Tuesday, March 8, 2011

sauté


I snap cloves of garlic
under the blade
of my most dangerous
knife, highly addictive
as popping bubble-wrap.

Fevered stars hop
fast, dance in cast-iron,
our brave mouths kiss
hearty with pungent taste.

Venus sizzles imperative,
hungry in the night kitchen.


Tess Kincaid
March 2011



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101 comments:

  1. First! I love garlic! (And you.)

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  2. Well I'm glad someone identified the object for me.

    Loved your writing. And I too "LOVE" garlic.

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  3. Second!

    This has never happened before. I only came upstairs to fetch a coat prior to walking the dog and took a moment to check on my emails and blog. And there you are, on a Monday afternoon at 2.30 pm.
    Now I have plenty of time to think about garlic as Benno and I stroll by the river and up into the hills.

    Garlic eh? Hm; now what I can I invent or is there a real story somewhere in my subconscious?

    All I know is that I love the stuff and your lines too.

    See you soon.

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  4. "Venus sizzles imperative,
    hungry in the night kitchen."

    Oh my! What a sensory explosion you've given us in so few words.

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  5. In a mere 11 lines you told the entire story, from clove to effect on consumer. Brilliant.

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  6. Garlic to heat the soul, ginger to accompany scent... watch out Nigella! You could start a new blog called Kitchen Stories...
    by the way, how do you and Ruth record your voice? I don't even know how to record my radio debut! How pathetic is that?

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  7. Shaista, it's pretty easy with software and a mic. You have to use a third party like DivShare to embed it to your blog post. (I enjoyed hearing you on the radio interview, btw!)

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  8. Food without garlic has no soul, and food without fresh ginger has no joie de vive!

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  9. We use a lot of garlic in our cooking here and the aroma is yummmy!! Has many medicinal properties and is said to lower cholesterol too!! So three cheers to Garlic!!

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  10. This is a garlic house. Love it and your piece of magic

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  11. mmm...i like the smell of what you are cooking willow...esp the stars and venus...nice.

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  12. Vampires beware!
    Tess is on a garlic tear!

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  13. Dreamy image and words. Ii is addictive. We are a garlic lovin' house over here :)

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  14. Love me-love my garlic! I am on the same page as you! Cheers!

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  15. I have never been able to pop garlics with my knife without totally destroying them. Twenty-five years in kitchens, many the knife and many the clove, but I still skin them with a thumbnail. And still get burning bits under it, too.

    Sendak did a neat book about a night kitchen; the effect of the memory underlay at the end of your poem worked well for me. Thanks for the piece!

    Peter

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  16. In my kitchen/youth days I had the darndest time figuring out how NOT to burn the garlic ... in my cast iron skillet. With age, comes perfection. (as in your poem)

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  17. Very nice! I don't know what I'm going to cook today, but you can bet it all that it will be sauted in a little olive oil and garlic!

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  18. Ymmm! Pungent indeed. Night kitchen prods many memories. I think my husband's aversion to garlic makes me crave it even more since I have to limit my intake. It is addictive. Good job!

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  19. Garlic makes everything taste better...just make sure everyone is eating some. wonderful marriage of poem/image.

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  20. Popping bubble wrap is annoying addictive, isn't it? I could never crack garlic right, though.

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  21. I love this... especially the ending!

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  22. My mouth is watering and I am salivating for your delicious food creation...which is always better with garlic!

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  23. You've got the motion down pat -- smack those tteeth with a big bad kitchen knife, savor the scent of a Kitchen under a garlic moon. I'm there! - Brendan

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  24. How adept you are with blade, pen,
    and tongue, Mistress Tess.
    Love of garlic, goes hand in glove
    with love of onion, love of black
    and hot peppers; giving spice to
    the blandness of the ritual of
    mastication, or gaining sustenance.
    Then to wrap it in lust, or some
    olfactory tangential love, leaving
    us with a Gothic moment in the
    /night kitchen/ was brilliant.
    But like Friko, love of garlic, and
    your expertise in the kitchen
    leaves old men who do not cook,
    such as myself, sort of dangling
    in garlic scented limbo. Will be
    curious as to the direction the
    magpies fly.

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  25. a snappy and aromatic read...loved it!

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  26. "Fevered stars hop
    fast, dance in cast-iron..." Mouth-watering!

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  27. yikes... my taste buds are watering here... :)

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  28. very nice, tess. i, too, love popping cloves of garlic under the blade of a knife. something so very satisfying about that.

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  29. Ol' Will Shakespeare had quite a bit to say about garlic too -- as he had about nearly everything else. :-)

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  30. Oh, I love this! I love the energy of garlic when you're frying it up - the sizzle, the smell, the anticipation of what to add to it - just like a kiss.

    Beautiful post!

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  31. Gorgeous post, garlic conjures up that whole Mediterranean feast image.

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  32. "In The Night Kitchen" is one of my absolute favorite books :)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Night_Kitchen

    wonderful and delicious, Tess

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  33. The last time I had garlic I got sick. I haven't liked it since. I like to smell it though. Like the scent of a woman or a dog's foot.

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  34. Nighttime cooking with garlic. Swoon.

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  35. A dog's foot, Honest Abe?
    OMG! Where has that boy been??

    I simply wondered where Venus, so hungry in the night kitchen, was intending to end up!

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  36. Tess thank you for everything you're teaching me about poetry, music, art and food through these wonderful stolen magpie moments.
    Love ya!

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  37. Yum, I love garlic too, especially roasted.

