Maple Syrup: Another Roadside Attraction

We love Vermont maple syrup. Especially the amber variety--which used to be called Grade B--it is darker and more full flavored than the more widely available golden syrup. The lighter variety is the more widely valued, but we prefer the amber syrup. The lighter syrup is collected when it is colder. Most of the sugar in sap is sucrose. When sap is tapped, naturally occuring yeast and bacteria break sucrose down into the smaller molecules fructose and glucose. The warmer the temperature, or the longer sap waits to get collected, the more sucrose gets converted. Fructose and glucose go through a Maillard reaction, or browning, when exposed to heat. Sucrose doesn't. The more fructose and glucose in the sap and the longer the sap boils, the darker the syrup.

Vermont makes more than half the country’s maple syrup, more than any other state. In 2024, Vermont’s sugar makers produced a record of 3.1 million gallons. All that maple is processed in more than 3,000 sugarhouses statewide, from smaller family-run operations to industrial syrup producers. We prefer to buy from a small producer, which is someone who has a sign on the street that they sell syrup. You knock on the door, tell them what you are looking for, they'll name a price and you pay in cash. It is so much funner than going to the super market, and the syrup is delicious.

Cheese Made In Québec

Québec has hundreds of artisan cheese makers who produce small quantities of cheese using raw or pasteurized cow, sheep, or goat milk (or some combination) from local or regional farms. An artisanal cheese is made by hand, sometimes without modern technology in the traditional way but often combining modern equipment but with attention to the terroir, and with an emphasis on traditional cheese-making methods. The result is a diverse range of cheeses with complex flavors, textures, unique appearances, and aromas that set them apart from mass-produced cheeses. Cheese making has a long history in Québec. It was already well established in the time of New France. With the Conquest of 1760, cheese production became focussed on Cheddar, which gave rise to certain well-known products, such as Perron Cheddar in 1885. Cheese making has come a long way since then! Here are some examples of Quebec artisan cheeses: Grey Owl: A soft cheese with a bloomy rind and a slightly sweet taste La Sauvagine: A soft cheese with a washed rind and a creamy texture Alfred Le Fermier: A raw cow's milk cheese from Compton, Quebec with a supple texture and a smooth, washed rind. It has notes of blueberries, malt, bread, and hazelnuts, and won Gold and Bronze at the World Cheese Awards in 2017 You can learn more about Quebec's artisan producers and their cheeses at Fromages du Québec, which has an impressively organized and informative website. And if you get a chance to travel to Québec, bring back some cheese!

Ode to the New England Lobster Roll

Lobster is not quite part of me, but it is certainly in my culture. My parent's come from immigrant stock--we all do, of course, except for the vanishingly few of us who were here to begin with, and even they most likely immigrated themselves, albeit centuries earlier. My kin came with the early settlers to the Massachusetts Colony and were part of the City State of Boston before the Revolutionary War, and moved gradually northward--My mother's family English with a bit of Norman blood, and my father's more what 24 and Me calls "northern Scandanavian" origins--the Scots. They came for reasons of religious independence, but they were certainly living off the land and the lobster was easily caught prey. I learned to both cook and eat a lobster at an early age--as a child my favorite part was the legs--and as I grew older I gained an appreciation for learning to love the crustacean. So on a recent trip to New England, one where we left my dad behind, my mother, my spouse, and I all ate a lot of lobster, mostly as a lobster roll (my favorite, and one of his), and thought about how much he would have enjoyed joining us, and how I will never eat lobster without thinking of him.

Maori, New and Old

The Maori got to New Zealand first. They have been the tangata whenua, the indigenous people of what they named Aotearoa. Arriving from the Polynesian homeland of Hawaiki over 1,000 years ago, the great explorer Kupe, was the first Māori to reach these lands and call it their own. These populations all descend from Polynesian settlers who sailed to the Society Islands and Austral Islands over 1,000 years ago. The Society and Austral Islands later served as the origin point for migrations to the remaining remote Polynesian Islands, such as Hawaii, New Zealand, and Rapa Nui (Easter Island). They had a robust culture that inevitably clashed with the British who arrived after them, and they were left with little choice but to assimilate.

