Halcyon

Copyright:© Laura Crawford Williams/VIREO

What do I want?
A friend told me about a Life Coach she had been seeing and thought I might be interested. A Life Coach, as I understand is someone who offers guidance as the other person goes through a learning process that will facilitate new behaviors for personal growth or professional advancement. I have met with her and felt the experience very helpful for me. I will meet with her for several more months. Her information is linked to this blog located under links of interest.

I needed to reconnect with my passionate geeky self. A thread of melancholy had woven its way into my life. While perusing one of my favorite web sites which is a dictionary  slash lots of other cool stuff geeky word stuff, I found this word that summed up the off colored weaving thread, lugubrious. This word means, mournful, dismal, or gloomy in an exaggerated or unrelieved manner. Ok, now go to the link connected to the word lugubrious and listen to the pronunciation. How can a word that sounds so bubbly and fun be so down? I just love that word. I hit the audio button several times in a row, lugubrious, lugubrious, lugubrious and now I am giggling.

Right around Yule or Christmas my emotions calmed. I like this Greek myth and the meaning of the word halcyon. I would love to say I saw a Belted Kingfisher or even heard the bird call but no, I did not. At Winter Solstice I felt my self sink back into my self. I believe being with my family and talking to the Life Coach helped. I feel I am now in a nest of my own making on a calm clear cold river floating along peacefully and healing.
 

All spiritual disciplines are done with a view to still the mind. The perfectly still mind is universal spirit. -- Swami Ramdas

(I am trying)

Our family holiday celebration was joyful. One day to prepare and the other to celebrate. My mother and I made a chowder as our main dish for our family event. My parents are from New England and I remember as a child living with my Nana in Massachusetts enjoying bowls of fish chowder that was fishy and full of potatoes. Chowders had been considered 'poor mans food' but now have been elevated to rich and cream or tangy tomato 'hearty mainstay' of delectable yum. My mother and I made a seafood chowder. Parts of the recipe is from memories of my mother learning from my Nana and some of the recipe is from our collective cooking experience. I wish I had taken a picture but I was having to much fun.

Seafood Chowder

2 large live Maine lobsters
5 cups of water
1lb cleaned large shrimp
1 large container of oysters
1lb of sea scollops
4 or 5 lb of cod
5 lb of peeled white potatoes
1 stick of unsalted butter
sunflower oil to coat pan for frying
2 large onions
1 small bag of frozen corn
salt, white pepper, 5 garlic cloves

1. In a large stock pot boil water. Place the lobsters in one at a time head first. Boil on high 5-8 minutes. Remove the lobsters, plunging into ice water to stop the cooking process and let them cool. Empty the dirty water and clean stock pot. Pick the lobsters. Save the meat and refrigerate. Discard the green stuff/tomally, and the lungs in the body of the lobster. Boil 5 cups of water and add the lobster shell, body and empty legs to the water to make stock. Boil and reduce to 4 cups of water. Strain, discard shells and save the yummy stock in the frig.
2. While you are making the stock, peel the potatoes, wash in cold water, cut into chunks and boil until tender. Remove half and mash. Put the rest in the frig until later.
3. When the stock is done, strained and removed from the large stock pot, add chopped onion and stick of butter. Cook until tender. Add the mashed potatoes and return the stock water. Cook on medium heat.
4. Drain the oyster, scallops and cod. Add the drained liquid to the stock pot. Quick fry oysters, scallops and cod in sunflower oil to seal in their flavor. They may not be completely cooked. 
5. Add frozen corn to stock and potatoes. Return to a simmer. Add crushed garlic. Add the potato chunks.
6. Add the cooked oysters, scallops and cod. Return to a boil. Add more water if it is too thick. Return to boil. Add the shrimp.  The shrimp will turn pink and be cooked very quickly.
7. Add salt and white pepper to taste. Add the clunked lobster meat.
8. Taste and make sure there is enough salt, pepper and garlic. Turn off the heat, cool to warm and serve with oyster crackers.

So yummy, potato thick and rich with Poseidon gifts!!!