LL-L "Delectables" 2005.04.28 (07) [E]

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From: Mike Morgan <Mike.Morgan at mb3.seikyou.ne.jp>
Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2005.04.28 (06) [E]


Okay, now I'm really upset. Every time I find something that let's me feel "
Japondayım, ne mutlu"*, the feeling gets shot down. Next you're going to
tell me that the 生山葵 (fresh raw Japanese horseradish) in your oriental
grocer's doesn't cost an arm and a leg a shoot (the going price here at my
local supermarket, last I looked). Or that you can get "Seattle's Best"
(coffee that is) there, too. I really AM running out of reasons (excuses?)
for staying here. Please tell me you can't get 山牛蒡巻き寿司 (mountain burdock
roll sushi) at your local 回転寿司屋さん (the kind of sushi bar where the sushi
plates go round and round until they are three days old or fall off the
conveyor belt ... I forget what you/we/they call such places in English)! I
really WILL have to leave then.

Not, of course that I will go to the US of A when I do leave this place, if
and when I leave (I was just informed today that my credit card was refused
... again, the second time in a year, both times thanks to the so-called
"Patriot Act". Though both times I WAS trying to do business with arch
enemies both of the US and democracy in general: to wit, France
(amazon.com.fr) and Turkey (Pandora Kitabevi). Yes, I WAS engaged in that
most terrorist of acts: buying books!)

Anyway, all this talk of Southern cooking makes ME (a not so Southern Boy)
miss mustard AND turnip AND collard greens, and grits, and some good
whitemeal cornbread** ... like mom used to make. (Mom is from Ferrum, a
stone's throw from Rocky Mount, itself a stone's throw from Roanoke (IF you
have a real good arm!) in western Virginia. Dad's a northerner ... from the
big town of Davy, West Virginia just north across the border.  Went to high
school in Welch (as in Welsh, as in Morgan ...) Coal mining country (or was
anyway) ... and quondam home to the world's longest flower box). Haven't had
any of them in several years ... 懐かしい! (Japanese expression of nostalgia.)

Mike Morgan
KCUFS

Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if it (fresh wasabi) was cheaper there,
EVEN if it were imported from Japan. When I first started studying Japanese
(many moons ago) I found that it was cheaper to buy the books (written and
published here in Japan) when I managed to find my way to the Kinokuniya
bookstore ... in San Francisco.

* For those not steeped in Anatolian Turkish language, culture  and history,
this is my version of Atatürk's "Türküm diye, ne mutlu" ("How happy to say
"I am a Turk!"). I can remember my son coming home from the creche at the
university where we taught practicing these words so many years ago.
Somehow, like MOST of my (many) Kırmanc and (fewer) Zaza friends (and one
good friend who was a second generation Syrian-Turk and an Alevi .. a double
whammy!), he eventually learned to not be too sad that he wasn't ...

** A long time ago, before even I was born, my folks lived in Washington
Sate (Tacoma, not Seattle), where my older brother was born. My mom's story
goes that soon after they moved in she went to the local grocer's and when
she couldn't find it, she asked the grocer where the white cornmeal was. His
response: "That's damn n.gg.r's food!" My mom's response: never go into that
store again. Having grown up eating white cornmeal and playing and going to
church (Baptist) with "n.gg.rs" ALL her childhood, she was offended. And
maybe a little ashamed for the grocer. As you say, Ron, things DO change.
Hopefully and Thank god!

P.S. Here in Japan, it's just the start of Golden Week; now maybe THAT's a
reason to be glad I'm here! Seven days until my next class! Maybe I will
even have time to get around to my Lowlands-List anniversary contribution!
(And JR West time to finish cleaning up after the big train crash in
Amagasaki, about 25 minutes from here, that killed 102 ... and counting.
Including a friend of a friend.)

And, I was too busy at the time to remember, but a Happy New Year (Nepali
New Year: Vikram Era 2062, Newari New Year: Nepal Sambat 1125) to all!

           तपाईंहरुको नयाँ वर्ष शुभ होस!