That was then and this is now. About 18% of New Zealanders identify as part Maori. Many Māori cultural practices are kept alive in contemporary New Zealand. All formal Māori gatherings are accompanied by oratory in Māori; action songs; formal receptions of visitors, accompanied by the hongi, or pressing together of noses on greeting, and sometimes by ritual challenges; and cooking of food in earth ovens (hāngī) on preheated stones. Carved houses, which serve as centres of meeting and ceremony in Māori villages, are still being erected. For many Māori people, the most significant issue in New Zealand remains that of the land, which are largely unresolved.

Wellington, Capital of New Zealand

Sitting at the heart of New Zealand, the Wellington region has so much to offer. Nestled between green hills and a sparkling harbour at the south end of the North Island, the city is full of things just waiting to be discovered. We got off to a rocky start with our visit to Wellington--we had a wonderful time in the departure lounge in Christchurch waiting for the short and affordable flight to Wellington. We were pleasantly surprised that there is not security check, no restrictions on liquids to be carried on and a sense of stepping back in to a pre-9/11 world of air travel. We boarded our old school plane, and buckled in, only to be told 20 minutes later that the plane had an unfixable mechanical problem, and we would need a new plane. That was the end of our troubles though. We had what had originally seemed like a too late dinner resrevation that suddenly was just perfect. We landed about 6:40PM, hopped in a cab within minutes, and arrived at our apartment hotel at 6:57PM (desk closes at 7PM)--we dropped all our luggage and went back down the elevator to scoot down the block for our dinner reservation--arriving at 7:03PM, just a few minutes late and lo and behold our table wasn't even ready. Our luck held, and we had good food and nice walks around Wellington. You can skip Auckland but don't skip Wellington!

New Zealand Te Papa Museum, Wellington, New Zealand

The museum name, 'Te Papa Tongarewa', translates literally to 'container of treasures'. A fuller interpretation is 'our container of treasured things and people that spring from mother earth here in New Zealand'. This replica of a waka taua (war canoe) called Teremoe once belonged to Te Reimana Te Kaporere and Matene Rangitauira, leaders from the upper Whanganui River. They had become involved in Pai Marire, a Māori religious movement committed to the defence of Māori territorial and political independence. Its followers were popularly known as Hauhau. Teremoe had a crew of up to thirty. As well as being used for warfare, it was also used as river transport and as a fishing canoe.

In 1864 and 1865 Teremoe took part in battles on the Whanganui River between Pai Marire and their lower river relatives who were loyal to the government. The first was at Moutoa Island, when Pai Marire used Teremoe to carry their dead and wounded from the battlefield. The second was at Ohautahi, where the prominent Whanganui chief Hoani Wiremu Hipango was killed. The waka did another tour of duty later in 1865 when Pai Marire besieged the garrison stationed at Pipiriki. By 1869 the breach within the Whanganui iwi had been mended, and the Pai Marire and kawanatanga (government) sides, led by Major Kemp, worked together to chase guerrilla leader Te Kooti from the upper reaches of the river.

Geese in the Perigord

This is a fois gras producing farm that we passed one day as we drove around the countryside in the Perigord, and while my husband popped in the store across the street, I spent about twenty minutes watching the geese. Fois gras is produced by force feeding the geese grain for about six months, which enlarges their livers to the point where they tilt forward when they walk, their livers are so weighty, and then they become their component parts of goose and liver for the consumer.

I had read about this before, and wondered what this kind of life would look like. Factory farmed chickens have a shorter life span from hatching to the table, and are often penned up the whole of their lives. Seeing these geese, who were chortling and mixing with each other outside on a pleasant fall day seemed to be living a reasonable life for an animal produced to be food, even if they were a bit off kilter as they waddled about.

