Fairy Tale Friday--Adelita (Mexico)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. then I'll begin.

We are now looking at picture book versions of Cinderella. This week we look at a tale from Mexico entitled Adelita. It was written and illustrated by one of my favourite children's illustrators Tomie dePaola. You may know him because of his Caldecott honour book Strega Nona (Grandma Witch) or his Bill and Pete series about a crocodile and his best friend who is a toothbrush bird. My favourite book of all times by him is The Clown of God. He has written and illustrated many religious books including a beautiful one about the life of Saint Francis of Assisi but the Clown of God always makes me cry with its beauty. I used to read it to my class every year and we would get to a certain page (if you've read it, you know the one) and tears would be streaming down my face. My children would exclaim, "Why are you crying?" and then i would turn the page and we would all be crying--first from sadness and then from wonder.

Adelita is the tale of a young woman in Mexico whose mother dies in childbirth. She is raised with love by the nursemaid Esperanza who also looked after her father when he was a boy. Esperanza, while not magical, functions as the magical helper in this tale.

When her father remarries, her new stepmother and stepsisters are cordial to Adelita, but Esperanza declares them to be cold hearted. She is not wrong. When Adelita's father dies, the stepmother no longer has to pretend. She fires Esperanza and forces Adelita to be a servant.

An invitation arrives to a big fiesta which is a homecoming for the neighbour's son Javier. Adelita remembers Javier from her childhood as they used to play together, although it has been many years since they have seen each other. As you would expect, she is denied the right to go. Here is where Esperanza appears and enacts the role of magical helper. I liked that the kitchen illustration featured a few pumpkins prominently as a nod to the Perrault version  where the pumpkin turns into a coach. But in this version there is no magic dress or transformed objects--Esperanza brings her the key to a trunk that contains a beautiful but plain white dress that had belonged to Adelita's mother which she dresses up with a red shawl embroidered with birds and flowers. Esperanza fixes Adelita's hair with ribbons making her look uncannily like Frida Kahlo and she sets off for the fiesta in a little wooden cart that Esperanza borrowed to get get her there.

It goes on as you would expect and dePaola adds in several winks and nods to the Perrault tale.  When Javier is travelling around looking for his sweetheart, she cunningly hangs the red shawl out of the attic window as a sign that she is there. When he sees her in her home, he remembers their childhood friendship and they are soon married. Esperanza comes to live with them to care for their children.

This is beautifully illustrated and the story is peppered with Spanish.

Stay tuned next week for a tale from Korea.

What We Ate Wednesday--Coconut Mango Chickpeas with Broccoli

Hello lovelies! I was browsing recipes on the internet (as you do) and I came across this recipe by VEGAN RICHA and I was like "Hello! I have all the ingredients in my kitchen for this!" so i thought I would give it a go.

Me being me I didn't follow the directions particularly well and chopped and changed it a bit. I didn't have a tin of pureed mango, I had some frozen mango that I defrosted. I thought it needed much more garam masala and I never use a bay leaf on account of a childhood trauma where it was served to me in a school spaghetti and I became extremely suspicious of foliage in my food.  I didn't measure out 1 and 1/4 cups coconut milk, I just bunged a whole can in there. I also added the red pepper and broccoli.  You get the idea.

It was really good. You do need to taste at the end and adjust according to how your mangoes are--does it need a drizzle of something sweet or a touch of something sour?

Coconut Mango Chickpeas with Broccoli
The sauce:
1/4 red onion, diced small
1 TB ginger root, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tap cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tin coconut milk
flesh of one mango, tin of purred mango, heaping cup defrosted frozen mango...whatever mango you have basically

The rest:
the rest of the red onion, sliced into rainbows
half a red pepper, diced
half a crown of broccoli, cut into bite sized bits
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1-3 tsp garam masala 
salt and pepper to taste
maybe a drizzle of something sweet or a teaspoon or two of vinegar. 

Serve over brown rice. 

