Salmagundi*

March 23, 2025March 23, 2025 / Apple Hill Cottage / 11 Comments

I am reposting this story on immigrants and our country. It was originally written in August of 2016, but it’s even more relevant now in 2025 as we hear news of immigrants being detained and even flown illegally to Salvadorean slave prisons. Stories of tourists from other countries being detained for no reason. Stories of children here for medical treatment being sent back. Lord have mercy…

As I was making tabouleh (or tabouli) today for dinner, chopping cucumbers, tomatoes, a green pepper, green onions, parsley, and mint, my mind wandered back to the first time I was introduced to this delicious salad. I was about ten years old; it was a summer family picnic and Aunt Ethel had brought some stuff in a bowl that didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen before. Mom asked me to carry it in and put it on the table. I whispered to her, “Do I have to try this?” She smiled and shook her head. Much to my embarrassment, Aunt Ethel heard. Or maybe she just knew it wasn’t typical fare in our family. She smiled and said, “It’s your Uncle Abe’s favorite dish. He’d be glad to have it all for himself.”

A few months ago, I wrote a post with this photo in it. I labeled it Old Folks at the Cottage. My grandmother Carrie is on the left. See her sister on the far right next to her little boy? Her name is Ethel and sometime in the 1920s she married her own Syrian refugee, my Uncle Abe.

A large man with a white crewcut and wire-rimmed glasses, I remember him always wearing a suit — even to summer family picnics. He had a soft voice and a melodic accent, and he would stand in our living room and hold out his arms. We kids would race toward him and he would catch us and throw us up in the air. His deep-throated he-he-he would make us laugh even more. As a kid, I didn’t think much about his history, but I’d heard the stories: his parents sent him over on a boat around 1904 as a ten-year-old with ten cents in his pocket and instructions to find a relative in New York City.

As a grown up, I looked back on that and wondered what could have been happening in Syria to make parents put their ten-year-old son on a boat and send him off to another world, probably to never see him again…

So I looked it up. In 1904, the Ottoman Empire was crumbling fast. The Turks were conscripting young Syrian Christian boys for the army. And Armenian and Greek Christians were being killed at an alarming rate. Wikipedia even uses the word Genocide.

Abe eventually made his way to Southwestern Pennsylvania, where he found work in a mine. There he met my Uncle Leslie, who introduced him to his pretty, shy sister, Ethel. Not all the family was happy. Marrying an immigrant wasn’t common practice in the hills of Greene County. Though there were plenty of immigrants working in the coal mines, they were mostly Italian and Slovak. Certainly not Arabs…even Christian Arabs. (Leslie eventually married his own immigrant wife, Mary — whose naturalization papers from Italy I have — and who was one of the women who lived here at the cottage.)

I’ve finished making the Tabouleh for tonight’s dinner. (Recipe follows.) But I’m not finished thinking about how much our American culture has been shaped by immigrants. In fact, according to the U.S. Census of 2010, 2.9 million Americans identify themselves as solely Native American. The population of this country is approximately 320 million. That makes about 317 million of us who are descended from immigrants. We are a country of those who left. Has it been so long ago that we have forgotten?

Think on this: What would it take for you to leave your place, on foot, with your family, with no clear idea of where you are going or if you will be safe. It would have to be pretty bad, eh? Who are we, as a nation, that we cannot bring these immigrants/refugees to this country, feed them, clothe them, give them shelter, dignity, and a life free from constant war or poverty?

After the VietNam War, the U.S. took in 2 million Vietnamese refugees. When it became evident that there were thousands of “boat people” being rejected by other countries…

…President Jimmy Carter responded by ordering the 7th Fleet to seek out vessels in distress in the South China Sea. His Secretary of State, Cyrus Vance, told Congress in July 1979 that: We are a nation of refugees. Most of us can trace our presence here to the turmoil or oppression of another time and another place. Our nation has been immeasurably enriched by this continuing process. We will not turn our backs on our traditions. We must meet the commitments we have made to other nations and to those who are suffering. In doing so, we will also be renewing our commitments to our ideals.

