Spice of the Gods

I once met a young woman, born of a young and unwed mother herself, who's own grandmother was my age. If I had married that first young woman, and then shagged my very much more desirable now Grandmother-in-Law, would I be permitted my natural frugality with saffron at the dinner table without incurring undue opprobrium?

Okay  Isles, its too early in the morning for that one.  I'll try to get back to you on it. 

I love how the color purple is always part of great Greek myth.  Baccas and the wine gave us amythist.  A handsome mortal falls in love with a sphinx and they spice things up thanks to the purple flower.  I'm more interested in myths around the color purple this morning.

If saffron is the essense of a handsome man, then why aren't more perfume chemists adding it to scents designed to attract a man? 

Strange event of the day:  Rudolf and Rudolf's girlfriend, two deer, we rescued yesterday from underneath the Verrazano Bridge in Brooklyn.  Nice neighborhood but not exactly know for deer hunting.  (This area is famous for bars and resturants.)  Guess the local resturants really do have the freshest venison. 

Just enjoyed reading the tail end of yesterday's offerings.
Saffron, of course I'm mad about and will be annoyed by humming that tune all day.
There is a small market town in Essex, UK named Saffron Walden. In the Middle Ages,some enterprising person planted a field or two of the right sort of crocus/ crocuses/croci? and never looked back. Made a fortune for himself and the the town. The town itself is very interesting, in particular the church which has the most extraordinary gargoyles. Well worth a Google.

I'm just mad about Saffron-Saffron's mad about me
I'm just mad about Saffron-She's just mad about me
They call me mellow yellow-(Quite rightly)
¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥¥
It is said IN LIFE'S JOURNEY WE ALL GET THE OPPORTUNITY TO WEAR THE SAFFRON ROBE. . . Ready yourself....
Perhaps for a portion of Thai Saffron Rice with that chicken..a little yellow spice goes a long long way...I would fire up a stick of incense today but not allowed on the golf course. BTW Normy leave Grandma out of this!

HAZEL and TOMMY==Donovan in my head all day?! Good morning!

Yesterday PAOLOS tipped his hat to Mr. Peterman regarding the incredible selection of topics which we are provided with as a basis of our conversations, and I have to second that. We know we could natter on all day about current events and what we are eating and drinking, but the topics open up an entire different level of discourse which we all greatly appreciate. Thanks Mr. P!

I've  always  fantasized  that  Krocos  &  Smilax  had  this  life-long  world-class  affair,  and  that  the  Saffron  flower  story  was  just  their  cover,  so  that  they  could  retain  thy  the  privacy  they  knew  was  critical  to  maximum  enjoyment.  Even  the  ancients  knew  the destructive  nature  of  being  chased  by  the  media.....  Now that  Mr.  Peterman  has  been  partially  "outed,"  I'm  afraid  that  the  crafty  fox  may  retreat,  regroup,  and  reappear  in  reinvented  fashion.   Paolos,  god  bless  him,  has  screwed  up  the  slight  edge  that  some  of  us  acquired  by  solving  his  complicated  selection  algorithm.

I was first introduced to Saffron when I worked as a Chef's assistant in Lake Tahoe, a whole lotta years ago. I had sold my beloved 65 GTO and flew out west the summer between my junior and senior year in college, with enough money to stay for one week in a decent hotel, eat, and exercise the other half of my round trip ticket if I didn't find a job.

I walked into a very well known casino and immediately was offered a job as a adjunct security guard. I was a college football player, 6'4" and in great shape so security guard was it...two days into the job I was on shift and a "code red" signal meant trouble. That trouble was a coked out man who thought the dealer had ripped him off. When I stepped up to confront him he stuck a small Walther pistol to my forehead and shouted something about me being the son of a four legged female dog (among other things). Armed with my Casino issued Mag-light, my only weapon of defense, I told the gentleman he was on the wrong floor, the big money games were below deck and if he were going to hold the place up, he'd stand a better chance getting rich there. I distracted him enough for three other big dude to tackle him and I immediately quit the job. My "boss" told that guns never ever come into play when a customer became belligerent, and, "what had I done to upset HIM so much?".