1. Blend everything for the sauce in the blender and set aside.
2. Cook the red onion, pepper and broccoli in a splash of water until they are losing their raw edge and then add the chickpeas and the sauce. Simmer in the sauce until the brown rice is done. Taste for spices--does it need more garam masala? Sweetness or sourness?  Serve over rice.

It was lovely and creamy and filling.

Fairy Tale Friday--The Rough Face Girl

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I'll begin.

Last week we began to move away from literary versions of Cinderella and started to look at picture book versions. This story The Rough Face Girl was written by author and professional storyteller (as well as Zen Koan teacher) Rafe Martin and is based on an Algonquin Indian tale from the shores of Lake Ontario.  It is exquisitely illustrated by David Shannon who is probably best known for the delightfully silly No, David! series of books. These dark illustrations really compliment the beautiful writing by Rafe Martin.

This is a well told tale with elements we recognise in traditional Cinderella stories--a poor man had three daughters and the two oldest sisters make the youngest sister's life very lonely and miserable. They make her sit by the fire and feed the flames and the burning branches cause the flames to pop and sparks to burn her skin. Her hands,arms and face become marked and scarred by fire and her hair becomes rough and charred. The father seems as if he is intimidated by the two older sisters and does nothing to stop their torment. He gives them everything and has nothing left for his youngest. Perhaps he knows she will make the best of what she has, no matter how small it is.

In this village everyone wants to marry the Invisible Being ( a God who takes the place of the Prince) but you have to have seen him to be able to marry him.  He is fiercely guarded by his sister who  fulfils the role of magical helper as she can see the true beauty of the Rough Face Girl despite her outward appearance and helps her to be rid of her scars.

After her sisters' failed attempt to lie and say they had seen the Invisible Being, our heroine would like to try as she sees his face everywhere because she is pure at heart. Her father has no beads or new clothes to give her because he already gave everything away to the two sisters. Therefore she seeks audience with the sister of the Invisible Being wearing a dress make out of birch bark that she made, some broken beads and her father's old moccasins which are way too big for her. Despite her bizarre appearance, the sister sees her inner beauty right away. It is a wonderful tale of how inner beauty can be seen by those who are looking.

My favourite part of the whole book is the picture of how she sees the face of the Invisible Being everywhere. David Shannon has done an excellent job of making a face of God in Nature. As a Transcendentalist Quaker, this is the face that I picture when I think about God.

This is a beautifully told and illustrated tale and one of my favourite versions of Cinderella.

That's all for this week. Stay tuned for the tale of Adelita from Mexico.

What We Ate Wednesday--Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes with Parmesan Kale and Potatoes (Or Gnocchi)

Hello lovelies! As I am now working the evening shift to close at work I get home around 6pm tired and hungry and am always looking for easy and quick meals. This is sort of a hybrid of other meals I make and definitely will go in the rotation for easy dinners.

We had a lovely day out in Swansea last week and we went to the vegan market shop Brontosaurus where I bought some vegan and gluten free potato gnocchi. I hadn't had gnocchi since I had to give up eating wheat several years ago, so this was a treat. We got the spinach kind and it was fun to have those pillowy potato dumplings again. But as they are not available locally and are a bit expensive (not to mention the plastic they come in) as well as the fact that they are less whole food and more processed, the next time we eat it I will just use potatoes boiled in vegetable stock.

Make no mistake--the gnocchi was a huge treat, but I know just good ole spuds will be just as good, cheaper and better for us. But you can make it either way, depending on what suits you.

Balsamic Roasted Tomatoes with Parmesan Kale and Potatoes (Or Gnocchi)
1 onion, thinly sliced into rainbows
as much garlic as you like (we did about 6 cloves, crushed)
100g kale, de-stemmed and torn into bits
3 TB vegan Parmesan like Good Carma or use recipe below

punnet cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
mixed Italian herbs
pepper

potato gnocchi or 400g potatoes, diced
*Note* if you are doing gnocchi, boil your kettle and add it to your pan and when the water boils again add the gnocchi and cook as the directions say (basically, for about 3 minutes until they begin to float then drain.) If doing potatoes, start them when you start the onion and then boil them in vegetable stock. Potatoes take longer than gnocchi so adjust accordingly. 

