January 10, 2009

I'm Not Hard of Hearing

I'm hard of listening.

Today I was swaddled in comforting languages I can't comprehend.

First I sang in Hawaiian.

People were speaking Japanese (and listening to classic 1970's funk) at the fish market.

At Los New Friends, all of the music was in Spanish.

And when I started cooking, I found a radio dj spinning Chinese music, bird songs and Conjunto.

The next dj was playing two hours of bluegrass songs about coal mining. I sauteed while playing along on my uke, and was reminded of the time when I first moved to the college town, heard independent radio, and fell in love with a set of bluegrass songs about black lung disease. I bought the black lung song album but almost immediately went back to listening to Gang of Four.

Tonight's a mish-mash: pickled lotus root, beet and carrot pasta, kabocha squash simmered in dashi, and Li Hing Mui marshmallows. A personal creation conceived of on the drive back home from civilization. 




While I was writing this the pasta boiled over...oh well.

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