Mush & Sanity

Eureka !! Another discovery!

If you remember reading my story on my

recent trip to Stumptown, and you looked at the photos, I think there was a pic of a booth

there selling corn meal ground at the site using an old steam engine to power the mill. Well tonight I decided to make use of a bit of my

fresh ground corn and make a loaf of corn meal mush. I've loved it since I was a kid but it has been lost in the days of the McBreakfast and instant oatmeal. Except at my house.

It's a great change of pace browned in a bit of butter and topped with either jam or sometimes maple syrup. Oops.. kinda getting off the subject here.

Anyway.. very simple to make ..little cornmeal... little water .. boil for 7-8 days

cool over night, slice and brown in a little butter . What could be simpler.

This is where the discovery comes in. I love soup (stay with me here a second) and I love making different soups, especially in this type of weather, but soups are kinda .. like ..add contents , spices etc and simmer. You can do anything you want while it's cooking and come back a few hours later and enjoy a great hearty meal.

With mush the contents are simple BUT the process of boiling is the real benefit. You will notice that I said boil for seven or eight days... that is an exaggeration, however it will seem that long once you start. Once the boiling has started , the pot demands your undivided attention. Or so you would think. At first it seems that way, but as time passes you mind finally relaxes, maybe from the warm steam... maybe from the rhythmic bubbling of the pot . Whatever the cause.. your caught..You can't stop..you can't leave and you have no other choice than to stir and stir and stir. Here's where the plot (or pot) thickens. You get in a rhythm and all of the sudden you mind realizes it is not needed on this job anymore. So off it goes..solving the problems of the day...setting the agenda for tomorrow..creating a make believe world where other people cook for you .. whatever one dreams about. Point is, your captive ..it is not..it is free to wander about and do as it pleases as you stir ..stir..stir. I wonder if our ancestors solved all of there problems over a boiling pot. No wonder our grandmothers cooked so much.

Well I guess you know now what I was thinking during the boiling process..no I didn't solve any of the worlds problems and I still have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow.. and as I look around nobody is standing in line to cook for me 'but' .

I did discover that the next time I need a clear mind , all I need do is put on a pot of mush and cook away. And if my life in the future is anything like my life in the past.. I'd better buy sugar free syrup and jam 'cause I'm going to be eating an awful lot of mush.