Pig Ear and Parsley Salad/photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman
Crabs, kielbasa, corn, potatoes/Photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman
Three years ago on this date, a Saturday, Donna, my mom, I, the kids, our dear friend Stu, and the dog spent the morning standing vigil as my father succumbed to the lung cancer. Mom had gone to the farmer's market and gotten corn and she and I stood at the kitchen island plowing through a dozen and a half ears, butter dripping off our chins. My dad, Rip, hadn't been conscious since very early in the morning, 3 am, Donna and I on the bedside, holding his hand. Realizing the end was truly near, he wanted our assurance that I had indeed returned his library books. I had. "We love you, Dad, we're going to be fine, don't worry, everything's going to be OK." By eleven a.m., he breathed sporadically. I hoped he could hear ears of corn being ...
Tarragon, sage, marjoram, oregano, basil, thyme chives/photos by Donna Turner Ruhlman
Bob del Grosso sent me the link to this article in Scientific American on salt by Melinda Wenner Moyer and I read it with a sense of finally. Increasing evidence that nobody really knows what they're talking about when they're talking about salt, except that it has different effects on different people. Given that its fundamental to our existence (without it we literally die) and that it helped to create both stable stationary societies and world travel (food preservation and therefore surplus in a community or on a ship), our main failure would be to undervalue its importance and power. It is powerfully good and useful; but also, anything so powerful can be used harmfully (as in our processed foods).
Page 29 of Charcuterie, written unabashedly in 2005
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