The next day I walked down to the Clubhouse at the "Lakeside Country Club" club house, sitting on the beautiful Lake Tahoe, asked for the chef and then inquired as to who might be the dish washer around there. I then told him how I had arrived in the state, my short stay as a security guard at the famous Casino, and how I was going home if I didn't find a means of support for my three months in Lake Tahoe. I told him if he'd give me a try, I'd work for meals and outwork the three young bucks who currently had the job. In four days I was a full time employee. In two weeks my two buddies from college showed up and I got promoted to chef's assistant. I showed him how to make sausage gravy, taught me by one George Hall, and a few other southern delicacies, appearing on the Sunday buffet menu, then the regular menu, shortly thereafter.

We did a massive Sunday brunch and one of the dishes required Saffron. The chef gave me the combination to the large safe in his office, and he instructed me to retrieve the Saffron, me not knowing of or ever hearing of the spice until then. The tin it came in was about the size of a man's wallet and I was shocked when he showed me the bill for it. There is no doubting the smell or flavor when you taste or smell it.

I guess I could have told that story quicker, but, there it is.

By the way, I chopped and diced and saute'd a train load of stuff before I "showed him" how to make sausage gravy. Truth was, my two friends and I were wanting something to eat for breakfast southern style, so I whipped us up biscuits and sausage gravy. the chef caught the smell and he liked it...it became a Sunday brunch favorite shortly thereafter, him adding a few of the more southern dishes to the clubhouse's board of fare.

Those of you who live in temperate climes can grow your own saffron. It's fiddly to harvest - I use an antique pair of wooden tweezers, then wrap small quantities in cling film and keep in an airtight tin.  Once you have the bulbs growing they come up every year, and multiply. All they need a good mulch of compost and maybe a little sprinkle of a general ferlilizer.

Ummgawa,  biscuits  &  sausage  gravy,  popular  in  the  foothills  of  the  Appalachian  Mountains  where  I  live,  CAN  successfully  be  upgraded  to  gourmet  status,  just  like  the  Pontiac  LeMans  was  quietly  "souped  up"  (food  pun)  to  the  Pontiac  GTO,   after  the  head  of  the  division  was  denied  a  separate  brand  for  the  muscle  car. 

And then, there was Mr. Beaton who shared carefully prepared saffron rice with his lovely dark brindle French Bulldog, Ellen: one half cup cooled, molded, and inverted on a china plate.
An idol of mine for his ability to say a great deal and say it well in few words, he figured in an interesting story.
He had bought two buildings in the business district and one of the businesses contained therein, a health food place frequented by some of the most peaked looking persons ever seen.
Wandering in one day while out walking Ellen, he wanted to check out his new purchase.
The tall, herbal scented manager with a bun so tight it must have required a strong-handed assistant or some kind of machine, flashed them an evil eye and he sensed ill will towards himself and his dog.
First, she had to attend to berating a handsome silver-haired man in a camel coat with a paisley silk scarf for coming in reeking of cigar and his attractive wife for her perfume.
Abashed, they turned and shuffled out.
Gathering herself and turning her attention to him, she was interrupted when he held out a large envelope and said: "Sniff this."
It was, he explained, an ownership agreement and went on to say that he and Ellen were going up to the lake for a week and when they returned, she would be experiencing her sixth day of non-employment and he made it so.
A handy thing to know, should you find yourself in Wisconsin, is that no matter where one lives in relation to ones cottage, cabin, lake or country home, one always goes up to it. Never over and certainly not down.

Off topic~ O what a day! There I was undignified in the gynaecologists torture chair, humming "I'm Just Mad About Saffron" to keep my mind off things and it was OK until he decided to apply first acetic acid (vinegar) and then iodine to bits inside my insides where he had caused bleeding while taking samples. Eeeeeewwwwww! Ouch! It stings like hell. All this was after bathing, leg-shaving and all that nonsense to prepare my bits for the scrutiny of a stranger. Now I have to clean out the plug'ole of my bath.  Came out of the hospital with my legs wobbling and was very thankful to kind friend who had volunteered to do the driving. The Doctor who did the deed was A Gandhi-clone, and very sweet.
Nice to get home, have a stiff drink and relax while reading your posts.

Julia~ I love purple and llilac colours and wear them most of the time. One of my nicknames over the years was Purple Haze. We also lived in a place called Longbridge Hayes, - hayes being an old English word for meadows, so I was also known as Longbridge Haze.

