Well, how about this? A chestnut in all its green-spiked glory. This was found on the ground during a recent walk along one of the flatter streets in Boulder Creek. I'd forgotten that the Methodist church has an enormous chestnut tree and the fruits were all over the street. The shadows and color and structure and shape are all very inspiring to me. I could see basing a series of quilts exploring just those things.
But then I started thinking about chestnut trees, and how they're such a big thing in the European countries that my ancestors come from, and how they used to be a much bigger thing here in the US before an awful blight killed billions (yes with a b) of them. I started researching and found that the biggest and possibly oldest (4,000 years!) chestnut tree is in Sicily, the famous hundred horse tree. These are beautiful trees, tall, spreading, enormous and productive if grown in the right conditions. Turns our that there are people in my little mountain town that grow them, and sell the fruits in the natural foods grocery store every year.
I have family memories of chestnut recipes from both sides of my family, Sicilian and the more mixed-pan-European. There was some pistachio/chestnut dip thing we used to have that was definitely Sicilian, and then there were the cookies my great-grandma made with chestnut flour. We used to eat roasted chestnuts at both sets of my grandparent's houses on Christmas. We ourselves famously tried to roast some chestnuts one fateful December, but unfortunately didn't realize they needed to be scored open a bit. What an explosive and exciting mess that was, it makes for a good story though.
All this is to say, that Ms. de Leon Mason's lecture has definitely provoked some thoughts...
p.s. it's raining steadily, and it smells so glorious right now, very happy-making
2 comments:
I tried chestnuts for the very first time in Austria. We roasted chestnuts and they were so delicious. I also tried Kastanianhonig, which honey bees make after they have feasted on chestnut blossoms. OMG! So delicious. I tried to roast some chestnuts when I came home and it just wasn't the same. Maybe they weren't high quality or something. I don't know, but I never tried again. Maybe I can find some organic chestnuts and they will taste better.
Your photos are amazing!!! Minimum print the second photo on fabric.
That honey sounds amazing. Have you run into chestnut flour as a gluten-free alternative for baking? I really like your idea of printing the photo on fabric...
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