Look back at your family tree. My grandma Carrie was a card-carrying member of the DAR (I don’t admit that too often) yet still, I’ve had plenty of immigrants in my extended family. Welsh miners, Mennonite preachers, Syrian boys, Italian girls, Irish farmers, Czech steel workers, French Huguenots, Spanish son-in-laws… Even the English and Scottish ancestors came from, well, England and Scotland — there’s not a Native American in our branches, that I can find.

I am praying things will change; hoping talks of walls and closed borders and the unjust actions of ICE will go the way of the dinosaur; hoping that we remember those ideals. A verse from the Bible keeps going around in my brain. Jesus wept.

And today, in 2025, I’m adding another verse from the Bible: This one is from Matthew 25:40 and Jesus said it. “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

Here’s the delicious recipe for Tabouleh. While you are chopping vegetables for it, think of the wonderful mixture it is. And how it is better with more variety. Colorful and tangy, every bite is different.

Tabouli (serves 6-8)

1 cup bulgur wheat, couscous, or quinoa, cooked (Bulgur is traditional.)
1 t. salt
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/4 c. olive oil
1-2 cloves crushed garlic
Cook the grains as directed. While warm mix in the next 4 ingredients (through garlic) and refrigerate for a couple of hours.

1/2 c. chopped scallions
1/2 c. chopped mint
1/2 c. chopped parsley
When the grains and dressing are cool add the above herbs. You can vary the amounts, depending on what you have on hand and how much you like them. Some tabouli is very green and herb-rich. Other tabouli has less.

The following ingredients are optional according to what you have in the fridge, or how you like it:
1/2 c. cooked garbanzo beans
1/2 c. shredded carrots
2 medium tomatoes, diced
1 c. chopped cucumbers or summer squash
1 diced green pepper

I think the more vegetables added, the better. But it’s delicious with just tomatoes and cucumbers..

You can garnish tabouli with kalamata olives and feta cheese, but it isn’t necessary.

*Salmagundi –In English culture the term does not refer to a single recipe, but describes the grand presentation of a large plated salad comprising many disparate ingredients. These can be arranged in layers or geometrical designs on a plate or mixed. The ingredients are then drizzled with a dressing. The dish aims to produce wide range of flavours and colours and textures on a single plate. (From Wikipedia)

DIY Cleaners, Cleansers, and Creams: Simple recipes that really work

October 14, 2024 / Apple Hill Cottage / Leave a comment

When I wrote that post Every Day Is Earth Day I thought maybe later I’ll post some DIY recipes that I use all the time. So almost a year and a half has gone by… But today, I actually made a new batch of deodorant. I usually have to make it about 2 or 3 times a year. It’s pretty easy, after you gather the ingredients, and it only takes about 20 minutes. So I took photos. And here’s the recipe.

Homemade Deodorant

(This recipe is adapted from wellnessmama.com and almost the exact recipe is also here on Revive)

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp Coconut Oil

3 Tbsp Baking Soda

2 Tbsp Shea Butter

1-2 Tbsp grated Bees Wax

2 Tbsp Arrowroot or Cornstarch

Essential Oils (optional, but unless you are allergic to scents, please use them…)

Directions:

1. Melt Shea Butter, Coconut Oil, and Beeswax in a double boiler over medium heat until barely melted; OR use a can instead and place this in a small saucepan of water until melted. I save my can for every time I make deodorant–I store the bees wax chunk in it, and I don’t have to wash it out. When melted together, stir well. You want all the beeswax stirred into the other oils because the beeswax is what will keep it from melting in the heat of summer, or a hot bathroom. (I use a chopstick).

