MY COLLECTIONS, PART III

Kitchen Essentials

A series of short stories.......

Divi Divi Tree, Picture Courtesy of Wikimedia

........as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E. Hughes


Life proceeds to tumble down its often rocky and bumpy path, as occasional smooth stretches dot its progress, delight us for their duration and keep us motivated to continue on.......

Sadly, circumstances over this past weekend claimed the life of one of my high school classmates.  Greg Straka was a 'gentle giant' with a heart of gold and we shared space together in Mr. Dallariva's typing class.  We never gave one thought about how important learning the 'keyboard' would be with reference to the emerging computer world before us.  Greg's wry sense of humor would punctuate the click-clacking sounds of the machines every time and even Coach Dallariva was prone to cracking a smile more often than not, asserting gentle discipline as required. 

This world will miss you deeply, old friend.  Thank you for the laughter.......

                                
                                        *********************************

Yesterday was spent depleting kitchen cabinets of their fifteen-year-old build-up of what were once deemed the 'essentials' of modern culinary life.  Defined in the dictionary as, "A thing that is absolutely necessary....," the word (essential) loses its luster when an expiration date exceeds the age of our oldest grandchild or, upon releasing an item from the back corner of a cupboard, I have to question when it was last used or, better still, when did I even acquire it!?!

Kitchens can be spooky places if left all alone in the wild!  Especially when one is not used to entrapping, adding to and generally ignoring their contents for an extended period of time.  I have never lived in any given space this many years, consecutively.  How was I to know?  I would almost label myself a hoarder after yesterday's excursion if it weren't for the fact that everything was in its place, if not often coated with a layer of fine dust, and neatly living behind cute wooden doors.



Honeymoon Mementos Tin

Don't even get me started on the inexcusable 'dead zone' located in the corner where most builders would assume a corner cabinet or a lazy Susan might alleviate 'hoarding anxiety.'  Susan, even though Wikipedia proclaims that it's likely that the explanation of who you were has been lost to history, I would happily welcome you into my jammed and dark kitchen corner any old time. 

Now, don't misunderstand me.....our kitchen renovation is fairly straightforward and something we deem entirely necessary with regards to breaking into the new millennium!  And, it's made me as happy as a child on Easter morning hunting for colorful eggs filled with candy and coins every time I rediscover a useful cooking utensil or a cookbook that hasn't been perused in ages.  This is exactly why I turned this amusing experience into an adventure yesterday after the third cupboard was excavated in order to find its buried remains (contents!).

It all began in the 'dead zone' when a rectangular tin was carefully extracted from the darkness, dusted-off and then placed on the only existing counter top.  Not having seen the 'light of day' for years, opening it up made me a bit squeamish even though, deep down, I knew what I would discover inside.  Long, long ago but not too far away from our current location in Florida, my husband and I honeymooned on the island of Aruba, not far off the coast of Venezuela.  Yes, before the deep sadness accompanying the death of Natalee Holloway, we genuinely experienced the quaintness of this small, arid island along with the hospitality and warmth of the local people.  Originally a Dutch island, Aruba's people worked hard to gain independence and in January 1986 it seceded from the Netherlands Antilles to officially become a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

French Daube Cooking Pot

Amid the divi divi trees that grow at a forty-five degree angle because of the wind that blows constantly and the groups of wild donkeys that roam the dry, sandy landscape of Aruba, we gambled in the local casinos, dined on five-star meals and poured room-temperature goat's milk on our cereal in the morning (Well, Dan did, anyway).  That's when I began my first major 'travel collection' and brought home small mementos of our time on the island.  As a child, I would always bring home stones or small rocks from the places my family vacationed at hoping to capture a tiny piece of the area.  To this day, I continue to do this everywhere I travel.  That was the first item I saw upon lifting the tin lid......a small gray, jagged rock picked-up on the wild northern side of the island, along with a small glass jar filled with sand from the beach, a golf tee Dan used to play one of the most 'primitive' rounds of golf in his life and a champagne cork......this item is wonderfully self-explanatory! Delightful memories of a special time.

Okay, so that wasn't so bad after all.  Kind of fun....truth be told.  Finding that tin box again had me thinking about other kitchen items I have in plain sight or tucked away in cabinets that were lovingly thought about, chosen and purchased or found in places we travelled to throughout the years.  I began to keep this idea in mind as I proceeded to 'pick the carcass clean' as if my poor, outdated kitchen were the turkey at Thanksgiving and now someone had to save all of the meat for sandwiches later!




