniforms.

Time to test the pressure cooker beet soup.

Beets Me

I'm reading a book called Kluge about the workings of the mind, based on evolution, which [besides pointing out throughout the book how impossible it was that humans could have been created, as well as evolving, since clearly mistakes were made] points out that much decision-making bypasses the frontal cortex and goes straight through to the animal brain, causing us to forego long-term benefits in our choices and cut to the chase of immediately perceived gain.

Which helps explain why, when the chips are down on a late evening of work, I select fast foods which leave me feeling very bad the next day. But which fact I forget about the next evening. I ate at [I won't name the place] Fast Food Place the other night, which seemed like a good idea at the time, then later drove to Eatonville at midnight, where I discovered my husband [and therefore I] was going to be awakened at 0345 so he could drive his daughter to the airport. She was packing and turned off her light at 0100, so I finally slept after that.

At o345 I was brought back from Pluto and instantly discovered how horrible I felt. I had a stabbing headache and edema in my fingers and other sludgy complaints, which did not ease until the following evening when I took time to make beet soup. The instant I tasted the broth my headache eased and I could almost hear my body saying, "Aahh!" By the next morning I was feeling more alert than I have in a long time. I don't know if this is true or has been clinically tested, but the beets also seemed to have a wonderful diuretic effect.

And the soup was delicious. Way better than the over salted fast-food muck my brain thought tasted good. For this I didn't have a pressure cooker; I just cooked the soup over an hour instead of in ten minutes. This is so simple I'm embarrassed to relate how to make it.

Beet Soup With Potatoes and Peas

3 beets, scrubbed and diced [I don't use the tails. Too much like my daughter's pets.]
3 potatoes, scrubbed and diced [they don't have tails, so okay there.]
1 yellow onion, peeled and diced. Olive oil. Several cloves of garlic.
1 cup split green peas. Eight cups of water.
Seasonings: cumin, basil, oregano, coriander, turmeric, and the rest of the gang. Sea salt. [But not too much.]

Peel and dice onion, let it "sweat" on low in extra virgin olive oil [I figured Olive Oyl was a virgin, but I never knew there were extra virgins around] while you prepare the other vegetables, stir in seasonings as well. Add 8 cups water, vegetables, peas. Bring to a boil, then simmer covered on low for 45 minutes to an hour until peas and beets are tender. Pass out and die, it's so good.

Bitter Root Soup

I've been steadfastly avoiding three vegetables I hated as a child: turnips, parsnips and rutabagas. I like the sound of rutabagas, and use it to describe drivers who travel five miles at a time with their turn signals on, because they act as if they are in a persistent vegetative state; but I didn't even know what a rutabaga was. I knew I didn't like them.

The other day in the store I decided to face my turnip fear and see if they are as awful as I remembered. So I bought the Vicious Three, and made soup. It turned out all right. A nice [but probably rare] break from my favorite pea with cabbage. This is also made in the pressure cooker.

Bitter Root Soup

2 parsnips [off-white and carrot-like]
1 turnip [round and purple/white]
1 rutabaga [round and white/purple with a rougher exterior]
I peeled these and cubed them.
One yellow onion, 1-2 carrots, diced.
4 to 5 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced; fresh turmeric root, grated; fresh ginger root, grated.
Ground rosemary, dill, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cardamom, sea salt [don't use salt while cooking; supposedly it retards the cooking process.]
Olive oil
1 cup dried split green peas, sorted.
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke; 1-2 tablespoons agave syrup.

Cut up onion, place in pressure cooker with olive oil and "sweat" for 5 to 10 minutes while you cut up other vegetables. Then add seasonings and garlic and cook a little more. Add vegetables, 8 cups water, peas.
Cover cooker with lid and cook on high pressure ten minutes. [I should clarify that it takes time to build up pressure to high. This is not part of the ten minutes.] Allow pressure to release naturally by cooling down. Go read a book or something.

When pressure is released and you can open the lid, stir in ample salt, liquid smoke, and agave syrup. A mellow soup with a good broth, soft vegetables, and a little bite to it. I also considered adding beets to this but held off, as I wanted to see what the flavor was of the roots, which the strong flavor of beets would have obscured. Also, potatoes could be a good addition.

The nice thing about pea soup is that I can make it relatively thin and it always thickens up, although not to the consistency of traditional pea soup, which even approaches the thickness of San Francisco fog.