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  38. So much happens in the night kitchen..oh my!! Love this!

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  39. "our brave mouths kissed"...loved that...and the whole thing...bravo. Vb

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  40. Love this line, "Fevered stars hop
    fast, dance in cast-iron." I use a big old cast iron skillet too.

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  41. I like how you describe the 'fevered stars hop fast, dance in cast iron'...a promise of a most tasty recipe.

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  42. My first real moments of heavy lustful kissing happened after my husband and I (dating then) had a very garlic laced dinner, then ended up on his couch. Garlic is always seducing for me.

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  43. Really, REALLY! Popping bubble wrap!
    Addicted. And this one--"hungry in the night kitchen."..ohhhh!

    Excellent! I've always wondered what garlic looked like--grin!

    PEACE! While watching the dance in a cast iron skillet! LOVE it.

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  44. What a treat (garlic and this poem)! Venus in the night kitchen. Saucy sauté!

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  45. I enjoyed this spicy little poem!

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  46. A short, sharp poem, love the focus of it!

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  47. Ah Tess, I saw my first garlic shoots only 2 days ago, but what a fine accompaniment to my own freshly prepared spaghetti worms. The poetic kitchens are full steam ahead!

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  48. I can smell it.

    (If there is no garlic in heaven, I don't want to go.)

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  50. Thank you for the perfect description. It would be easier for me to list the few things I do make with garlic than that which I do. It is like a small food group in our kitchen.

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  51. Tess, Popping bubble wrap, there's another one. Spooky isn't it. Ali

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  52. Ali, uh-oh, you too? I get started and can't stop.

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  53. I was pleased as punch. First gift I ever got from a blogger.

    The interview is over on my blogs this morning.

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  54. Grand! bubble wrap surely, definitely cast iron and hungry!

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  55. wonderful, I love garlic and you enhance the sounds and smell of it...must have Italian tonight...thank you...bkm

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  56. As someone who has descended from Sicilians on both sides, garlic sputtering in extra virgin olive oil on a Sunday morning is what we do to make sauce. When family and friends come for the mid-day meal, the garlic aroma is what greets them. Delicious!

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  57. The ritual of preparing and cooking garlic could not be celebrated any better than with your words.

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  58. "Our brave mouths kiss". How true! You must kiss the lips of somehow who also has tasted the clove otherwise you might never see Venus!

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  59. Love, love love this!

    I really like how we get so many ideas out of one photo. Everyone interpreting it differently.

    viscous time

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  60. fresh garlic is a must, even if it is a pain in the caboose to shell and mince. (I do love my garlic press). This is quite a challenge for me AGAIN. But I think there is something percolating...

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  61. Lovely ideas of garlic! I love garlic!

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  62. I can never get enough garlic! When a recipe says 2 cloves of garlic, I use 10, 5, I used 15, etc. I think it makes everything taste better. I remember attending the very first Gilroy
    ( CA ) garlic festival which has now grown to an incredibly huge event with attendees from all over the world!

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  63. Ooh, I feel compelled to chalk this on my kitchen wall, wonderful!

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  64. Willow,
    I love chopping garlic too.
    My wife buys the jars of chopped garlic; what a bummer.
    rel

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  65. Rel, I use the pre-chopped once in a while, if I'm in a bind and don't have the fresh, but they're not nearly as much fun.

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  66. Oh, we all love garlic in this house.

    Great poem

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  67. Fresh garlic is a staple in my house! Just love it! Plus it has the added advantage of keeping vampires at bay he!he!he!
    I loved your Magpie, Tess! Simply wonderful

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  68. Love the bubble wrap comparison. :-)

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  69. garlic... love the release of that smell...

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  70. Love your poem and love garlic!

    I don't posess your bravery with the knife using a garlic crusher instead!

    Glad I'm not a vampire!

    Anna :o]

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  71. addictive
    as popping bubble-wrap.

    Bit like your blog, then? lol :)

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  72. Mm... the magic of cooking. I like this line especially: "highly addictive/as popping bubble-wrap."

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  73. P.S. I love blogging so much more now that Magpie Tales has come along...

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  74. Emily, thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying Magpie Tales! xx

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  75. Sensual and seductive. Only the most resolute of vampires could resist!

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  76. I can see why you are talking those "brave mouths" .. what with the garlic effect and all! :)

    "Venus sizzles imperative," -- ooohh.. sensuous and awesome!! Got goosebumps reading it.. (giggles)

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  77. oops... when I said "talking", I actually wanted to say "calling".. :)
    I guess all the sizzling made my fingers go awry..

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  78. Tess,

    I've requested a garlic burial, but my attorneys are unsure of my legal footing.

    Trulyfool

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  79. indeed quite sizzling! i like it!!

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  80. that most dangerous knife inked with garlic juice ... elegant and alluring

    thank you

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  81. All the best ideas come when one is popping bubble wrap. Thank you for this week's prompt and for the variety of interesting responses linked from your LinkyList page.

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  82. I especially like this piece! Almost as much as I love garlic.... :) LOVE garlic!

    Sarah

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  83. Oh, also, LOve the new blog background! :o)

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  84. love the mingling of hunger and desire. The darkness of the words danger and addictive. Wonderful.

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  85. Yummm. I can almost taste how delicious this meal is.

    "You can never use too much garlic." Emeril Lagasse

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  86. garlic arises passion indeed!

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Inject a few raisins of conversation into the tasteless dough of existence.
― O. Henry (and me)