1. Preheat your grill/broiler to about 220C/425F. Move your oven rack up to the top.
2. Start cooking your onion in a splash of water so it has time to soften.
3. Add the tomatoes cut side down to the pan then add the oil and vinegar. Smoosh them around so the cut sides have all got the O and V mix on them then flip them over to cut side up and shooka shooka shooka lots of Italian mixed herbs and pepper on them.
4. When the grill is hot and ready, roast your tomatoes for 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, add your garlic and kale to the onions and cook until greens are reduced and softened. Add 3 TB Parmesan and stir to coat the greens.
6. Mix in your gnocchi or boiled potatoes and top with the roasted tomatoes.

Parmesan
1.5 TB ground almonds
1.5 TB nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Blend to combine.  

This is surely going to become one of our regular meals. Fast, easy and delicious.

Fairy Tale Friday--Cinderella Penguin or The Glass Flipper

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I'll begin. 

For many weeks we have looked at literary versions of the fairy tale Cinderella, but now I would like to spend a few weeks looking at versions that appeared as picture books.

Cinderella Penguin or The Glass Flipper was written by Janet Perlman. This charming story is basically a play by play retelling of the Perrault version in that it has a fairy godmother, a pumpkin and mice that turn into a coach and horses, a midnight curfew and of course a glass slipper--or in this case a glass flipper.

I used to read it to my students when i taught first grade at Rosenthal in Louisiana and they loved it. Word-wise, it wasn't much different from any standard retelling, but it is the illustrations that make this so charming. All the penguins are slightly dumpy and wear strapless boob tube dresses and the way that with just eyes and a beak emotions are portrayed (sad and romantic for our heroine, cruel and haughty for her stepmother and stepsisters) is delightful.

The illustrations are what make this story and when I found out there was a wordless animated film version (done with splendid Baroque music) I jumped for joy.

This story was also a great one for "Easter eggs" like you find on DVDs. There are several pieces of famous artwork recreated in background shots (but with penguins instead of people) including The Arnolfini Marriage by Jan Van Eyck and that tapestry with the lady and the unicorn. See if you can spot them!

 That's all for this week, stay tuned next week for a tale of a Rough Face Girl.

What We Ate Wednesday--Kale and Butterbean Soup with Rosemary and Parmesan

Hello lovelies! This is another soup adapted from Fast Days and Feast Days by Elly Pear. Her recipe called for Swiss chard, fresh rosemary and sherry vinegar--none of which I had. But I did have kale (I always have kale!) and dried rosemary on hand. The recipe called for the zest of a lemon but sherry vinegar and I was like "Hmmm....you need a boost of something acidic and I don't have any sherry vinegar. I wonder what I can do with this lemon I just zested?"

And so the adaptation was born. This was really good and fairly quick to make after a long day at work. I also added more vegetable stock than the recipe called for as it wasn't soupy enough.

My recipe for vegan Parmesan is quick and easy to make up...but if you don't have the time you could always use some Good Carma which is made locally by some friends of ours.

Kale and Butterbean Soup with Rosemary and Parmesan

1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp dried rosemary
1/4 tsp chilli flakes
1 tin of butterbeans, drained and rinsed
100g kale (3 big handfuls?) de-stemmed and torn into pieces
750ml (3 cups) hot vegetable stock
zest of one lemon
juice of half a lemon

1. Cook the onion and carrot in a splash of water until softened. Then add the garlic and cook one more minute.
2. Add the rosemary and chilli flakes and stir to coat the onion mixture and then add the butterbeans and the hot vegetable stock and bring to the boil then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. While to soup is simmering make your Parmesan.

Parmesan
3 TB ground almonds
3 TB nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Blend until combined. I use a little food chopper/spice grinder.

4. After soup has simmered for 15 minutes, add the kale and increase the heat and keep stirring until the kale has wilted. Then add the zest and lemon juice.
5. Serve topped with Parmesan. 

This was really good--the sharpness of the lemon contrasted well with the earthiness of the rosemary and kale. The Parmesan really added a flavour pop. This was delicious and made in under 30 minutes. Perfect for after a  hard day at work.

