Beavertail Cactus

Beavertail-Cactus
Originally uploaded by jmoule.

Because of last winters heavy rains, the wildflowers in Death Valley are the most profuse they have been in the last 100 years. This cactus was one of the prettiest flowers we saw.

Death Valley

Death-Valley
Originally uploaded by jmoule.

We just returned from a trip to Death Valley to look at wildflowers. From Berkeley it took one day to drive there, going south on Interstate 5 and then cutting across through Tehachapi and Mojave to China Lake where we stayed for the evening. In the morning we drove through Trona to Death Valley. I
From China Lake, it took about an hour to reach the border of the Park.

The Miro' Quartet

Last weekend, we went to a performance by the Miro' Quartet. More accurately, the performers were Daniel Ching, violin; John C. A. Largess, viola; Joshua Gindele, cello; and special guest Pei-Yao Wang, piano. The program: a) Mozart's Piano Quartet in E-flat major which was, well, Mozart. b) Sir William Walton's Piano Quartet in D minor which is played so rarely that the performers had not heard anyone else play it. An interesting piece that obviously was strongly influenced by Debussy, Ravel, and Bartok. c) Brahms' Piano Quartet in G-minor which was just plain spectacular.

What stood our in our mind was effortless clarity of Ms Wang's piano playing. We walked out thinking that in a few years we will be saying, "We heard her when.."

Orlow Ball ca 1864

Orlow Ball ca 1864
Originally uploaded by jmoule.

Yesterday I sent a photo of Esther Power, daughter of Jacob B. Power and Polly Thrasher. Attached is a daguerreotype of her first child, Orlow. She obviously had the time and inclination to dote on him. This photo was probably taken in Connorsville, Fayette Co., IN. Orlow was born in 1859 so, judging from his age in the photo, it was probably taken near the end of the Civil War.

Jacob B. Power served in the Civil War. While he was gone, Esther's husband, George Ball, ran Jacob's wagon making business. In one of his letter's to his wife, Jacob asked her to remind George not to sell the wagons for less than the cost of making them. That says a lot about Jacob's confidence in his son-in-law's business acumen. (It was probably justified.)

I am a little surprised that this photo is a daguerreotype. Silver iodide prints from glass plate negatives had begun to replace daguerreotypes by this time. Perhaps the Power family had a favorite photographer who had not yet changed his equipment.

Esther Power

Esther Power
Originally uploaded by jmoule.

This is a daguerreotype of Esther Power, daughter of Jacob B. Power and Polly Thrasher (whose picture I posted yesterday). The original is in poor condition. It is necessary to look at it from various angles to see anything at all. The man that copied it obviously had experience. The copy is better than the original.

My great grandmother (Esther's daughter) wrote that this picture was taken when Esther was sixteen or seventeen. That would put the date at about 1852, ten years before the Civil War. At first glance, Esther appears to have a broken arm. Not so. My great grandmother explained that she was wearing a pair of highly decorative white sleeves. To me, the sleeves appear to be a gauntlet, extending back from white gloves.

Polly Thrasher Power

Polly-Thrasher-Power
Originally uploaded by jmoule.

This is a photograph of my ggg grandmother, Polly Thrasher, wife of Jacob B. Power. According to notes written by my great grandmother concerning old family photos, this would have been taken in about 1852 when she was 39 years old.

According to the man who made the copy, the "bloom" around her face is caused by the fact that the photo has stuck to the glass cover that protects it. Also, he pointed out that photos were extremely costly in those days, hence the gold foil surroinding the photo and the elaborate embossed leather case (not seen in this copy) containing it.

Notice her gloves and the bonnet that surrounds her head.

This is old photograph month. More to come.

Food Blogs

The occasional recipe that I post is crude compared to those of blogs devoted to the subject. There is a whole new world out there. If you are not aware of it, try the following link. Then look at the right and down for more links.

http://www.chocolateandzucchini.com/

Susan Rocky's Cornmeal Pancakes

On Sunday mornings, I cook breakfast. About once a month we have pancakes or waffles. I have cooked many different pancake recipes in the last 60 years, but the pancakes that we like best are "Susan Rocky's". It's also the about simplest recipe that you can find. Katherine found this recipe in an engagement calendar published by Gourmet Magazine many, many, years ago. I have cooked this on camping trips all over the United States. In extreme circumstances I have even used milk reconstituted from powered milk and curdled with bottled lemon juice as a substitute for buttermilk. I do not recommend that, but pancakes made that way are far better than none at all. Recipe follows:

1 cup corn meal
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
mix together and beat in:
1 egg
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 T oil

Serves 4

With 1 1/2 cups of ordinary buttermilk, these make a thin and crisp pancake. With 1 1/4 cups of the thick, cultured, buttermilk that we can buy here in Berkeley, this recipe makes a thicker but very light pancake. It's so light that it will challenge your skill in turning them.

The better and fresher the corn meal, the better the pancake. We use "Bob's Red Mill, medium grind", and we keep that in the refrigerator to keep it fresh. However, we have used just about everything at one time or another from stone ground flour just off the millstone on Cape Cod to "Alber's" in a box that was years old.

I assume that you already know how to make pancakes. I thought I was an expert until I found "The Pancake Handbook" by Siegelman, Conley, and Kroening - the cooks at Bette's Oceanview Diner. This little gem has been out of print for years but has just been reissued. A few points: The griddle should be hot enough that a drop of water dances on top but not so hot that it evaporates instantly. Do not mix the batter too much or the cakes will be rubbery. Use a 2 oz. measure to drop the batter on the griddle so the cakes will all be exactly the same size. There are more points. Buy the book.

Gyoza Soup

Soup
Originally uploaded by jmoule.

We had this for lunch today. It was simple, fast, and good. The key is the nori. When it hits the hot broth it yields a pungent, smoky, aroma. This is the kind of nuanced dish that we snobby, effete, liberals eat here in Berkeley.