When I was in Jordan (2001-2002), I was an English teacher in a small village near the Dead Sea which the villagers told me was the site of biblical Sodom. Realizing the poetic opportunity of doing Aids education in Sodom, I was inspired. The Peace Corps gave me an industrial supply of condoms and lube. I gathered the older boys and young men of the village for a fun, educational evening. There was a Greek archeological team working in the village under the direction of Dr. Konstantinos Demetrios Politis. At his request, we called him Dino. When Lot and his family fled the destruction of Sodom and Gommorah, (doesn't Gommorah sound Irish?!), they were warned to hightail it and not look back. In the Genesis account, Mrs. Lot couldn't help herself and glanced over her shoulder. Shazaam! Presto-chango, she was transformed into a pillar of salt. Her family hid in a cave above my village in a place called 'Ain 'Abata (the Spring of Abata). While the site had be sporadically occupied since the early Bronze Age (2,000-1,500 BCE), what Dino and his team were excavating was the 5-7 century CE Byzantine Monastery of Agios Lot. (Agios is Greek for saint). I'm not sure how offering your virgin daughters to a lusty mob qualifies one as a saint. Dino had begun to work at the site in 1998. In the spring of 2002, his team was completing a large mosaic floor.

Mrs. Lot

Sometimes, in the evening, I wandered up to where the team was staying to hang out. There, I made a good friend, Aristotelis Sakellariou who is a specialist in early glass. He has been on my mind constantly these past days as Greece is on fire. Yesterday morning, there was an earth quake, too! Only a year ago, there were wild fires and an earthquake on the Ionian island of Zakynthos where Ari comes from. The flag of the island bears the motto, ΘΕΛΕΙ ΑΡΕΤΗ ΚΑΙ TOΛMH Η ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ ("Freedom requires virture and courage"). During WWII when Hitler demanded a list of the names of the members of Zakynthos's Jewish community which was 275 souls strong, Bishop Chrysostomos and Mayor Loukas Carrer promptly gave Hitler such a list which consisted of only two names: their own. The Jews were hidden in mountain villages and because of the virtue and courage of the island's leaders and its inhabitants, the entire Jewish community survived the Holocaust.

With the summer heat, I haven't felt like cooking much. Lately, I've been eating mostly raw food ~ but that sounds too much like a label. I don't even own a stove anymore and the outdoor markets are crammed with incredible produce, so a salad is about as much cooking as I do. Living with fibromyalgia doesn't give me many pain-free moments in a given day. I only know that I feel amazing. I've been eating all kinds of fruit and veggies. Eve finally revealed the mysteries of fruit vs. vegetable. (Is a tomato a fruit? Is a cucumber? Yes to both!). Figs are in season now. I didn't grow up with fresh figs, but I'm crazy about them now! Elke gave me some yummy lychees for my birthday. The only time I'd ever tried them before was when a homesick friend from Singapore opened a tin of them and offered me one. What can I say? He must have been tasting memories. So, it was a lovely surprise to discover the fresh version of this flowery fruit.




Last night, I grated up a beet, juiced a couple of lemons, minced some garlic and parsley, threw in a half a teaspoon of cumin, a swig of olive oil and some tahini. Yum! For breakfast, I had some fresh figs. Later, for a snack, I had some sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I put together some quinoa that I'd soaked overnight but not cooked, some almonds that I'd also soaked overnight (they were plump and activated), some parlsey (in the region, we have flat-leaf parsley), some lemon and a little tahini. For dessert, I had halvah and Turkish coffee with cardamom. Bad habits die hard!

I wasn't sure about eating uncooked quinoa (keen’ wah). In my mind, this treasure of the Incas is a grain and needs to be cooked. I've always prepared it like rice, but it can be popped or soaked and eaten. It was mild and "normal" enough that I could serve it without hesitation. I remembered the Chief Rabbinate ruled last year in time for Passover that quinoa was permissible because it was a pseudo-ceral and not a true grass. Note to myself: if it grew for the Incas, quinoa should grow well in the Cascadia bioregion. It's high in protein (16-23%) and has a good balance of amino acids; plenty of vitamin E & B; calcium, iron and phosphorus. Put some in your garden! Maybe some amaranth, too, which is so pretty.

Now, back to work on that bibliography...

Tags: ari, cascadia, dino, earthquake, fire, greece, lot, mrs. lot, quinoa
Current Mood: worried
Current Music: Johnny Cash: Ring of Fire