A saffron moment timeout:

Steve Jobs wrote his own story, much to the benefit of many of the rest of us.

Would that, at this very moment when we are in countless ways thanking Jobs for what he did, there is some young person in some parents’ garage or somesuch place -- and inspired by Jobs -- starting to write with similar passion his/her story.

A new story that will bless us, take us to places we have not known and cannot imagine, for generations to come.

I hope so lotlot.  I was thinking the same thing when a wrote a comment on yesterday's page.  I hope s/he's already begun.

Hazel - I live in temperate climes (it's just plain HOT!), so if I WERE to grow Crocus, any specie you reccomend?

In case anyone was wondering what kind of guy…

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/06/insanely-great-20-minutes-on-phone-with-steve-jobs/

Penelopetx~ Depends  - do you get anything like a winter after your hot summer? Most things that come from bulbs need a spell of chilly dormancy for about long enough for us to forget where we planted them so it's a pleasant surprise when they flower again in the spring and early summer. If you are in Texas (?) I can't really advise you on specie to grow  as I garden a verdant leafy deciduous woodland patch in rainy North Wales UK. Different as chalk and cheese. I've always found it a good ploy to have a dog to walk -  you don't have to own one, people will pay you to walk dogs. People will talk to dog walkers - so you spot somebody working in their garden and get chatting .Local advice is best. And you come home with a bag-full of plants, vegetables and maybe some home-made jam. Gardeners are great! Good luck with your crocuses.

Everything you ever wanted to know about English writer Norman Douglas… and a little bit more.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
 
TT- Did this echo in your brain all day! a good catchy one....
 
  You wanted the song?... Yes, it is one of those that stays in your head all day!!  Somehow,
"mellow yellow" seems to be not only a girl's name, but a delicious spice!! And here I have had crocus all these years, coming up as the first bulb bloom out of the ground in Feb. or March after the winter chill, and they bloom so pretty, so purple, and I did not know they are the source of saffron!!
Live and Learn!!! I will look at those little flowers with more respect next late winter/early spring!!
 
Loved posts by ummgawa (security guard and psychoanalyst, turned chef!!),and Hazel with the ohhh, so feminine story of the doctor's incursion into your very being!! Hope all the bits are back to normal by now!! Purple Haze, indeed!!! We know what that means,a nd it isn't about crocus!!! You tell all!!
 
Bert - good offerings today, and Julia, how on earth did you get deer under a bridge in NY?? Did the humane society rescue them, or were they turned into venison for the masses? I have about 6-8 who prance by regularly, and I toss them carrots, apples, and greens!! The babies are late this year,a nd still so tiny and spotted.

I have been preoccupied for a few days with unloading all the stuff in my large closet as I am having the entire bathroom redone....carpet out...(not put in by me, but by the original builder, 1986), pulled up, and ceramic/porcelain tile put down to match the large glass fronted tile shower I had done a few yrs. ago. I takes an inordiinate amount of time to move all one's shoes and clothes, and other paraphrenalia from t he bath one uses every day into the guest room so the tile masters can do their job....!! When I return from t he beach...(yea!! Beach!! )  Next Tues., the bath should look all new and tiled and sparkly and better!!  The handyman is here now, ripping up the old carpet and pad, knocking out all the little rug strips around the edges, and basically getting the floor down to plywood to be ready for the tile experts who arrive tomorrow.!! Progress! Talk about off topic...nothing saffron about it. I love saffron rice....is that good enough?

Shandonista:  my post yesterday afternoon about Burn's documentary - it read like I was ignoring your post about same.  And I wasn't - truth is, I was on a quick-read tour through the last week of the Village comments, and I skimmed too fast, and missed your excellent comment.  Please forgive - the way I wrote my little blurb sounded (as I reread it now) as though I was deliberately not acknowledging yours.  Instead, it was fast reading, which at my best, I'm no good at, at all.  Again, I'm sorry, I meant no such offense. p.b.b.

