Simple Life

Simple Life

Saturday, March 19, 2011

SPRING, WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE, TAMARIND TREE

By Greg Evans

The day was full of colors and light, 70 degrees and the mountain mists burned away before noon. I kept the lemon trees and the mini palm outside over night and I'm sure they grew an inch after today. The wife purchased two hanging inpatients which I hung beneath the awning on a porch. The wine now flows through my blood and the cigar tobacco sticky on the corners of my mouth, a sweet bitter flavor. Evening has set in and I can see Orion's belt in the direct western sky from my perch on the top of world. The bats twisting and twirling still at this hour, dogs barking in the distance, guns being fired down in the hollow. Venison for a week I suppose, or maybe squirrel. Went shooting the other day at the range. Talked with an old timer from across the mountain. Said he's about done with this darn winter and at 82-years-old said he can sniff the coming spring and sure enough spring has arrived. The blossoms on the dog wood trees opened full this morning decorating the hillsides and valleys with gorgeous whites, lavender, rose and purple. My perennials are beginning to flower and I believe I even saw a mosquito sneaking around but it's too early in the season for them. By mid summer this place is so full of mosquitos if you walk through the woods in shorts and a t-shirt you look like a case of the small pox. Aside from playing with the little one I worked all day long, from the morning until I threw burgers and hot dogs onto the grill. I took the hamburger meat and mixed it with chopped white onion, minced garlic, parsley, Italian seasoning, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce before packing into paddies. I then grill them on the top level of the grill at about 400 for about 30 minutes and they were fantastic. Did you know that Worcestershire sauce was actually created by accident by two chemists in Worcester England in the 1830's trying to create a good curry. They had made the sauce but it was too strong so they stored it in a factory and a year later when they were making room in the factory they tasted the sauce and it had fermented and mellowed and was tasty and thus a wonderful hamburger sauce was had. In 1838 the first bottles were put on the market called "Lea and Perrins Worcestershire sauce." The ingredients according to an article by Fay Schlesinger on Nov. 3 2009 from Daily Mail online, are malt vinegar (from barely), salt, sugar, molasses, spirit vinegar, anchovies, onions, tamarind extract, garlic, spice and flavoring (cloves, lemon, pickles, soy sauce and peppers). By the way, Tamarind is a tree in the Fabaceae family indigenous to tropical Africa. It also grows wild in South Asia and Arabia particularly in the country of Oman, though it is thought to have been transported there by people. It was introduced to Mexico and Hawaii in the 16th and 17th century respectively. It is now grown in many nations with a tropical climate. The tamarind flowers with red and yellow flowers. It is a busy tree with evergreen leaves and reaches heights between forty and sixty feet. Tamarind has a sweet and sour taste and is high in vitamin B and calcium.