Sightings

Spring is early! We don't usually see leaves like this for another 3 weeks.

20 April 2012
The swallows were back in the barn last Sunday, the 15th. I don't know if they were 5 days early this year or 5 days late last year. I'll keep better track of their arrival. And I heard a White Throated Sparrow last Monday, the 16th. I was going to comment "who doesn't love this time of year" but then I realized allergy sufferers must just hate this. I'm so happy I don't suffer from allergies. I find this a lovely time of year.

Lilacs. 20 April 2012

Stop and Stare Mare

Is he just going to stand there?

Come and get me
I'd really love to know what she's thinking. L's take on things is, I'm sure, most interesting. Yes yes I know she's fat.

L isn't a very spooky horse. When she becomes...concerned...she will most likely stop. And stare. And stare. And stare. My trainer describes it as "processing" and sometimes it can go on for minutes. My trainer also says I shouldn't let her do that. But I've learned over years it's something she really does need to do. It's a bit of an art knowing when she's had enough.

I can usually tell when she's had enough. And I know exactly what will set her off.

Here.

OMG THOSE WEREN'T THERE YESTERDAY!!
A neat stack of logs in the woods..

That is just so WRONG!
One day some kids were playing nearby and they left some small stones in a neat pile by the side of the driveway. Yes you guessed it. She had to stop and stare at those stones. I would so love to know what (on earth..) she's thinking.

And I know that bucket by the door. The blue one. If it was red yesterday I'm ready for her...

Edited to add: And I swear she knows what "It's just turkeys!" means (said in my "stop being ridiculous" tone of voice).

Spicing things up

I'm very lucky. No less than 8 specialty grocers come immediately to mind within less than an hour's drive from here. There are some ethnic specialty grocers nearby as well. Food is very culturally distinctive. I like culturally distinctive things.

I've been very happy trying all kinds of new things and after trying my hand at a curry dish last year I decided I needed to play with Indian food. I've had just a passing acquaintance with Indian food.

So I went off to a nearby Patel Brothers market and stocked up on some spices.

Indian Spices
Curries are now regularly on my menu. There are thousands of curry recipes on the web. And I've found if I ask 10 different people how to prepare a curry dish I get 10 different recipes.

I don't think curries are so much about recipes.

The spices: I generally mix a teaspoon each of ground cumin, coriander and paprika. I add a half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper (um...usually more..), turmeric, amchur and something else, depending on the main ingredient. If the main ingredient is say, chickpeas, it's chole masala. If it's chicken it's tandori chicken masala. If it's shrimp it's fish masala. You get the idea. If I don't know what to use it's either chili powder or just curry powder.

Technique: I sauté finely chopped onions and chili peppers in olive oil for several minutes, add some garlic, scatter the spices over the onion, give the skillet a shake, add chopped tomatoes. I add some water if it looks like it needs it. When the tomatoes cook down I add the "main ingredient" and let it all simmer for 20 or 30 minutes.

Observations: I've found using finely chopped onions is hugely important. I see ginger in many recipes and frankly, I'm not impressed with the ginger. Mostly I can't tell it's there even when I use a lot. I almost always add 1/2 teaspoon garam masala to everything. Sometimes it's in the spice mix and sometimes, depending on my mood, it's at the end of cooking. I like to squeeze in some lemon juice at the end of cooking. And I like to add some honey too. Especially if I've made it really hot.

The main ingredient. Well. The "main ingredient" can be almost anything you want!

Mushrooms

Shrimp. With some coconut milk and peas.

Red kidney beans. Called rajma.
I've used broccoli as well and next week I'm going to try okra (bhindi). I've never ever had okra.

As a matter of fact I even went way out there with my newly found confidence and made Chicken Tikka Masala.

Chicken Tikka Masala
Serving: You serve your curry on a bed of steamed rice or couscous. With some cilantro. You can see I love cilantro!

Pairing: Beer!

Curried cauliflower. See the IPA in the background to the right? It's perfect.
I don't know that my Indian dishes are "authentic". I know the ingredients are! But like all of my cooking I've messed with it some and found things I like. That's really what it's about. And I regularly enjoy things I never would have fixed just a year ago.

Even when it's not quite right you just need to get close enough to know there's a stellar dish hiding in there somewhere.

Tuning up

Of course Spring is shedding and tune up season. This started in a big way last Wednesday. The shedding thing.

Familiar sight. 31 March 2012
She's been shedding little handfuls here and there but last Wednesday every brush stroke started taking off a handful.

A couple of weeks ago it felt like May. Dry, sunny, breezy, in the 80s day after day. How nice was that! My heat was off, my windows were open, we were doing ground work in the ring after work and dinner salads were back on my menu.

Even did a few turns in the ring under saddle last weekend. Long time since we did ring work under saddle!

And we had one heck of a nice ride last Sunday before the more seasonable weather moved back in.

Creepy?

You betcha!

Abandoned insane asylum
What a beautiful Spring day! So why on earth would I be out wandering the grounds of an abandoned insane asylum?!

