Whitefish Jrs.

These guys get around on the Powwow circuit. I believe they are Crees from Canada and they are a big deal and have a lot of CDs out. We enjoyed their singing and drumming that encouraged the dancers to do their best at the Crow Fair. 

Crow Fair 2014

Yes, we were there at the 96th Crow Fair. My daughter, Ms. Wiggy Boots, was so excited. You see Crow Agency, Montana, looks like Mongolia and the Crow people (Apsaalooke) reminded her of Mongolians.

Lots of drumming and singing and dancing. A bracing combo of nostalgia and now as the Crow Nation gathered for good times. Check one off the bucket list. Could see making this a regular August stop.

Great Plains Road Trip

The August road trip to Deadwood, South Dakota (extreme tourist trap), Glacier National Park (heavenly scenery) and Billings, actually Crow Agency, for the Crow Powwow (An inspiring gathering of the tribe.) 

An entirely too short 9 days. A story of hell--Deadwood-- and long hours behind the wheel that brought redemption in the soul-stirring State of Montana. Could have easily spent a month. 

Bonded with the Subaru as the little 4-wheel-drive tramp stretched out all day at high speeds over the endless vistas of the Great Plains. Ms. Wiggy Boots fed me pringles and water all day and we stopped to dine on the finest of fast foods and convenience store burritos. (Wiggy still talks about that KFC buffet in North Dakota, or was it Minnesota?) We had all manner of nasty food like snickers and Trader Joe's cookies and so forth. To be cont.

Tell Me, Who Do You Love?

OK now don't think too hard about this. Just pick one quickly. It doesn't really have to be love, which one would you rather share pancakes with?

A Perfect Prawn Curry

Sometimes a perfect dish of prawns in coconut curry can snatch you from the depths of Minnesota Mordor and give meaning, importance and pleasure to life.

 Uuum been a long time since I shared any thoughts with my blog droogs.  I spindled many of my posts when I applied for a job in Minneapolis.

Had the posts been left up and had I kept writing; it would have been possible to pinpoint the exact moments when my life came off the tracks and dissolved into a melty combo of raising a lovely yet often angry Mongolian teen and watching Twins baseball in the basement.

My second wife left us in the lurch in such a horrific manner that after 2 years; I still have my doubts about ever hooking up again, and the very concept of romantic love seems as flimsy and illusory as a cosmic Potemkin village.

This return to blogging is my attempt to crawl out of the debris,  dust myself off and to survey the wreckage. A sort of triage of my life, if you will. Well that's the idea as this starts anyway.

When it is not snowing and frozen outside, life in the Mini-apple is not without certain pleasures--usually involving cooking, eating and drinking. I share my culinary masterpieces with my little Mongolian, who has risen to the task repeatedly, calmly stuffing these unknown wonders into her face with nearly beatific gusto.

So you see it's not all bad. In fact I've been quite lucky in a way. In the end no one gets out alive anyway; so might as well enjoy the scenery along the way--n'est-ce pas?

P.S. Bonus Recipe

Kerala prawn curry

1can coconut milk

 2 onions diced

Tablespoon of minced garlic

Tablespoon of fresh grated ginger

½ teaspoon black mustard seed

½ tsp black pepper

1tsp indian chili powder or cayenne (to taste)

1 tsp paprika

½ tsp fenegreek seeds

¼ tsp of cardamom seeds

Good pinch of black cumin seeds (optional)

1tsp of turmeric

A pound of peeled deveined shrimp

2 tomatoes

A little tamarind water 2-3 tablespoons optional or 1 tbsp of apple vinegar.

method

Grind all the spices except mustard

Brown onions garlic and ginger in oil, add mustard seed

Add diced tomato and cook until it melts

Add heaping tbls of spice mixture saute for a minute or two

Add little tamarind water or vinegar for balance

Stir in coconut milk bring to a boil

Add prawns and simmer until done and the sauce is thickened

Season with kosher salt

Serve over thai rice or basmati rice