Dalva & a Pasta Fagioli recipe

late Sunday night, well actually early Monday morning, abt 4 am....it was raining in Mendocino and there I am in Dalva's house....okay not *Dalva from the eponymonous book, but I swear Jim Harrison must have been in that house prior to writing the book, if only to absorb Dalva's soul...a truly stunning house 4,000 sq ft house almost completely handcrafted from love, vision, intensity of spirit and wood found only on the property, tongue and groove ceiling, a hand railing on the staircase that took 9 months to craft...and art work inside: dream catchers, original native american paintings and stunning Remington bronzes casually placed throughout the house...also some intricate wood carvings, including some wooden Indians who were the GQ equivalent of cigar store wooden Indians, "looking good there, Chief" ...then I found out that "Dalva" likes soup...and used to sing opera...Opera??? Huh???

I don't know that there is a lesson or a moral from having spent the night at that house....I do know I was awed, but didnt ask many questions...nor was my intellectual curiousity put into hyper-drive, although it should have been...I was viscerally moved, but did not viscerally respond and that's a little sad...there were so many questions that I should have asked, but it was easier to talk about soup...about making soup..."Dalva" has a Pasta Fagioli recipe that she swears by...and well, that was good enough for me...my passion and spirit revived by a Pasta Fagioli recipe....life could be better, but not more interesting...

*Dalva is one of, perhaps the greatest book I have ever read...its a sprawling epic novel (in my opinion, its the great American novel) written about a native American woman who's life and loves, intersect American culture more so than her own, though her native american soul is her permanent foundation....

Thai Soup & Elvis Credentials

November 12, 2006, Sunday morning ....all of my projects have stalled...arrgghh...I can't do anything about stalled projects, it will be easier pushing string...well, the good news is Pynchon has a new book coming out soon...and today I'm finally going to teach myself how to make Tom Yum Koong (Hot and Sour Thai soup w/ prawns)...I once read a gumbo recipe that required listening to a Neville Brothers album to get the gumbo timing right....what music goes with learning to make Tom Yum? Hmmm...well, I gotta believe Elvis Costello goes with everything...((caution:Elvis to Elvis segue ahead))....which of course reminds me of the lyrics from the Mojo Nixon song...

Elvis is everywhere, man!
He's in everything.
He's in everybody.

Elvis is in your jeans.
He's in your cheesburgers.
Elvis is in Nutty Buddies!
Elvis is in your mom!
He's in everybody.

He's in the young, the old,
the fat, the skinny,
the white, the black
the brown and the blue
people got Elvis in them too.

Elvis is in everybody out there.
Everybody's got Elvis in them.
Everybody except one person that is,
Yeah, one person!
The evil opposite of Elvis,
The Anti-Elvis!
Anti-Elvis got no Elvis in him,
Lemme tell ya.

Michael J. Fox has no Elvis in him.

...poor Michael J. Fox...I think he has earned his Elvis credentials, serious Elvis credentials...Rush Limbaugh is now the anti-Elvis...tag, your it Rush...