West St. facing north

North St. facing west. Building D2.
There were much worse places than Medfield State Hospital.

Medfield State Hospital was the very first "cottage plan" (insane) asylum, here in the States anyway, which, I suppose, was quite altruistic in its intent. Rather than treating the mentally ill in large intimidating Kirkbride Institutions, the Cottage Plan included small residential treatment centers in a generally remote, isolated, peaceful, village like environment.

The quintessential mental institution in the gentle rolling hills is basically the model Cottage Plan asylum.

Ok. So why am I out wandering around an abandoned asylum?

The Clark Building
I read online this week that the Clark Building is coming down.

Being the closest building to the street, with its fortified (block house?) appearance and the guard towers, to us local people the Clark Building is the hospital. And yes we thought it was pretty scary.

It was basically the state hospital admission center. Built in the late 1950s (1958?) its architectural style is wildly different from almost every other building on the property. On the one hand, it's a very ugly building. On the other hand, it is the very embodiment of a public building in the 50s. It is to the 1950s what Greek Revival is to the 1820s.

I wanted to be an architect. I did a paper on Greek Revival architecture. It's the signature style of an era.

Well anyway. It saddens me to see the Clark Building being prepared for demolition. The entire site is on the National Register of Historic Places. All of the buildings except for the Clark Building require some procedures with the Massachusetts Historical Commission to alter. All of these sites have been a nightmare for the local communities. It sometimes takes decades to negotiate the purchase and rights to the properties. And then most of these buildings are loaded with asbestos and lead paint and costs millions to clean up. Not to mention the politics. The State won't sell the property to the community until the community changes the zoning laws. The community won't change the zoning laws until the State sells them the property. The impasse goes on for years. And years. And years.

But even so I'm all for their historic preservation. Intact.

The cafeteria?
This has to be about the ugliest building I've ever seen. It's hard to determine its architectural "style". Brutalist? Post Modern? The sign says "Vocational Services". The map says "Canteen". Looking in the window it looks a lot like a cafeteria. The loading dock has a prominent "Kitchen" stenciled on a door.

The site has some historical significance and the buildings are (almost) all perfect jewels of Victorian architecture.

Building B4

Not a happy place I'm sure. Building D2.
That's all hardened chain link around the porches. I'm pretty sure it's not there to keep out trespassers.

Building D2, another angle.
In spite of its relatively small scale buildings and all good intentions it's definitely a creepy place. There are lots of reasons to be uncomfortable here. All kinds of things I hardly care to think about. But the fact remains it's a an architectural and historical jewel.

Lest one think this place is a fountain of compassion there's a cemetery nearby. With well over 800 graves of the poor unfortunates that came here and died. With small numbered stones marking their graves. Nothing more than a practical matter to the State and a sad footnote to any good intentions.

Update 6 April 2012: Here's a moving article about adding named markers in the Medfield State Hospital cemetery.

I went here because they're going to tear down the Clark Building. And to a a large extent these places are all gone. And I think we really should remember them.

There's an agreement to replace any existing structurally unsound buildings with building(s) that meet the same specs as the existing building(s). Agreements with whom? Oh, I don't know. But I really don't buy that.

Real things happened here

Spring!

Spring arrives tomorrow morning, 1:14 am EDT. Just about my most favorite day of the year.

Choosing wine

I collect teacups.

Royal Crown Derby (made sometime after 1890)
What does that have to do with choosing wine?!

Well. There's a saying in the antiques and collectibles world: "buy things you like". I think art collectors say the same thing.

I think the same phrase applies to wine.

Good stuff
This is a much "nicer" wine than I'd normally have. Well. It's a more "expensive" wine than I'd normally have. I liked it. But I couldn't help but wonder how it really stood up against my favorite. Carlo Rossi Chianti.

I'm a *huge* fan of blind taste tests. I like Top Chef but I'd really rather see blind judging. We just can't help our biases and preconceptions.

I often blind taste test things. Sometimes I need help with that and sometimes, if things look similar enough, I can label containers and shuffle them around enough so I don't which is which. And that's what I did here. My hands down favorite? Well I probably wouldn't write about this if it was the expensive one! Yes, I preferred jug wine to the Fancy Pants Stuff. I was a little surprised with how easily I made my decision. I didn't have to go back and forth to think about it.

Maybe I just have an untrained palate. Maybe genetically I can't really tell. No that's not it. Because I can tell one from the other. I just prefer my wine from a jug. Mostly. Food will often have something to do with what I prefer.

So here's my advice when choosing wine. Pick something different now and then and if you *really* like it a lot, make a note of it. I have several favorites. But most of the time? It's more like Pepsi vs. Coke.

Never mind expert opinions. Every time I read a review where the author comments on the "quick legs" and what's "on the nose" and the "peppery" or worse..the "grassy notes" along with poetic descriptions of the "finish" I'm sorry, I just want to gag. I want the kind of wine old men drink from water glasses on hot dusty days with people dancing in the street.

Pussy willows are out! A week or so earlier than last year.

Tuesday 13 March 2012
I actually first noticed these on 7 March while out walking.