Pint of Guinness

Daube de Bouef Provençal is a recipe I had been trying to perfect even before our initial visit to France years ago.  It has become our traditional Christmas Eve meal when the family is all together at our house for the Holidays.  Simply served with copious amounts of good French bread for soaking-up all the delicious wine infused broth and a fantastic dessert at the end to round-out the meal, we're good-to-go until Christmas Day breakfast!! 

"Jackie, did you know the French traditionally slow cook this recipe in a clay steam pot over low heat for several days before serving?  I have several pots you can see.....," offered my friend, Daniele, during our stay at Le Verger in the Luberon.  Daniele and her husband, Jean-Philippe, were born and raised in Provence and run the most beautiful B&B in the area located just south of Gordes.  Of course, I fell in love.......with these charming pots, and made it my mission to acquire one.  I had an entire week to do so.  After scouring many outdoor markets (le marche), I found my Daube pot in a small kitchen shop in Bedoin, a handsome small town at the foot of Mont Ventoux.  Merely looking at it everyday conjures up so many wonderful memories of family, great friends and delicious food!



Guinness Glasses Survive Trip Home

Now, what is more Irish than a 'pint o'Guinness' and the actual pint glass the Guinness is poured into?  Sipping out of these at home takes me back to many, many Irish pubs all along its rustic Western Way and back again to Dublin City and its birthplace in 1759 at the St. James' Gate Brewery.  Naturally, these beauties take 'top dawg' position in the 'glasses' cupboard considering we don't have a personal pub at home.  Do you believe that a connoisseur of drinking Guinness (Aren't we all?) might balk at the idea of "double pouring" milk in these pints for dinner? 


Then there was my quest in Paris to find my madeleine tin (mold) and covered rectangular French butter dish.....

Golden Madeleine Cakes

Ah.....Madeleines!!  Madeleines are small French butter cakes that have the consistency of sponge cake and are formed in shell-shaped molds and are the perfect accompaniment for a small, strong cup of coffee!  Anytime!  I found my personal copy of Larousse Gastronomique, the encyclopedia of the study of food and culture, many years ago in East Lansing, Michigan, and it has been lovingly earmarked as my classic cooking reference.  It suggests that these buttery little delicacies were named for a 19th-century pastry cook, Madeleline Paulmier.  Merci beaucoup, Madamoiselle Paulmier!



Buttery Yellow Butter Dish and Madeleline Tin

While hunting for the madeleine tin at Le Bon Marche, built by Gustave Eiffel in 1852, and considered one of the city's most popular department stores, a soft yellow butter dish caught my attention.  Fortunately, both of these kitchen essentials fit neatly in my suitcase because they were considered mine from the moment I saw them.  We use the butter dish constantly and keep rectangular slabs of Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter in it.  A bit of cultural commingling is quite healthy and definitely encouraged in my kitchen.

I've mentioned before that our family visit to Ireland way back in 1990 brought us to the small village of Adare just south of Limerick and the River Shannon.  An old thatched-roofed cottage was, and still is, the home to a small but delightful shop that caters to the many tourists that pass through Adare either by rental car or Irish tour buses that jam hundreds of people into the smallest spots at any given time.  Fortunately, we arrived there between buses and were able to look around the shop in comfort and that's when I found A Little Irish Cookbook by John Murphy.  This little gem has been my guide to traditional Irish fare for years.  From an Irish Farmhouse Breakfast on the Dingle peninsula, to a lunch of traditional Boxty (potato dish), and baked Limerick ham served with boiled potatoes and Brussels sprouts to polish-off the day! 




A True 'Gem' of a Recipe Book

The hand drawn and colored renditions of each dish in this little book adds a large dollop of pure Irish charm.  According to its author, "All I can say is that if a visitor to Ireland were to encounter only what is in this book during a short stay then he would be satisfied that he had eaten well in the Irish style."  Like I said.....golden!!

From the sunny beaches of Aruba to the craggy foothills of Mont Ventoux in the south of France, my journey continues as I will always find the space in my kitchen for recipes, pots and tins that evoke memories of places and cultures we've taken the time to absorb within our hearts.  My little foray into the 'dead zone' proved to be most pleasurable after all.

 

Copyright © 2014 By Jacqueline E. Hughes
All rights reserved