2. Remove from heat and add baking soda and arrowroot.

3. Mix well

4. Add a few drops of essential oil and pour into a glass container for storage. I use an old deodorant container, but be careful. The first time I tried this, I had two old deodorant containers–the first one worked fine and the second leaked out all over the counter. Old face cream jars or half-pint jelly jars work great too.

5. Some good essential oils to use for skin and deodorant purposes include: Tea Tree Oil (sometimes called Melaleuca); Grapefruit; Bergamot; Lavender; and Clary Sage. Some lists also include Rosemary, YlangYlang, and Cypress.

If you refrigerate the deodorant, it will firm up faster. After it is firm, it doesn’t have to be refrigerated.

Laundry Soap

Yep, I make my laundry soap too. I do have to add a caveat here: This laundry soap is not for extra dirty, or hard stained clothing. It works very well for regular wash, and old work clothes that already have paint stains and grease blotches. But on your nice clothes, bad stains have to be pre-treated with something else. Also, I have a top-loader with an agitator, so I can’t address how much soap to use if you have a front-loader.

Here is what you need:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup borax

1/2 cup washing soda

3/4 cup Castile soap

20 drops essential oils (lemon or other citrus, tea tree oil, lavender, and peppermint are all good)

2-gallon bucket, and cleaned out laundry soap containers or clean gallon jugs

Put the borax and washing soda in the gallon bucket and pour in up to a gallon of hot water to dissolve the powders. Stir around until it is all dissolved. The hotter the water, the faster the powders will dissolve.
It’s handy if your bucket has hash marks for how may quarts or gallons, but if not, add another half gallon of water and stir around.
Add the Castile soap at the end, otherwise it will foam too much. Stir gently to mix the soap in with the other liquid.
Add about 20 drops of your choice of essential oils and stir gently.
Use a measuring cup to carefully pour into your waiting laundry jugs.
(My original recipe called for using 2 gallons of water, but I’ve found that I prefer using less water. I usually end up with about a gallon and a half of liquid soap.) Be sure to shake well before adding to the washer. I usually use the cap of the container for a medium load. This is not a wild, soapy recipe–Castile soap is not known for its sudsiness.

All-purpose Spray Cleanser 1

If you’ve got the stuff for laundry soap, you can use this similar recipe for a spray cleaner…

Ingredients:

1 t. washing soda

2 t. Borax

1 T. Castile soap

2 cups very hot water

10 drops essential oil–Lemon, Orange, or Tea Tree, or a combination

Dissolve the powders in the hot water. Add the Castile soap and the essential oils and pour into a 16 ounce spray bottle.

Spray Cleanser and Degreaser 2

1 cup white vinegar

1 t. Castile soap

1 T. baking soda

3 cups warm water

15-20 drops essential oil–Lemon, Orange, or Tea Tree, or a combination

Mix together and pour into spray bottle. Do not use vinegar on marble. This is good for stovetops, range hoods, tile, sinks, and general cleaning. I have not had success on my oven door though. Nothing seems to clean my oven door….

Right now we are working on the laundry room, so I’m cleaning and reorganizing and throwing stuff out. It might be the last room in the house. Maybe it will be finished enough for photos in a couple of weeks…

Give Your Food Some Culture

November 27, 2020November 23, 2020 / Apple Hill Cottage / 2 Comments

Thanksgiving 2020 ain’t what it used to be…So we ignored the turkey and fixings and smoked a big chicken for the two of us. We’d already decided to forego traveling, and now we’re quarantined anyway, so that just verified that we’d all made the right decision.

I’m thankful for a lot this year. For the fact that we are both healthy, that Joe Biden is president, that we have time for little things, for Instacart and delivered groceries, and my kefir grains that (I believe) are helping to keep me healthy. There’s no time like now to try a new hobby…

If a person paid attention to “experts” telling you what to eat, there would probably be nothing on your plate but organic greens. With a cup of green tea for dessert. No flours, rice, pasta, or beans because they are dangerous carbs. No red meat, pork, or eggs because of cholesterol. No fish because of mercury; no poultry or dairy because of the hormones fed to the animals; indeed, no animal products at all because of the cruelty of eating animals; fruit is too high in sugar; sugars and fats have been known to cause cancer; tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are part of the deadly nightshade family… Are you exhausted yet?

