A Tree With a Story to Tell

As we are all hunkered down and trying to maintain social distance from one another, every day the news becomes more dire. I realized there is a silver lining: time to write and of course cook! Well, I admit I may becoming a bit obsessed with cooking. As I write this, there is a Southwestern Spiced Brisket in the oven and a pot of Three Bean, Chorizo and Vegetable Soup on the stove!

Over the past two years, I have gone on many food and art excursions and there was just not enough time to write about all of the experiences. This is a perfect time to remember some of the wonderful explorations and also it helps me realize that this time will someday be a distant memory! So, here is my list of excursions that I will write about in the following weeks:

Toronto McDaniel Museum-Indigenous Canadian Folk Art/ Indian Dosas 8/29/19

Serendipity in Flushing, NY 1/11/20

Portland Museum of Art/Bao Bao Dumplings - Maine 1/5/20

Bronx Botanical Garden- Georgia O’Keefe Exhibit- Albanian Bureks Fall 2018

Bronx Musem of Art- Graffiti Art – Albanian Restaurant 2/2/19

Harlem- Ethiopian Restaurant - Benyam 11/11/17

But first, an entry about a walk that we took on Thursday March 19th; the vernal equinox! In these challenging and trying times, my husband Paul and I have been trying to take a walk everyday. We are discovering many new places to hike in our area of North West, CT. One of our discoveries is the Sharon Land Trust which includes several large land preserves with well marked hiking trails. We decided to walk on the Mary Moore Preserve. From the main road, we walked up a hill alongside a farm. Quickly we walked up 200 feet over the pasture where we entered and a beautiful view appeared before us. The sky was gray but clear enough so that we could see misty mountains in the distance. At the edge of the field we followed the trail into the woods. As we walked, we enjoyed the lovely sound of newly arrived spring birds. We came upon a curious marker that said: “To Chinkapin Oak”. We walked slightly downhill and standing in front of us was beautiful old tree with massive branches stretching in all directions- a Chinkapin oak! The name is derived from an Algonquian word chechhinquamin which I believe means small berry. A placard at the base of the tree said it was about 150 years old-meaning it would have gotten it’s start just after the Civil War. Many of the trees from that period were recovering from years of harvesting: clearing for farms, firewood and for iron furnaces.

After the walk we came home and treated ourselves to a lunch of crispy panini sandwiches with kimchi sauerkraut, mustard, turkey and sharp cheddar cheese on Berkshire Mountain Bakery sourdough olive bread and kosher pickles that were thankfully still in our fridge from a prior trip to Zabars in NYC!

For dinner we made a Curried Butternut Squash Soup with Wild Rice. You can easily substitute sweet potatoes instead of the squash and can improvise with whatever ingredients are in your pantry.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

1 package peeled and cut butternut squash

1 small apple peeled and cut into small cubes

1 tablespoon peeled and finely diced ginger ( add more to taste)

1 medium sized onion finely diced

salt and pepper to taste

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon thyme

2 teaspoons curry powder ( add more to taste)

To Make Soup:

Place 2 Tablespoons olive oil in large soup pot and bring to medium heat.

Saute onions until soft, then add curry powder and cook for about a minute.

Add squash and apple to the pot

Cover ingredients with either water or chicken stock. If you want a thicker soup, add less liquid.

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil

Cover pot and reduce to a simmer and cook until squash and apples are tender.

Puree soup with an immersion blender. If you don’t have one, you can use a blender or even eat this without pureeing it!

Garnish with wild or brown rice and a drizzle of yogurt thinned with a bit of water.

If you happen to have some curried cashew nuts on hand, this would also be good!

Stay Safe and Enjoy!!

Judith Dansker 3/21/20