Menus, August 20, 2013

All things are strange which are worth knowing.” 

 Catherynne Valente

My friend Marsha's favorite son (who is coincidentally her only son) has, at the request of the United States Navy, taken leave of his Texas home and moved to Japan. You may already know this, but all children are born equipped with a powerful gravitational force field, and when they move across the planet the world's axis tips irresistibly toward them. This is why we parents of far-away adult-type children count ourselves lucky to live in a time when we can so easily share the far-off experiences of the peeps we love.

Need an example? Just look at this!!! A picture Marsha's son sent her from his recent trip to a grocery store in Japan:

Octopus tentacles!!!

Release the Kraken?!?  Helheim no!
 We're gonna cut that big boy into chunks
and shrink-wrap him onto styrofoam!

The absolute ordinariness of that grocery store cephaloshelf  blows my mind.  I mean, what if the people who frequent that shop don't even know how weird it is to have styro trays of tentacles lying about!!! Because it is absolutely, alien from another planet weird!!!  In fact, (and if your brain explodes easily, you may want to ensure that no one is close enough to catch any mind spatter) a traditional Japanese diet includes very little dairy, so what if to those in that distant grocery store, the sight of this grocery cheese counter-

is the weird, foreign, gross and smelly
equivalent of octopus arms?
(mind officially blown.)
 

What's alien here, is somewhere else's normal. And vice versa. All of one's concepts of what's weird and foreign and strange are so....relative. Which is not to suggest that one's relatives are weird, or foreign, or even that they're relatively strange.

Although someone's related to these guys,
and it may be you. Or even me.
Hmmm. I should call my mother....

All of this thinking about how many different normals exist around the world and how weird they all are to each other has made me hungry. It's also left me chagrined by how little I know of the diverse food that's available right here in this city. The Indian and Asian markets that are a half an hour's drive from me are intriguing, but I wander them in bewildered fascination, way too shy to the staff any of a hundred questions I have about how to use (or even pronounce!) all that amazing food. Thankfully the internet, friend of shy persons everywhere, has come to the rescue with a few definitions and a wealth of recipes! A little knowledge, I've heard, is a dangerous thing, and now that I have a little knowledge, let's see what kitchen havoc I can wreak this week, shall we?

Wednesday: Rice noodles with kale and broccoli

This will be a one dish meal around here, but if you have a couple of chicken breasts wandering aimlessly about, by all means catch them, cube  them up, saute them in a little olive oil (add a bit of sesame oil if you have it) and toss them in the bowl.

I'm learning that half a bag or half a bunch of kale is plenty for the two of us, so there's a half-bunch of kale salad scheduled for Friday.

Thursday: Thai coconut ribs and avocado and mango salad 

 This salad was one of last summer's favorite finds, and the ribs look wonderful even though Thai curry's pretty new around this house. There's no use planning for leftovers of this combo- I have a strong hunch there won't be any.

Friday:Shrimp and grits and Life altering kale salad 

Believe it or not, shrimp and grits, that staple of the South, is a dish this southern transplant has yet to either prepare or taste. I'm going with the Bobby Flay version, because he's from the South. So, you know, it's bound to be authentic.

And yes, the restaurant that originated this salad really named it that. I'm skeptical, naturally. How exactly can a salad alter one's life? I suppose if one were quite hungry, or in dire need of leafy greens.....still, Bon Appetit named it one of the best dishes of 2012, so it's worth a try.

Saturday: Pork Adobado and   black bean avocado and corn salad

Our eldest son, currently in New Mexico, told me weeks ago about Adobado, a method of slow cooking meat in a paste of dried chilies (he had to sound it out for me one syllable at a time and I still misspelled it in the search bar). The department of learn-from-my-mistakes issues the following side dish warning: this is one of those salads that can multiply itself in the bowl until there's enough for a marauding horde, or at least three teenagers. If you're not cooking for teenagers or any other sort of marauder, be careful about winging it with the quantities. For the two of us, I'll be reducing the quantities by half. 

Sunday: Shrimp and kimchi fried rice 

Kimchi. Now that is one foreign sounding, strange looking thing. Which I would not have the courage to try, if not for our youngest son and his fiance, who like it so much that she's even learned how to make kimchi from scratch! I'm going to just dip my toes in the kimchi pool by picking up a jar at Trader Joe's. 

I know so little about so many things! The difference between Thai curry and Indian curry, the differences between Thai, Korean, Japanese and Chinese food- and I haven't even begun to explore what I don't know about Africa! There are foods of my own homeland that are still foreign to me! It's a little scary!

But maybe a little less scary after this week. 

Because, well, I want you to know that I think it matters.

I think maybe it matters every time you open your life, even in small ways,

to something (and especially someone),

new and different.

I think it matters every time you welcome a stranger

with all the grace and curiosity and courage

your extraordinary soul has to offer.

Because maybe, just maybe,

when we embrace the differences that divide some of us,

 this world is a little less of lonely planet

for all of us.