We, Myself, and Why

Let's Have a Frolic; Beware How you Dot your I's; a Dreamy, Creamy, Somewhat Greeny Polenta, and more...

Tracks of a lone coyote, looking for his lunch. And, perhaps for his pack, too.

Right off the top, I must let you know that the Romanian cabbage roll recipe I promised you’d be getting is far from being ready for print. My good friend, Luiza, did give me a lesson last weekend in how to make them. It went on for eight hours (!), with me scribbling away while she chopped and dismantled, sautéed and rolled. “I warned you,” she said. “You cannot write these things down. You learn by doing.”

It reminded me of the time I tried to record the Bibimbap recipe of Jong-Yeon, my Korean sister-in-law. It all looked so simple as she prepared each component without a recipe, but by the time I’d put her every move into script, the recipe was an intimidating four pages long. The drafted cabbage-roll instructions fill three pages (and quantities feed a throng). In any case, I wouldn’t dream of giving you the recipe without making it at least two more times, so this will have to be a long-term project.

Still, those cabbage rolls gave me plenty to think about.