Monbazillac, Perigord Noir, France

Monbazillac is an AOC appellation for sweet wines made in an area in the wider region of Bergerac, in southwestern France. Not as famous nor as expensive as their neighbors from Sauternes, Monbazillac wines are still some of the more widely known French sweet white wines. They are produced from Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes. The vineyard area lies on the southern bank of the Dordogne river as it flows toward Bordeaux, surrounding the town of Monbazillac itselef.

Monbazillac's vineyards can be traced back to Benedictine monasteries in the 11th Century. The preoccupied monks are said to have neglected the vines for a time, finding them affected by noble rot. Not wanting to waste the harvest, they went ahead and made the wine, discovering that the rot had only improved the flavor. Viticulture has remained in the area ever since.

The best known property in the appellation is, not suprisingly, Château de Monbazillac. The house dates back to around 1550 and combines medieval and Renaissance influences. It is the home of the appellation's cooperative winery. You can taste wine there, as well as buy wine from the region. The wine is delicious and remarkably affordable.

Charcuterie Et Fromage, Perigord Noir, France

One thing that my spouse and I love to do is to go to outdoor weekly markets, and even though we are not cooking at all on these short trips, we do get fruits and cheese and charcuterie to eat in lieu of dinner. So on our first full day in the Dordogne we headed off to the closest town with a market on Monday, which was Cénac-et-Saint-Julien. There were several vendors who had their display cases on trailer beds, so they literally drive up and shop is more or less set up already. There was a seafood trailer, this one with cheese, another with fois gras and pates, a boulangerie on wheels, a boucherie, and the charcuterie trailer pictured below (as you can see, it was a chilly and also rainy morning).

We bought bread, some amazing strawberries, which the region is well known for and that are available through November typically, and cheese and salamis to have in the apartment we had rented for a few nights. The cheeses are all local--this is also a truffle region, and there are cheese with truffles and some with the local almonds, but my consitent favorite is the Rocamadour, named for a town in the Perigord that we missed (next time) and belongs to a family of goat cheeses called Cabécous. It is a very small whitish cheese (average weight 35 g) with a flat round shape. Rocamadour is usually sold very young after just 12-15 days of aging and is customarily consumed on hot toast or in salads. Rocamadour can be aged further, but why? It is so delicious soon after leaving the goat.

Frida Kahlo Clothing

I was at an art exhibit of Frida Kahlo's early work recently and the companion exhibit that was set, dresses derived from the matriarchal society located in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in Oaxaca State where she was from. The style featured full skirts, embroidered blouses, and elaborate hairstyles, and when Kahlo combined these indigenous garments with the contemporary elements of her wardrobe, the result showcased her cross-cultural identity, and honored Mexican women of the past and present. She was the daughter of a German-Hungarian father and a half Spanish, half indigenous Tehuana mother, she was a proud mestiza, "mixed race woman," from the start, and during her contentious relationship with fellow painter, Diego Rivera, he encouraged her to embrace that part of her heritage. The clothing are works of art and craft mixed together and worn rather than exhibited, and it is a part of Kahlo that I have alwasy loved.

Apsara

In line with Hindu mythology, Apsaras are beautiful female creatures that visit Earth from heaven to entertain both gods and kings with their enchanting dance. Legend says the beautiful beings were born from the Churning of the Ocean of Milk, also referred to as Samudra manthan in Hindi or Ko Samut Teuk Dos in Khmer. The story is depicted on a 49-metre bas-relief, carved on the walls of  Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Believed to be the wives of Gandharvas — servants at the palace of Indra, the King of Gods — the nymphs protected the King of Gods by seducing mortals who were seen as threats with their beauty. Their powers were incredible. Mortals and divinities could not resist the celestial dancers’ charm.

A belief in the female spirit of the clouds and water was so entrenched in Khmer culture that King Jayavarman VII, who was behind the Ta Prohm and Bayon temples, is believed to have had more than 3,000 Apsara dancers in his court.

Traditional Basque Headdress

I was blown away by the array of Basque headdresses for woman (a fraction of which are shown here).  How do they do it?
In ancient times the way women styled their hair and covered their head was distinctive of their social and civil status, and what is more, of the role they held and the consideration they received from a strongly hierarchical society. Within the rigid, stratified society, and subsequently in the traditional world until late into the 19th century, headdresses were worn by women to reflect their civil status.

