This week’s vegetable is parsnip. At least that’s the felted vegetable I’m
making for my piece in progress called ‘Fall Stew’. I grew up with parsnips as a big part of our
diet. It’s a key ingredient in svíčková
omáčka. Every family makes it a little differently. My father always prepared it with a meat
roast surrounded by carrots, onions, parsnips and celeriac. The key spices are peppercorns, bay leaves
and juniper berries. We used to collect
the juniper berries, illegally I’m sure, at the Pinery Provincial Park during
summertime visits. That kept us in dried
berries through the year. After baking,
the ingredients were combined with sour cream and milk and pureed. This was an event where he always wore an
apron because he managed to splatter the omáčka everywhere. The sauce was then poured back over the meat
and big knedlicky (big dumplings). There
was lots of sour cream to make it good and a little vinegar for flavor. The carrots and parsnips were important to
add a sweetness. Many families have
different versions, but that’s the basic recipe.
As I was making the parsnips, which I always tried to sneak
into my fall stew, I realized that most people aren’t familiar with the
shape. People around me who watch as I
needle felt ask if I’m making albino carrots.
They’re probably the same people who can’t tell a loon from a duck. It doesn’t matter, though—I know what they
are. Next I’ll add to the composition a little garlic as my next ‘vegetable.' You can’t really have a
stew without garlic, can you?
I have a lot of art fairs on my summer schedule that I’m
excited about doing. That means I need
to hide away in my studio and weave. I
always forget how much I enjoy weaving!
My frame maker, Tom Bertolacini, has been busy as well. He is a
woodworker and photographer who lives out in Greene County and makes my frames
from locally sourced oak. He has been
busy making seventeen new frames for me that he delivered on Friday. I know I’m getting off track a little, but
that was an incredibly busy day. I have
been going into South to work on the costumes for Pippin on Mondays and
Fridays. This particular Friday, the
29th, is exactly one month since my birthday.
I had lost track of that, but as it turns out, my husband and the SOS
director (Gwen Witten) hadn’t. As I was
coming out of the costume studio into the big choir room to measure one of the
girls for a skirt waistband, the spotlight fell on me and Gwen announced that
it was my birthday! Four big boxes of
cookies came into the room from Baked in Bloomington, still warm and full of
wafty smells to share with the room. It’s pretty amazing to have sixty-five
vocally gifted kids singing happy birthday to you in perfect tune, all staring
at you and smiling. It was a little
overwhelming. My son Tommie was among
the 65, but my husband and younger son Jacob walked in to be part of the
experience. I even got a present—a
Kuerig coffee machine that will stay in the costume studio. What a perfect gift and a wonderful surprise!
It’s almost as good as the Bahamas!
Almost.
Saturday turned out to be pretty intense too. Both boys participated in the ISSMA (Indiana
State School Music Association) voice competition. Jacob was in Division 2 and Tommie in
Division 1, and both received gold medals.
Tommie will be competing in the state competition on February 20th. I’m so incredibly proud of them! They are both gifted in many many ways. They
sang with confidence and poise and passion.
When I sat in the audience and they opened their mouths and this
beautiful sound came out of their mouths I had a moment of ‘who is this
kid?’ We went from there to a 60th
birthday party for a friend of mine who lives on a beautiful property in Brown
County. I saw an impressive field of
turnips planted for ground cover, which got me thinking about Fall Stew
again. Sunday was my actual birthday
party, with conch fritters, baked salmon and boca negra, a delightful flourless
cake from Julia Childs.
Oh, and so much
happened that I almost forgot to mention that it was a pie week! Blueberry, yum! I still have blueberry pie and chocolate cake
in the fridge. My life is complete. At least for the moment. I’ll probably want another pie by
Wednesday.
Until next week,
Martina Celerin
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