Moose~ I do hope you have chosen your bathroom floor tiles with great care and they are non-slip. We don't want to hear that you slithered in a heap and hurt yourself. My whole place was refurbished a couple of years ago (nightmare +++) I could write a whole "I hate builders, carpenters, electricians, plumbers and heating engineers" book!. I love my new bathroom, but am furious with myself for not asking them to put in grab handles so I can get out of my large, slippery when wet tub without fear. Enjoy your lovely new tiles - and be ruthless when  returning your garments & stuff to the bathroom closets- the charity shop will be delighted and you'll have space to hang some new clothes. and you DO deserve new fuffy towels to complete your new look bathroom.

fuffy? That says fluffy.

re: Park4's 6.13 ~ I do that all the time, Park ,and other people do it to me. The way I see it is that it almost always an unintentional oversight and just to ignore it.

Moosloop, I have know  idea how the deer got to Brooklyn or what they were doing under the bridge.  I'm just happy that they were safe.  

Duvet time, nos da, dear people ~ catch up with you tomorrow. xxx

I have never cooked w/ saffron, but now I will change that................it sounds so savory & lovely. I think it would be delicious in risotto.....................& warm buttery broth..............mmmmmmmmm...............................

Going to have some wine & then make cupcakes for the tiny kiddles.........................

Happy Birthday George Hall, to this man you are the best man I know.

Happy Birthday! George

Bebe  - To slow us all down on the saffron wagon....They say it goes for between $40-60 per ounce.....a very dear spice indeed!! ABove my meager budget!!
 
I will probably stick to my white rice for a while inless I win the lottery...This new bathroom tile floor is not a give -away....and the old wallet is screaming now! Saffron will have to wait!
 
Let us know how it turns out if you do have a saffron attack...!
 
Hazel, Advice well taken!  I have little white throw rugs in the key places to go over the tiles. Just have gotten tired of the old carpet and its dust over the yrs....Am replacing all carpets now with wood floors and  just pony-ing up the $$ out of the bank!! I wake up each day with sniffles due to the dusty carpet, and having 4 cats and 2 dogs here over the past 25 yrs. has not helped the carpet!! Now, down to one cat , the wood floors will be mopped and Swiftered more often, giving a better health result....I hope!!
 
Happy Birthday, George!!! Any year above the ground is a good one! Enjoy your celebration!

Julia - So you say "safe" for the deer...does that mean you did not turn them over to the food pantry? Good on you for saving the little deer folk....! Not that there is a shortage of them....They are multiplying like mice here! But I have never been able to see how someone could draw a bead on those big brown eyes and blam!! shoot him just for the venison or the antlers.....Not me.....Glad yours were saved by someone....Was that the humane society of NY that did that?

MOOSE...................thanks, thanks a lot...............maybe I will go w/ the poor woman's saffron..............tumeric..................I will check out how much the teeny tiny crack vials cost & see................there's only so much $ to go around......................I was a little indulgent & realized I still have two bills to pay...................rut ro...............your new bathroom sounds lovely!

I agree, the story of the deer is wonderful.

UMM.............................your sausage gravy must be printed here...............stat!
You must try the James beard cream biscuits one time at least, you'll be hooked!

GEORGE.....................happy birthday & many more!

HaPpIus BirtHdAyIus GeOrgIus!!! Two metaphorical tickets await you at the Hippodrome for the 10 pm Sinatra show. The lovely Ms Monroe will be singing happy birthday to you and Jack. Enjoy.

Love dem Saffron sunsets...Experienced one cruising down I-65. Diggin deep in the noggin but Donovan also asked-Have you any idea how much you have? Not quite nothing and not quite all- And that Psychedelic yogi-Is not very groovy?

MOOSE & BEBE Saffron is available in what Bebe called "those crack vials" (lol) for about $3 or $4 so you can in fact try it for one dish. It only takes a few strands to impart incredible flavor, aroma and color.

I want a cupcake Bebe!

Today is the day I made my Mom a Mom,too...Happy Mother's Day Mom. I will have cake.

Eli and George ~ Happy Birthday.  You coulda been twins, you coulda been contenders.  It don't matter,  we're just glad to have you around.  Many many more to the both of you and God bless your mamas for birthing you.  I am all in for the cake Eli.  George is bringing the ice cream.  Now huff and puff and blow out the candles.

Happy Happy to you, RY and George. Hope you both had a very special day. Today was also my brother's birthday.

PDT
 

RY..................Many happy returns to you too! I will eat a cupcake in your honor today!
 
CHEFD..................will send one your way!
 
JANE...................good morning dear! What does PDT stand for? Pacific daylight time? Tell your brother that I adore his sister.........................