Three Beautiful Things 09/25/2021: Questions About Animals and Humans, Burn Em and a Sunset, Madhura Prepares an Indian Feast

 1.  I decided that today I would listen to the last two chapters of The Soul of an Octopus, come hell or high water, and I did it. I enjoyed Sy Montgomery's many stories and, even more, I enjoyed her high regard for and enthusiasm about the octopus. That was on the one hand. On the other hand, it bothered me that so much of Sy Montgomery's experience with the octopuses was in the New England Aquarium where the octopuses were in captivity. She also wrote about diving in the Caribbean and in waters near Polynesia to observe octopuses in the wild. So, the book got me thinking a lot (more) about  human relationships with animals and, how, in a perfect world, I want us humans to just leave these animals alone. I know what I just wrote is fraught with contradictions -- how else might we learn about these animals? how else could I experience the pleasure of seeing the movie, My Octopus Teacher? And how about Gibbs? Copper? Luna? 

I'm not a polemicist -- I can't see these questions as anything but really complicated and I have no answers. I do, however, have feelings -- and, at times, while reading this excellent book, I was uneasy reading about octopuses housed in barrels, reading about one octopus's escape from its tank and the consequences of that, and about the annual Valentine's Day event at the Seattle Aquarium called, "Blind Date" -- an event that features people packing into the aquarium to watch two octopuses who have never met mate. The organizers of this public viewing of procreation get the crowd warmed up by playing Barry White and Roberta Flack singing soulful romantic get in the mood songs. 

2. This day kicked into high gear this afternoon with the arrival of Danielle and her friend Madhura and, later, for a short period of time, Danielle and Madhura's friend also named Danielle.  Brian also arrived.  Then things kicked into an even higher gear when nephew Billy and his wife, Casey, arrived. 

Brian was eager for anyone who wanted to join him to go to a brewery down the road called Burn 'Em. I joined Brian, Billy, and Casey for this outing and it was awesome. We sat at picnic table outdoors. I ordered an IPA called Familiar Drugs because it feature the Idaho 7 hop, the very hop that makes Radio Brewing's single hop beer 43 For Me so tasty. After we'd been at Burn 'Em for a while, Debbie popped in -- Danielle's friend Danielle needed to return to Chicago and dropped Debbie off at the brewery. 

We had a robust time drinking beer, telling tales, laughing, and reminiscing. When we decided to leave, Brian realized that there was a very good chance that if we went straight to a turn out spot near his lake place, we might see an astonishing sunset.

He was right.

The lake and the sky were reddish orange, vibrating with beauty, and we could see the Chicago skyline also burnished in the golden glow of this sunset. Brian snapped this picture. The colors had faded a bit by the time we organized this shot and the skyline is just out of this shot (no problem)  -- but, I hope you get the idea that we saw a spectacular scene here.

Left to right: Me, Casey, Billy, Debbie

3.  We returned to the lake place and Madhura, with Danielle as her sous chef, was assembling and cooking an aromatic Indian eggplant and okra curry, combining a homemade curry powder supported by mustard seed, coriander, turmeric, bay leaves, cumin, cayenne pepper and other spices. Madhura also made an Indian soup, rasam. 

I was absolutely transfixed watching Madhura cook. I planted myself just to the left of the stove and watched and oohed and aahed as Madhura heated spices in oil in a pan to add to both the curry and the rasam and assembled and added other ingredients to her masterpieces. I took every chance I could to smell these dishes as they simmered away, grateful for the bliss of simply enjoying their aromas.

Danielle made a batch of brown rice and when Madhura told us dinner was ready, we each dove into the rice, spooned the eggplant and okra curry over it and also ate the rasam over rice. 

It was an awesome dinner and Brian, Billy, Casey, Debbie, Danielle, Madhura, Debbie, and I had an invigorating time yakking, praising Madhura's cooking, and enjoying one another's company.