A Little Spice is Super Nice!

Coffee with my friend, Youngju, a new arrival from Korea here in South Africa, always produces at least a thousand laughs - ranging from glooooorious little giggles to giant guffaws! How perfectly universal is the shared blessing of the human laugh!

Amy Tan

Youngju's sister makes (and sells!) her own kimchi. While we were having coffee at the little deli down the road from Layla's school, she jumped up to catch the manager to find out whether her order of Chinese cabbages had arrived. And, the flabbergasted delight on her face when I asked if it was for kimchi -- because I actually knew about something belonging to her and her roots -- reminded me of just how universal, just as smiles are, that alienating, lonely, misunderstood state of being a foreigner. To clarify: not merely a foreigner travelling through another country on an adventure, but a foreigner who has moved into an alien land and is trying to send down roots, and settle into a happy sort of limbo between belonging within their new, adopted culture and retaining the sense of their cultural own roots and original identity that is cradled in their mother country. (I first learnt about kimchi from reading novels written by Korean authors -- most notably and affectionately, Amy Tan. Nicely appropriate for this particular post, her novels are set within the expat paradigm of the Korean living in America.)

Kimchi can loosely be likened to a fabulously spicy and exciting sort of sauerkraut. It is essentially pickled and brined cabbage - but spiced up to the nines with red chilli! Orangey-red in colour (no doubt from the red chilli?!) it is literally exploding with vitamins -- and fibre -- making it one of the world's healthiest foods!

Kimchi is made of various vegetables and contains a high concentration of dietary fiber, while being low in calories. One serving also provides over 50% of the daily recommended amount of vitamin C and carotene. Most types of kimchi contain onions, garlic, and chilli peppers, all of which are salutary. The vegetables being made into kimchi also contribute to the overall nutritional value. Kimchi is rich in vitamin A, thiamine (B1), riboflavin (B2), calcium, and iron,[13][14] and contains a number of lactic acid bacteria, among those the typical species Lactobacillus kimchii.[15][16][17] Health magazine named kimchi in its list of top five "World's Healthiest Foods" for being rich in vitamins, aiding digestion, and even possibly reducing cancer growth.[18]

Love the uber-South African tray
holding the plate of sushi (which
I VERY happily sampled at 10am this
morning!)

Youngju's sister and her mom were outside in the garden this morning, peeling a literal truckload of garlic (see pic.) (Reminding me of yet another expat experience ---- when my Indian friend, Navjot, cooked me up my own personal storm of curries in London where I was handed my very own rollertowel to mop up my tears and what(s)not!) I've asked Young to teach me how to make kimchi --- and upon her agreeing, I was told  it would take an entire day! Well, why the hell not?! When we can squeeze this day of slicing, dicing 'n spicing into our mommy-full days, I'll definitely be posting back here about it.

Amor! Love! Liefde!

Another new blog. Because: I love food. I ADORE food, actually. I think about food more than I perhaps should. I crave South African food like samp-and-beans and boerewors. I salivate with almost sinful obsession at the mere thought of 'world food' like sushi, chai handcrushed and expertly blended by my long-lost Pakshi and the dim-sum I discovered on a holiday in Melbourne that I can still taste and feel in my mouth and heart -- so indelibly connected to memories of those special cousins too far away...

In light of my sudden concern about developing Type 2 Diabetes after a close shave with gestational diabetes while pregnant with Layla, my once unfettered love of food needs to be redirected into a more constructive and healthy outlet: hence Samp&Sushi. This can be a place where I can indulge my foodie fantasies without succumbing to glucose- and cholesterol-spiking temptation! (I've also been indulging in an unhealthy rollercoastering ride of low energy - high sugar/carbs - low energy - high-sugar ... you get the picture. Unhealthy, hey? Layla also needs to see that food is not a crutch or comfort, but something to be celebrated and respected: a source of nourishment for our bodies and souls. (Another element about my eating habits that was unhealthy was the rush to prepare and eat: being a mommy trying to co-ordinate naps, bathtime and very intense playtime made me lose my focus on the importance of the mindfulness of food: treating food with respect, joy, thoughtfulness and... taking it s-l-o-w... Choosing recipes that delight your gastronomic imagination! Shopping for the ingredients with care and sensory delight: tenderly feeling for just the right plumpness in a fig, feasting your eyes on the deep purple blush, the soft velvet of its skin, the lingering scent as you hold it close. And then... the cooking. Put on an apron - of linen or cotton or denim. Feel your heart skip a beat at the dangerously sharp glint of your gourmet knives. Put on some of your wildest rock anthems or some sultry, sexy jazz. Light some candles, or let the sunset steal the scorching sun away into its indigo night. Or gather your family and friends around you in an Italianesque celebration of togetherness! Or, solitude when you need to escape into yourself after a long, long day of too much job-related community. Feel the textures of onion sliced paper-thin, hear the pop of squashed baby tomatoes and the slow, hot sizzle of melting butter. I'll stop here - you get the picture.)

The next post will be about samp which I shall attempt to cook for Layla - under the authentically South African instruction of Thenjiwe Eunice Bunu (our family nanny for the last 30 years!)

I would also like to celebrate the marvellous coming into being of my friend, Melissa's company: Sublime Cakery! She's talented, beautiful, amazing, ingenious and as sweet as her confectionary delights: and, sadly for my heart (and tummy!) lives in Northamptonshire, UK. Check out her deliciousness on Sublime Cakery's Facebook page!