Of jigsaws, completion and honoring

Yesterday saw the completion of the current jigsaw puzzle

I wonder if one of the pleasures of things like craft projects and jigsaw puzzles is that unlike a lot of things in life, you can reach completion. 

The process is fun, and you can move on after it's done. Likewise the mending I mentioned the other day, now done and clothes now back in rotation.

Yesterday I made the chickpea stew, using the very good stock which accidentally simmered all night (!) and remembered yet again that the recipe uses saffron.

I never have saffron, too expensive, and after I had finished cooking the stew, which was good again anyway, it finally dawned on me to find out if there is a substitute.

Some people recommend turmeric because of the color, but you don't use saffron just for the color, lovely as it is. Then I found a good idea which uses turmeric for the color and the combo of turmeric and paprika, itself a combo, for a near relative of the flavor.

No sooner said than done. I had to spill the spices onto a white surface to just enjoy those wonderful colors

Then I mixed them, half and half, in a new container, for the next time a recipe specifies saffron.

I notice that when I'm reading, I use Google a lot to see what the food mentioned is about. Also music where it accompanies the action. Food is an insight into characters, so when the Provincial Lady mentions the luxury of poire Helene, I had to find out.

I knew it would be pear-involved, turns out it involves poached pear, chocolate sauce and ice cream. Oh. 

Donna Leon is a demon for food references and I like to find out just what Italian favorite the detective's family's enjoying this time. 

Then there's Pym and  the hopeless "shapes" and mousses and chicken in white sauce , beloved of her characters, where flights into gourmet tastes are scorned  

The picky single man wants to cook a plover when he's alone, the sensible single woman just finishing up the bread and cheese. 

Pym herself in real life was a good cook, but a realist in her fiction about the tables of  her clerical characters. 

One excellent cook, Wilf Bason, was hired to work in a rectory and seen with great suspicion when he made wonderful fish dishes in Lent. You weren't supposed to actually enjoy Lenten food!

Chris's comment about being the last sibling got me thinking. I have only the most general notion of the dates of death of any relative, with a couple of stark exceptions. But I know all the birthdays and think of them on their days.

So I think I'll start to do a little thing to honor each on their birthday, that would echo something about who they were.

Starting today, the birthday of Rita, long gone, who was a talented artist and who taught me quite a bit about houseplants.

She had a wonderful touch, could grow anything anywhere, it seemed, and I'll do some much needed houseplant care today in her honor.

November has a couple of other significant dates, so I think it will be helpful to me as well as respectful to them, to find interesting ways to honor their interests on their days.

Happy day everyone,  action is prayer, and it's okay to enjoy it, too.