From Bill, AKA William de Kypia
To Now The Days Grow Longer@Last the.Sun
Subject Winter Solstice
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Another Winter Solstice, come and gone.
Did not celebrate the Solstices of 2009 for various reasons, mostly poor planning that resulted in conflicting commitments. This year I sold my house and was traveling at the Summer Solstice, so observed the event only nominally with a meal at a fast-food restaurant.
But am now settled down in California and eager to mark the turning of the seasons and the changes in my life. I have a small apartment but no holly in back. (Farewell, dear Maryland.) To provide a bit of seasonal greenery I bought a holly branch and a “euro tree.” It’s not a bonsai but a seedling, and will eventually grow to 14 feet.
The Solstice meal was a day late. Family members and I attended a candle-lit Winter Solstice yoga class that evening. My first yoga in months, except for Priscilla’s Yoga Stretches on PBS.
Postponing the dinner did not produce a spiritual crisis. My motto is “I’m a pagan, not a fanatic.”
December here doesn’t have the wintriness that previously made antique fare seem appropriate for the Winter Solstice. And wanting to celebrate my new state, I determined that my culinary theme would be not medieval but Mediterranean, like the California climate.
MENU
Appetizers: Assorted olives, grape leaves with bread rounds, and dry-roasted wasabi edamame. Should have been hummus with lentil crisps but the jar looked moldy and got dumped.
Main Course: Desiring something tipico, I considered the state animal--grizzly bear--but it’s extinct in CA. Likewise the state fossil, smilodon californicus or saber-tooth tiger. The state reptile, the desert tortoise, still roams (slowly) but it’s illegal to touch, harm, or harass the beasts. Eating them is certainly out of the question.
Finally decided on the state bird: quail.
Don’t think I’ve eaten quail before. Had a notion they were
about the size of a Cornish hen but they are actually teensy.
Kept it simple: wash, pat dry, rub inside and out with seasonings--parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. And garlic of course. Marinate in wine and stock. Simmer gently until done.
Wine: Boeger’s Hangtown Lot 39 Red from the nearby Eldorado Valley. I aspire to be not just a locavore but a locabibber as well. Easy in California.
Salad: Herbs with a light poppy seed dressing, instead of my favorite creamy dressings--blue cheese/green goddess/any color ranch.
Cheese: A stilton, English of course but from the local Trader Joe’s, less salty than most.
Dessert: Dried figs and candied ginger with honey.
This year I decided that the Solstice is not the time to purge files and do all the other chores I used to require myself to perform. No more “Can’t have my dinner till I finish alphabetizing the spice rack.”
The Solstice is also not my time to review the failures and successes of the year; that can wait until the year’s final day. Solstice is pure celebration.
So I ate my meal and listened to music and didn’t reflect on the past or the future, or really think about much at all. The past few months have been tiring and it was good to have a perfectly passive evening.
Marinating the quail an extra day had resulted in shocking blue birds. But they were delicious despite the color and the tiny bones they contained. The salad and cheese were consumed together and complemented each other nicely. The wine was well balanced, mildly tannic, not at all jammy as one description had it. Fearing that the Hangtown would overpower the birds, I’d marinated them in a merlot. But the slight gaminess of quail was perfect for the wine. And the light dessert was perfect after a substantial meal.
Woke up the next morning a bit sore (from the yoga) but happy and renewed.
Best to all and on to 2011. I'm looking forward to it.
Bill
