artifacts

i've never been much of a believer in objects. i'm big on place, not things. but today i looked through one of my grandmother's recipe books and missed her a lot. her handwriting was rather legible (in comparison to my mothers) and she always had this habit of using free notebooks to record everything in--recipes, inventories (of possessions such as suitcases or jewelry with diagrams of each item which i used to help her draw), the bible in chinese written character by character.



here written on the pisces page is a recipe for beef tongue stew (which she spelled more like "stool").

instructions:
scrape the tongues until clean then bake for 20 minutes
cut into pieces

dice potatoes then steam until cooked
slice onions into rings
cut tomatoes into wedges
stir-fry together. season with maggi, worcestershire sauce, ketchup.
add roux (cornflour dissolved in water).

remarks:
use any kind of liquor for stewing.
add coriander root & pepper

also found this book of recipes that she consulted from time to time.



500 Savory & Sweet Thai Recipes

it's yellow & spotty, literally falling apart. i was drawn to the image on the cover, just thinking about the way the woman was squatting down next to a charcoal stove, her children part of the scene. and where was the man of the house?