That and other models gave way in the 14th century to a great variety of linen headdresses worn in villages along the Gulf of Bizkaia, all most splendid by their shapes and artistry. These women would be recognized and acknowledged by locals and foreigners here and beyond the territory of Bizkaia by their headgear.

Its function was affected by the pointed shapes of headwraps worn by women in Bizkaia, interpreted by the ecclesiastical authority as another instance that the body of women is “the devil’s door” (ie. too phallic) and hence became prohibited by bishops in the Basque dioceses. Nonetheless, the women of that time challenged the regulations over and over, for they looked upon their headdresses and dressmaking as part of the costume of their country and made its preservation subject of lawsuits and sanctions, for which they were mostly supported by the local authorities.

Basque Tombstones

The San Temlos museum touts itself as having the largest collection of hilarria, or ancient Basque tombstones.  They are disc shaped atop a trapezoidal shaped stand, and they face the rising sun, which is a cool way to think about how they want to think about their dead, basked in light each morning.
There are lots of designs that are represented, the most common being either rosettes or geometrical designs, and they often have a design that incorporates motion, going clockwise or what is thought of as a forward direction.  Other popular motifs are the sun and moon, and things that are natural.
I like the idea of carving something for a loved one once they die.  It is somehow more beautiful to me than a name and a date, and perhaps an epitaph about their character.  It is more about saying something with pictures rather than words.

Framing Nature in a Chinese Garden

 On my recent trip to China I spent a lot of time walking, period.  The two days that we spent with people who had grown up in China, the very first thing that we did was to walk through gardens.  If you want to know something about the culture of China, pay attention to what they want their visitors to see.  The ingenuity and artistry of these gardens in creating spaces that are intentionally staged but remarkably beautiful and restful abounds in the Shanghai area.

This is just one of literally hundreds of examples that I saw of beautiful frames the natural world.  Chinese gardens have a lot of imported rock formations that are designed to accentuate and in some cases, to create a focal point for the framing.  These rocks are interesting in and of themselves, and they also work well with trees and flowers to create memorable peaceful portraits that can change with the season.
In one garden we were in, I saw people getting photographs of loved ones that utilized these beautiful frames for the portrait.

Shanghai Longtangs

I love this picture, because while their time may be limited in the new China, the longtang or alley, is an oft seen phenomenon, and they also have a much more urban landscape (see the skyscraper in the background?  That is the norm, not the exception).  The old ways mixed in with the new.  These alleyways bustle with activity.  The comings and goings are frequent, but the longtang forms a neighborhood of sorts, a community that is not the same as what you would have if you moved into and apartment building.
The thing that I do not know is how does a person rate such a dwelling, versus those that live in more modern but also more congested apartment buildings.  I would be far happier myself living with less newness and more tradition. Here, amidst China's impressive surge of urbanizing its population over a very short time period, there are still vestiges of the way things used to be in the 1930's heyday of Old Shanghai.

Jianbing, It's What's For Breakfast

 Jianbing are incredibly delicious.  They are traditionally made on the street and cost less than a dollar.  They are fun to watch being made as well, so it is an all around great food.

Here's how it goes.  First a wrapper is made.  A crepe maker is used, but the wrapper has the consistency of a scallion pancake.  I have made these at home using a purchased frozen scallion pancake, and rolled it out so that it is thin.  It is less eggy than a crepe and more durable (see how it is eaten, by holding in your hand.  The texture is chewier than a flour tortilla, and it is then toasted a bit so that it is also crispy.  An egg is cracked and scrambled and seasoned on the griddle once the wrapper is cooked, and then the wrapper is placed over the egg, and then flipped, so it is now egg side up.  Add something for heat that you spread about (I used a Ja Jan Sauce when I got home to try to replicate, which is a spicy bean paste), griddle some lettuce and herbs to add, and then roll it up.