I’ve always tried to ‘eat healthy’. But sometimes it’s hard to tell what is just a nutrition fad and what is truth. In the sixties Adele Davis said “Eat Liver”; in the seventies Frances Moore Lappe said be a vegetarian and eat complementary proteins; in the eighties and nineties fat was the monster to cut completely out of your diet; in the oughties carbs became the villain. Yes, I’ve lived through decades of contradictory advice. So here I am writing a nutrition post on cultured foods. Is it a fad? I don’t know. Am I a nutritionist? Nope — not even close. All I can tell you is that these foods have made me less tired, less crabby (Mr. H.C. might disagree on that one!) and helped with both stomach issues and eczema.

These are the two different kinds of kefir I have culturing on my counter right now:

Dairy kefir

Water kefir

These foods give you probiotics, or healthy bacteria that your gut needs. Desperately.

I’m not a scientist, and there’s no point for me to go into all that when others have written about it much more fluently than I could. If you need info, try these three articles: Your Gut Bacteria and Your Health ; Can Gut Bacteria Improve Your Health? ; How to Have Healthy Gut Bacteria

There are two kinds of kefir: dairy and non-dairy. They are both so delicious and different from each other, that they really deserve posts of their own. So today I’m writing about non-dairy kefir, similar in benefits to kombucha, but making it requires kefir grains, rather than a scoby.

Water Kefir, Kefir Soda, or Tibicos

These are grains that contain a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeasts. You add the grains to a sugar-water mix; the grains feed off the sugar and produce lactic acid, alcohol, and carbon dioxide, which makes the drink fizzy. (The alcoholic content is negligible — about .5% to .75%.) This is so much fun to make! It makes you feel like a mad scientist…. I make it a quart at a time with filtered water and 4 tablespoons of raw sugar. You can use brown sugar, coconut sugar, molasses, or maple syrup, but honey and agave syrup are not recommended. It sits on the counter for a day or so to ferment, and then you strain the liquid from the grains. You can drink it at this point, but next is the fun part. Get yourself some fermenting bottles–these are 16 oz. bottles.

Straining the grains

Fermenting bottles with pressure caps

Pouring the liquid in to second ferment in the bottle

Add two ounces of fruit juice (you can also add flavorings here too — ginger, vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom…) and fill each bottle with 12 ounces of the fermented liquid. Cap it and wait a day or so. It will carbonate, so you probably want to open the cap once every few hours to let it breathe. I have had explosions, but the bottles don’t break. I have had to use a mop and a sponge on the floor and on the cabinets (Yes, it looked like a kid’s science project on how to make a volcano, gone awry).

After it sits on the counter for a day or so, refrigerate it, and drink it over ice. This was my summer-time-afternoon-pick-me-up, and I liked it so much, I’m still drinking it. Make it with cider and warm spices. Make it with cranberry and ginger. Make it with pineapple juice and cardamom. It is not sweet–the bacteria feeds on the sugar and so depending on how long you let it ferment, there is almost no sugar left. There is a small amount of alcohol present, as with any fermentation, but it’s minimal. It’s a great substitute for sugary soda drinks, and it is low calorie. My calorie counter, Lose It clocks an eight ounce glass at 10 calories; My Fitness Pal gives the same glass 45 calories. Here’s the thing: No two fermenting times or juices or sugars are the same, so it’s difficult to tell exact calories.

I ordered my grains at Cultured Food Life but there are other places to order it also. Here’s another good site: Cultures for Health and don’t worry, complete instructions come with your orders. And if you know someone who makes water kefir, chances are they will be happy to share some grains with you. Happy grains produce more grains.