MC Escher "Bond of Union" 1956
Last week, I get a link from a fellow foodblogger who calls her blog “Feral Homemaking.” I am always honored when I receive these link requests. It means someone who does something very similar to me, has seen World of Okonomy and found it worthwhile. A very flattering gesture from a peer. As always, I look over the blog and as I am looking over “Feral Homemaker, I find myself really liking it, first, as it has a very unique voice. It’s foodblogging from the hip: straight opinions and smart writing on not only important things like economy for the home but also fun topics that might (or might not) be tangential to cooking. The blog has cool recipes and something I’ve haven’t yet seen: a foodblogger who’s brave enough to actually post what doesn’t work in their cooking! After all, cooking is always at least a partial experimentation the first time you make a recipe. Part of the process of cooking, is analysing what doesn’t work and fix if for the next time. I took a quick look at the “About” section to find out who this blogger is, but the information there was a bit skimpy, but I was hooked and I immediately added “Feral Homemaking” to my blogroll, I even posted a tweet on Twitter about how cool I think the blog is.
On Sunday, I got a very nice visit from my good friend, Pamela. Yet another good friend contributing to my skimpy larder, Pam brought a huge store of canned and dry good as well as a bushel of fresh veggies from her CSA: rainbow chard, kale, red cabbage, salads, spinach, daikon, fresh herbs, and squash. She also brought her own canned veggies. I had forgotten that Pam did canning, but her’s were wonderful: crispy dilly beans; pickled tomatoes (both green and red) and beets. After wolfing down the first jar, I had to move the rest of the jars out of my sight, as they were so delicious, I would’ve eaten the whole lot!
I took Pam through the Wayside Inn area near me. We followed the basic route that Lisa, little Harry, and I did in my “August 30, 2011: Speaking at Geese.” One variation is that when we ended up in the drygoods store that Harry found “BOR-ing!!!” I found that they had a whole other floor that I had never visited. Poor Harry! If only he could’ve held out a little bit more! This floor was full of the coolest toys from end to end! Harry would’ve loved it! As Pam and I are picking through toys that we remembered from our childhood, we are talking about blogging in general and that moves naturally to foodblogging and Pam casually mentions “Well, in my Feral Homemaking blog, I…” Suddenly, it’s like I stepped into and Escher drawing! “WHAT! Waitaminute… YOU’RE the Feral Homemaker!!!” Pam assumed that I had known all along when she sent me the link!
I hope that Pamela takes my appreciation of her blog, absent of my knowledge that it was her writing, as the highest praise. It’s rare event to be able to offer a “no-strings attached” compliment to the people in our lives. I tell everyone that my friends and family keep me on my toes, as collectively they are the most talented, interesting, kind, and REAL people I have ever known, and by their example, make me want to be a better person!
…and now what a treasure to visit Pam’s blog: a rare chance to look anew upon an old and valued friend, this sparkling Mobius-strip of a personality who twists through my life!