I can't understand why they have not been imported, because they are spectacular! 

Lu Xun Park, Hong Kuo, Shanghai

 I loved this park, which is in my favorite Shanghai neighborhood, Hong Kuo.  On the one hand it is in honor of a noted modern Chinese author, and on the other it pays homage to the great writers of the West.  They are really engaging statues that invite you to go up and talk with them, or sit on the bench and chat.  They are both serious and whimsical at the same time.

This is the tribute to Lu Xun.  He is considered to be one China's greatest modern writer for most of the 20th century. Many of the other authors of fictional works of social criticism popular during the 1920s and 1930s have been at least partially discredited or criticized during the various political movements in China since 1949, but Lu Xun's reputation has remained consistently distinguished, perhaps because he died young. Mao Zedong called him "commander of China's cultural revolution."
H wrote int he 1920's, a much romanticized time in Shanghai.  He did not feel optimistic that radical social change would occur in China, and he did not project idealized revolutionary heroes or situations in his fiction. Yet he also did not offer  descriptions of the sufferings of the Chinese people. Instead, through vivid analogies and exaggerated characters, he presented his personal vision of Chinese society. The intensity and darkness of this vision makes reading a Lu Xun story a moving and disturbing experience.

The Lion Dance

 This was in the lobby of the hotel, which might lead you to think that it was for tourists, but other than ourselves and one other couple, the majority of the audience were hotel employees.
The lion dance is a traditional Chinese dance that is performed on big occasions, such as the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) for good luck, as it is believed that the lion is an auspicious animal. 
Performed in a lion costume, accompanied by the music of beating drums, clashing cymbals, and resounding gongs, lion dances imitate a lion's various movements or demonstrate martial arts agility, depending on the style.

The lion was only an animal which existed in myth for the average Chinese. Before the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD), only a few lions had reached the Central Plains from the western area of ancient China (now Xinjiang), due to the Silk Roadtrade.  At that time, people mimicked the appearance and actions of the newly arrived lions in a performance, which developed into the lion dance in the Three Kingdoms Period (220–280) and then became popular with the rise of Buddhism in the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420–589). In the tang (618–907), the lion dance was one of the court dances.  We saw a Southern China version of the dance, which focuses on the gyrations of the two lions who fight, and ultimately one of them grabs the dangling lettuce.  Not sure why that is such a catch, except that in modern China it is also associated with a red envelope of money.

New Years Prayer, China Style

 These pictures are all taken in a medieval era garden in Songjiang.  After eating so much food that we could barely move, it became clear that we needed to get out and spend some time in China's famous restful gardens.The temples are everywhere in many of these gardens and it is easy to see the popularity.  Strolling along through beautifully designed gardens where every plant and path and bench and opening has been carefully planned for the walker's enjoyment.

 New Years is a time of renewal and celebration but it is also a time of prayer.  Maybe it is because I don't well understand it, but I love the Buddhist temples in China.  I love the  proliferation of red.  I love the tassels.  I love the offering of fruit.

Much like what I like about praying in Hebrew, which is that I don't really understand what I am saying so it is easier to do it with gusto, so goes my attraction to prayer in a Buddhist culture.

The Pervasive Harrassment of Women

Sadly, we will do anything to avoid talking about the public harassment of women.  It seems that no one really talks about men who touch women's genitals in public.  Until we all heard Donald Trump brag that he does it all the time and no one says anything about it at all.  Now we hear about it all the time, that now that he is the president elect that it appears that some men think this makes it okay to invade women's genitals.  And to talk about them sexually when they don't even know them.In the wake of Trump's recorded behavior, I have asked a lot of people if it has happened to them.  Well, it turns out that is true of a lot of women and they really pretty much don't talk about it.  It isn't only that he is rich and famous and powerful.  It appears that the casual and intrusive touching of women goes on silently, and many men feel they can do it.  So can something good come out of all this?  Can we now start talking about it, calling men out when they do it, and get some public support for the effort?  Because we are rapidly devolving and it is up to each and every one of us to prevent it from going further.