Maine Event: Day 22
I've been thinking about the Texas law and the foreshadowing of what that means for other flaming red states and possibly for the entirety of the US. Do we need to build an app for Texas on Safe Abortion? Mail-order pharmacies?
Ok enough before I start ranting and raving about fueling vigilantism and other things I get feisty about. This newsletter is not in competition with the news for raising your blood pressure.
First and foremost I want to share back on the reported methods of eating sauerkraut. There are several of you that didn't respond and some that responded with a sincerely worded note of dislike of the substance. Here are some words from those of you who do like it.
- "Hotdogs, of course!"
- salads and coleslaws
- quesadillas
- "alongside sausages is pretty delicious"
- "sauerkraut with sausages (savory or extra spicy ones, not sweet), and especially if we are also eating roasted potatoes, (sometimes with gruyere)."
- "on grilled cheese, if you please, I also like kimchi on grilled cheese"
- "The best was cooking a duck in sauerkraut. A recipe in one of Julia Childs’s cookbooks"
- "good quality mixtas" - especially delicious if made with quality sausage and tortillas
Or perhaps a bean soup...as a sour element on top instead of lemon. The crunch is nice.
Ok done with the sour things and on to the sweet. We had a lovely walk and ice cream at dinner time which spoiled my appetite so I guess you can say I had ice cream for dinner.
Another fun thing is that against the south side of the building we are staying in is a concord grape. I grew up with concord grapes so I was sampling regularly as they have been ripening. Today our landlords put out a container of free ones on the street so we had umm our fair share. I understood that concord is the "grape" flavor in communion, welsh's grape soda, and diner-style grape jelly. What I didn't know is that it is native to the North East. A couple of years ago I planted a native California grape (Vitis Californica) in the little side yard in our home in SF. These plants do make grapes that are small and are pretty tart. The birds love them and I suppose one could make jam out of them. I use the leaves to line a crock of dill pickles in the making which helps them to stay crunchy. Nevertheless, eating concord grapes lead me down the path to the different kinds of grapes that grow in the US and the effort to make wine out of them. I've heard of natural wine and wild ferments, but indigenous wine? Hmmm...maybe as long as it doesn't taste like communion.
I mentioned this is a tourist town and while the summer craziness has died down especially now that in-person school has resumed. The foliage turning and the leaf peepers are coming and yes that is really a real term. If you don't believe me just google "leaf peeping". Here is the Maine government faq on leaf peeping. Which spells out peak weeks for different parts of the state. Also here is the cruise ship schedule so you can see the insanity. And yes, people really are taking cruise ships again. I've heard they mostly just go from ship to bus to get to the foliage. Yes, they used to be called leaves.
Today was a beautiful sunny day but it was not hot or muggy. Crisp in the morning and evening. I'm very excited about the change in seasons and it is just starting. It's something I desperately miss in California. I even love winter, it is the change and the cycle of getting sick of something and having something to look forward to four times a year. Memories have a way of getting locked into seasons. Time and memory are more nebulous on the West Coast.
Another shot of the Clark St. Community Garden. I'm not sure how many pictures I can give you of this before you get tired of it. We go every morning early to drop off our compost from the day before. I think I can formally say I'm in love with it. The community gardens in SF are far from my house and through 2 different levels of padlocks and high chain link fencing.
An apple tree on Summer Street. It is a short 2 block street - one of my favorites. I am also fond of May Street which is nearby, and we walk on Winter Street and live on Spring Street.
Brick and green are a common theme here. It's good.
I've been thinking about writing an entire post about weeds. There are so many that are the same as Colorado and California. And a few new ones but then I realized I don't even know the names of the common ones. Culinary sumac is a shrub that is treated as a weed here because it is very happy to be here.
Just a glorious day. It was a busy day at work - more tomorrow.
Reminder: If you are running out of email space...delete these or unsubscribe. Also, if you don't have time or didn't know what you were getting into...you can also ask to be unsubscribed. We are here for just under 80 days. We are on day 22 :)
Have a lovely evening, talk to you again soon.
sending love, Tawnia