FEBRUARY--NATURE WARMS--PLANTS and ANIMALS AWAKEN
The sky is a deep blue, the sun is getting higher and heating up surfaces and the air now, and the plants and animals are waking up. My red-eyed box turtle of forty or so years has come out of hibernation and eaten a first-of-the-season hearty meal. He luxuriates in the sun which heats his leather-brown, hard shell. My Gulf box turtle of fifty years is almost awake but not quite ready to eat yet (still under her heap of leaves). It is always rewarding to see that in their Natural wisdom these creatures have survived six or seven months of cold sleep. How do they do it? From my boyhood, the awakening of the turtles has always been a time of regeneration, a resurrection, a reassurance that the grass and plants will grow again, always. Death and rebirth are a marvelous mystery.
The word, February, derives from the Latin 'Februarius" month of purification and expiatory offerings. I can understand that; the first thing that my turtles do is to soak in their pond, expell winter's wastes, and drink an inordinate amount of water. Then they eat. February also means fever. All of nature has a slight fever, and the plants and animals are heating up, and do not forget that the purpose of a fever is to cleanse, both the body and the Soul. Heat and passion go together.
I have planted sets of kale, romaine (two varieties), napa cabbage, and collards. The onions are about a foot tall, and today I shall plant garlic, that magical, healing herb, which will come to maturity in late August. I don't know why people are so against, squeamish, with garlic, garlic which has served people since before the Egyptians. Maybe they have no concept of good food or of the exotic. Or mayby they forgot how to cook, or are too lazy to do it. Good cooks know that cuisine does not exist without garlic. My Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, Mexican daughters- and son-in-laws, and other relatives all use it. The Parsis (a branch of the Persians) make a wonderful mixture of ginger and garlic which they incorporate into many foods. Bombay cooking can't exist without it. The Parsis who came from Persia over a thousand years ago created a unique culture and cuisine, first on the island of Diu off the Indian coast and then in Bombay (Mumbai, Bombathia) itself. There is a well written, wonderful book of honest first-hand experiences by Niloufer Ichaporia King that gives recipes and the history of the Parsis in Bombay. It is called "My Bombay Kitchen". I have learned so much (about cooking and about myself) from it and am grateful to her. She has the cuisine and culture in her blood and psyche. All recipes and cookbooks should be genuine first-hand accounts of cooking and culture. Not imitations of other people's words. Nor should they be Quickie-Stuff to be thrown together in a couple of minutes.
Garlic heals. It corrects insulin and glucose levels. I know that from living experience, it improves blood circulation, and cuts down cholesterol. It's a proven fact. But for me, there is nothing more savory than the scent of garlic and olive oil in any food, especially on roasted slices of eggplant, i.e., melanzana, or melangeana as we say in Sicilian, sprinkled with grated Pecorino Romano cheese. Now that really wakes me up! I shall never forget one afternoon nap in Agrigento as the scent of garlic and meleangeana came drifting through our rooms---the landlord was cooking one of those marvelous late noon lunches! You can guess what we ate for dinner that night.
