tourtiere

Sun 12.6.20

      I’ve been on a 5-day work binge writing my brief for federal court. There was somewhat of an outline when I started on the piece this past Wednesday.  I have been working long days and evenings on it and just got it put together a couple of hours ago.  At 17 pages, then 3 pages for the accompanying motion, lining up the exhibits, the photos, in three piles one for the judge, for the opposing attorney, and one for me.  A big sigh of relief, it’s over!  Do you remember the scene in Kramer vs. Kramer when Dustin Hoffman after a long struggle finally scores and gets the important job?  He’s at the new company having just received the good news.  It’s Christmastime and the staff is having a rocking party in the conference room.  He looks around and spies a blond babe on the dance floor.  Yes! He’s going for it.

      After work this evening, I get an email from some young guy in Dhaka, Bangladesh, “Hi Luhren,” he says.  Hi sweetie, I respond to this gorgeous man.  “Hello my lady, quite surprised you responded.”  Gee, I’m already his lady.  “I like older women very much” he says.  “For both physical and mental intimacy.”  Hmm!  I like young guys who are frisky, I reply.  Yes, I got the job done.  Then it was on to the candlelit bath after which I am treating myself to a typical Sunday afternoon dinner among my people, a pork pot roast with des patates jaunes, i.e. potatoes that have been cooked with the roast and have acquired a golden color.  There are carrots, a quartered onion, salt and pepper and a bit of thyme in this dish.

      Christmas is coming in a few weeks and I leave you with the recipe of a favorite at the Christmas eve Réveillon where everybody gathers at grandmère’s after the midnight mass to party and exchange gifts.

TOURTIÈRE

Plain pastry for a two crust pie

1lb of ground pork

two potatoes, or 3 if they’re small

1 ½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. cloves

maybe a little nutmeg

a good sized clove of garlic pressed

a small onion, chopped

salt and pepper

Simmer the pork slowly for a couple of hours with the onion and garlic, adding the spices toward the end.  While the ground pork is simmering, peel and boil the potatoes, mash them up and mix them with the ready meat. You want to have a balance of potatoes to a bit more of the meat.  Place the mixture in the bottom pie crust, seal the top and it goes in the oven for about 45 minutes.

There is also a BÛche de Noël for dessert.  The English have a simillar tradition their name for it, a Yule Log.

 The all-time favorite essay, over and above everything else I post on this site, from at least 20 to 30 countries is The Sweat Lodge Ritual the Lakota purification ceremony.