----------

From: Kevin Caldwell <kcaldwell31 at comcast.net>
Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2005.04.28 (06) [E]

> From: Brooks, Mark <mark.brooks at twc.state.tx.us>
> Subject: LL-L "Delectables" 2005.04.27 (10) [E]
>
> Ron:  "Do you know it, dear Americans of the Southern persuation?"
>
> Yes, I've heard of it, but gratefully never had to eat it.  Both of my
> parents come from Tennessee and were familiar with it as poke salad.  In
> fact there was a popular song from the late 60's early 70's called "Poke
> Salad Annie."  I'm not a fan of turnip greens or any of that stuff.  I
> like
> spinach, but the greens are just too bitter.  It probably comes from
> traumatic experiences in my childhood as a preacher's kid.  The members of
> the church paid the pastor so little that they often felt obligated to
> give
> us food from their garden.  One man grew enough turnip greens each year to
> make the Jesus and the loaves stories look like nothing but chips and
> salsa.
> I mean this guy could grow some turnip greens!  So, every few days he
> would
> bring us grocery bags full of them.  That's the old brown paper sacks that
> would hold nigh on a bushel!  Well, maybe a little exaggeration there, but
> it was way too much for this Southern boy.  I have come to despise turnip
> greens.  The only time I found them good at all was a few years ago when
> an
> African-American woman cooked some for a lunch party at the office.  She
> told me that I would like them if I had them cooked right.  Well, they
> WERE
> good, but truthfully little squares of cardboard would have tasted good
> the
> way she cooked them.  Butter, and salt, and butter, and salt, and who
> knows
> what else.  They had to have an ambulance on stand-by for any sudden heart
> attacks.  No, not really, but they couldn't have been good for the heart.
> Maybe someone else will have fonder memories of poke salad and turnip
> greens.
>
> Mark Brooks

As Ron said, she probably used hamhocks, or maybe fatback.  Bacon will also
do the trick.  Top off a serving with a dash of vinegar (better yet, pickle
juice!).  Turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens... love 'em all.
Add a slice of country ham, some cornbread (no sugar in it, please) or
buttermilk biscuits, maybe some pinto beans or fried okra, and you've got a
good Southern meal.

Kevin Caldwell

--------------

From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Delectables

Still a bit peckish, boys?

Mark:

> Next you're going to tell me that the 生山葵 (fresh raw Japanese horseradish)
> in your oriental grocer's doesn't cost an arm and a leg a shoot (the going
> price
> here at my local supermarket, last I looked).

It ain't cheap, cost just about a finger and a toe.

> Please tell me you can't get 山牛蒡巻き寿司 (mountain burdock roll sushi)

You can get it (for a couple of fingers and toes of course) once in a while,
at better restaurants.

> at
> your local 回転寿司屋さん (the kind of sushi bar where the sushi plates go
> round and round until they are three days old or fall off the conveyor
> belt ...
> I forget what you/we/they call such places in English)!

"Lazy Susan's Lair -- Lounge, Grill, Bar, Karaoke and Saturday Nights Lap
Dance"?

> As you say, Ron, things DO change. Hopefully and Thank god!

Oh, they have!  But of course, they could change some more.  Tacoma is very
diverse now, and Seattle has not only very large Chinese, a large Japanese
expat community (though not as large as that of Vancouver, B.C.), hence an
abundance of Japonicae, usually at lower prices than in Japan (many
vegetables being grown here, since the climate is very much like in Japan).
This includes a Kinokuniya Bookstore branch (one of my haunts) with a large
selection of Chinese books etc. on top (literally).  There is an abundance
of Zen halls -- Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Western and mixed, besides other
types of Buddhist places.  There are currently Golden Week displays, also at
a couple of the Buddhist temples, and other seasonal festival displays all
year round, as well as a Bon Odori mass street dancing and fair every June.
In San Francisco there's a Japantown with a nice basement restaurant haunt
decorated like an old-time town.  There are similar things in Los Angeles.
So, Mark, you wouldn't feel deprived on the West Coast.

And thanks for your help with the holidays, Mark.  You're hired.  I'm afraid
I set a precedence I can't keep up with.  ;-)

Hey, Kev!

> Top off a serving with a dash of vinegar (better yet, pickle juice!).
> Turnip
> greens, mustard greens, collard greens... love 'em all.  Add a slice of
> country ham, some cornbread (no sugar in it, please) or buttermilk
> biscuits,
> maybe some pinto beans or fried okra, and you've got a good Southern meal.

Now you're talking!  Total yummage!  I completely approve of your taste in
greens, and I share your opinion about cornbread as well.  It's always good
to find a kindred soul.

And not to forget blackeyed peas with a dash of Tobasco!  Oh, and green
fried tomatoes!

Non-Americans, note that blackeyed peas are not peas but beans
(cream-colored with a black dot) and that American biscuits are nothing like
biscuits (or "bickies") in your book (which are "cookies" here) but are a
bit more like spoonbread, often eaten with gravy.  "Go figure," as they say.

Kumpelmenten,
Reinhard/Ron

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