Fairy Tale Friday--How a Pious Greengrocer Tested His Daughter's Virtue (India, 1895)

Hello and welcome to Fairy Tale Friday. Are you sitting comfortably? Good. Then I’ll begin.

This week we look at a tale from India. According to pitt.edu the source is:

The Jataka; or, Stories of the Buddha's Former Births, translated from the Pali by various hands, under the editorship of E. B. Cowell; vol. 2, translated by W. H. D. Rouse (Cambridge: University Press, 1895). 

This one differs from other tales we have looked at as the father does not actually want to have sex with his daughter, it is just a test to see if his daughter is a disreputable slut. Then, once he finds she is innocent and upset by the fact that the one who should love her best treats her with violence, he gives her away to a man in marriage because she is his property. There are so many things about this tale that make me angry, I do not know where to begin.

There are many ballads and poems and stories about men testing their sweetheart to see if she is true or not then rewarding her with marriage when she proves to be virtuous. I have never liked this genre of literature. It is much harder to find works where the woman tests the man. They are there I am sure, but few and far between compared to ones where the man tests the woman. If you can think of one, please leave me a comment below.

There is also that issue, which is still around today, where a father “gives” his daughter away. In the past it was a literal transfer because women were viewed as property, but today it is symbolic. You still see it at modern weddings when a father walks his daughter down the aisle and gives her away. I have no trouble with a parent who wants to walk his beloved daughter down the aisle, but the idea of transferring her from one man to another really rankles me. We solved this at our wedding by getting married in a church with two aisles—my parents walked me down one aisle and my husband’s parents walked him down the other and then we made the voluntary choice to be joined.

This really doesn’t fit the Cinderella motif that we have been looking at except for the father wanting to have sex with her bit. So why did I include it? Mainly, I wanted it included as these stories all show the difficult circumstances women have faced. That they are second class citizens, that marriage really is the only way they can raise their status. They hope to marry for love, but many of the heroines we have looked at marry an abuser because having the protection of an abusive man is better than having no protection at all.

This story bothers me because as her father calls her the town whore and pretends to rape her, he looks for a certain reaction. He wants to see her protest that she is virtuous. But what does non-consent look like? What if she had frozen? What if after the person she trusted the most in the world called her a slut and pawed at her body she could not move and stood like a deer in the headlights? What if she was too afraid to cry out? Would he have found her virtuous then? But because she has the reaction he expected, he is well pleased and marries her off to a young man.

At least it wasn’t an old man.

source

Seggu-Jataka: How a Pious Greengrocer Tested His Daughter's Virtue source

This story the Master told, while dwelling at Jetavana, about a greengrocer who was a lay-brother. The circumstances have been already given in the First Book [Jataka 102]. Here again the Master asked him where he had been so long; and he replied, "My daughter, Sir, is always smiling. After testing her, I gave her in marriage to a young gentleman. As this had to be done, I had no opportunity of paying you a visit.”

To this the Master answered, "Not now only is your daughter virtuous, but virtuous she was in days of yore; and as you have tested her now, so you tested her in those days. And at the man's request he told an old-world tale:

Once upon a time, when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, the Bodhisatta was a tree spirit. This same pious greengrocer took it into his head to test his daughter. He led her into the woods, and seized her by the hand, making as though he had conceived a passion for her.

And as she cried out in woe, he addressed her in the words of the first stanza:

All the world's on pleasure bent;
Ah, my baby innocent!
Now I've caught you, pray don't cry;
As the town does, so do I.

When she heard it, she answered, "Dear Father, I am a maid, and I know not the ways of sin"; and weeping she uttered the second stanza:

He that should keep me safe from all distress,
The same betrays me in my loneliness;
My father, who should be my sure defence,
Here in the forest offers violence.

And the greengrocer, after testing his daughter thus, took her home, and gave her in marriage to a young man. Afterwards he passed away according to his deeds.

That’s all for this week. Stay tuned next week as we begin to look at Cinderella in picture book form (unless I find another story worth sharing in the mean time!)