 I love risotto, but I often forget about it, remembering only when I come upon it while looking for something else in my cupboards. Last week I was looking for ideas for dinner and stumbled on that half box that’s been there a while. I had time, and a container of Brussels sprouts which seemed […]  Saffron is expensive, but if you skimp on it you might as well put it right into the trash, because you can’t taste it. Using too little is as wasteful as using too much. I know better, and yet lately I haven’t been using enough saffron. I have been denying myself as if rationing the […]  When I was a kid there was an auto shop that ran an ad each spring “Spring has sprung the grass has ris, I wonder how my spark plugs is?” I have no idea what company it was, and a Google search was fruitless, nevertheless, the jingle has stuck with me. When people ask […]  When I was a teenager my mother found a recipe for a Turkish dish call Imam Bayildi, which translates to the sultan swooned (or fainted). There are a few versions of the legend of the name from the Imam fainted with pleasure at the taste of this dish, another claims that the sultan was married to a […]  When I think of being a quitter I think of the painful scene in the movie Eat, Pray, Love when Liz Gilbert’s soon to be ex-husband, mid-divorce negotiations sings a song with only one lyric, “quitter, quitter, quitter” over and over. No one wants to see themselves as a quitter, but sometimes the wise option is to […]
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Marcy - I typically use saffron just once a year, making a paella with my husband on New Year’s Eve. Since I only use it at that time, it always feels like an extra special splurge. I like how you used saffron here to discuss your life and the progress you’re making. I’m sure I’ll think of it the next time I open one of those tiny envelopes that holds the precious saffron in the spice jar. I like how you ended with that gorgeous picture of the tulips, too.
nrlowell@comcast.net - Thanks Marcy. I think saving things for a specific special occasion doesn’t smack of neurosis the way saving something for some unnamed, yet to be determined “special” day that never seems to arrive. On a separate note, if you have saffron around it is wonderful with cauliflower!
Hema - I loved every single line of this post! And the message at the end of it. It’s so like me to wait for some special occasion to use something I really love. But life is short. I’m going to break open that container of vanilla beans 🙂
nrlowell@comcast.net - Hema, I went to Indonesia a few years ago, and ended up throwing out the vanilla beans I brought home, and was saving… ugh!
Laura Neill - Beautifully written, so evocative and SO RELATABLE. Denial and scarcity can be too much of a comfort.
Having said that, I am off to the shops to replace the Rocher chocolate easter bunny I ate last night, five days too early…
nrlowell@comcast.net - Ah, the temptation of candy in the cupboards!
Valerie Newman - I know, live a little, right? When my grandmother died, we found loads of presents she had been “saving” for a special occasion. Never worn, still in boxes, tags on. Did I hear (Ina maybe?) that saffron comes from the stamen of vanilla flowers?
nrlowell@comcast.net - Valerie, letting go just a little makes a big difference. And no saffron comes from the crocus flower. It takes hundreds of pounds of flowers to get a ridiculously small amount of saffron. http://chefslastdiet.com/2013/09/09/saffron/
Cyn K - When I got married (the first time), my aunt’s gift was a set of dishes with a musical theme. It was so fitting since my (then) husband and I were both musicians. They were so lovely that we saved them in the box, waiting for a special occasion.
We never used those plates together. I took them with me after the divorce and finally used them because I didn’t own any other plates. They are now my everyday plates and I have another set that sits idly on the shelf because they are the “good” plates for company.
nrlowell@comcast.net - Cyn, I could make a list of all the things I am saving that would be as tall as I am. I hope writing this will help me shorten it.
Ellen - Ah, the blanket of scarcity. I love this description. It matches my blanket of fear that I sometimes want to wrap myself in.
Meg - Oh, I so get this, Nancy. I feel like I’m a Depression-era child. Maybe I inherited it. Anyway, very nicely done, this essay. Love the blanket metaphor. Thanks for sharing it.
Cathy - Such wise insights. I can relate to much of this. I am also learning to allow myself indulgences, like an impractical trip to Texas see my daughter when I would be visiting her in just a few months. I keep reliving those few days with her over and over in my mind. And I just bought myself a camera I would have denied myself not long ago. I worked hard to rationalize it and overcome that practicality that fuels my decisions. Boy, did it feel good!
Life Moves Fast These Days » Chefs Last Diet - […] Plenty of Saffron […]