Through the Supermarkets the Week Before Thanksgiving

Marash Girl never could figure out why Grandma Jennie felt she got plenty of exercise simply going  shopping at the supermarkets.  That is, not until today.  Marash Girl would avoid the crowds and shop today.  Starting at Whole Foods for organically grown cranberries and organically grown oranges  (so she could make her famous all natural pesticide-free cranberry relish for Thanksgiving --  for recipe, see Marash Girl's post for Wednesday, November 21, 2012, "Happy Thanksgiving with Fresh Cranberry Orange Relish -- Raw Foodies, Take Note!"), and  all natural, organic (there is such a thing) ice cream.  Great!  perfect for adding to the pies and cakes that would be served on Thanksgiving Day.  But she needed V-8 Juice for her special style of making boulghour pilaf, so she headed to the Star Market, but they were all out.  Oh, well, while she was there she would buy her favorite all natural gingerale (to make her cranberry gingerale punch) but there was no Polar Gingerale, either.  So off to Target for sundries . . . and who knew?  A whole section of groceries. They had V-8 Juice AND Polar Gingerale. . . And even more walking! And no crowds!

Grandma Jennie was right! Plenty of exercise.  It felt like a good two miles . . . without the fresh air and beautiful maple trees, of course.

Jack Frost Has Arrived

Marash Girl was not in the mood to greet Jack Frost yesterday morning when she found that he had painted her automobile's windshield white with frozen stuff.  Yes, he's here, greet him or not; here to stay for a good five months.  Thank goodness we have the holidays to cheer us up because without them, whatever would we do?  My friend, Nurse Nancy, tells me the malady we all feel is called "seasonal depression".  Perhaps the season should be called the season of the depressed! Do folks in the southwest have seasonal depression as well?

Wedding on the Mind

So here it is, one week before Thanksgiving, and instead of worrying about cooking and preparing for Thanksgiving, Marash Girl is heading for the Big Apple to help her first-born daughter select a wedding dress!  What could be more fun than that?  I ask you, ladies and gentlemen!!!!

Mayor Setti Warren appoints new Chief of Police

Congratulations to Captain David MacDonald, newly appointed Chief of Police, Newton, Massachusetts, and to the Police of Newton, Massachusetts, who have kept us safe all these years!

How can we forgive something that "never happened"?

Marash Girl has long been saying to those who would make peace with Turkey and forgive Turkey's atrocities -- atrocities such as the Armenian Genocide -- "How can we forgive something that never happened?" Please, my Armenian brothers and sisters who read these words, before you start screaming, understand the irony in the statement!  Has Turkey ever admitted to this 20th Century crime against humanity?

This past Saturday, the New York Times echoed Marash Girl's sentiments:

"The reverberations from Turkey’s troubled birth and the years preceding it persist. The 1915 Armenian genocide remains unacknowledged by Turkey even though Germany’s president, in this centennial year, spoke of German complicity. Joachim Gauck said: “We Germans collectively still have to come to terms with the past, namely when it comes to shared responsibility and perhaps even complicity in the genocide of the Armenians.”

It is for Turkey to answer how Germany could be complicit in a crime that did not exist."  New York Times, Nov. 12, 2015:  Turkey Haunted by its Ghosts

Having trouble sleeping?

Don't count sheep!  Count your blessings!

An Introvert?

While at Starbucks yesterday, Marash Girl overheard a stranger -- a woman -- talking to a friend,  describing herself in detail, loudly, nonstop.  After about 15 minutes of this, the woman announced, "I'm definitely an introvert!"  Marash Girl wanted to chime in, "Really?"  but she restrained herself.

Winter's on its way to Martha's Vineyard!

    You know winter is on its way when you see this sign at the 

     On-Time Ferry in Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts!

(The famous Chappaquidick Island in the background.)

Happy Birthday to Marash Girl's First Born!

Her favorite doll was Bobby Shafto, and her favorite first foods were Hearts of Palm!  She looked just like the Gerber baby! She's Armenian all right, but everyone who saw her wanted to know if she was Irish!  Why?  She's 3/4 Marashtsi and 1/4 Ainteptsi and her great great grandmother on her grandmother's father's side was considered the most beautiful woman in Aintep.  She looks just like that grandmother!  and that makes for a beautiful, blue-eyed blonde Armenian baby (and woman).  Add to that the fact that she's one of the foremost cardio-vascular physiologists in the United States and one of the kindest and most giving persons that Marash Girl knows, and there you have it.  Oh, and humble, so she's made me promise not to mention her name.  If you know her, wish her a happy birthday! Gotta go now; Marash Girl is making choereg for the birthday celebration tonight.  Shhh . . . Don't tell!

#FightFor15

Walking through the Boston Common with Lorig's friend, Erricka, headed to the African-American Historic Trail on Beacon Hill, we came across a protest, so we stopped and asked what it was all about. The strikers were food retail workers fighting for $15/hr minimum wage. It was the national day to strike. Workers all over America did not go to work yesterday; they were in the streets protesting:  #FightFor15

Walking through the Boston Common with Lorig's friend, Erricka, headed to the African-American Historic Trail on Beacon Hill, we came across a protest, so we stopped and asked what it was all about. The strikers were food retail workers fighting for $15/hr minimum wage. It was the national day to strike. Workers all over America did not go to work yesterday; they were in the streets protesting:  #FightFor15

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Walking through the Boston Common with Lorig's friend, Erricka, headed to the African-American Historic Trail on Beacon Hill, we came across a protest, so we stopped and asked what it was all about. The strikers were food retail workers fighting for $15/hr minimum wage. It was the national day to strike. Workers all over America did not go to work yesterday; they were in the streets protesting:  #FightFor15

Walking through the Boston Common with Lorig's friend, Erricka, headed to the African-American Historic Trail on Beacon Hill, we came across a protest, so we stopped and asked what it was all about. The strikers were food retail workers fighting for $15/hr minimum wage. It was the national day to strike. Workers all over America did not go to work yesterday; they were in the streets protesting:  #FightFor15

Walking through the Boston Common with Lorig's friend, Erricka, headed to the African-American Historic Trail on Beacon Hill, we came across a protest, so we stopped and asked what it was all about. The strikers were food retail workers fighting for $15/hr minimum wage. It was the national day to strike. Workers all over America did not go to work yesterday; they were in the streets protesting:  #FightFor15

Walking through the Boston Common with Lorig's friend, Erricka, headed to the African-American Historic Trail on Beacon Hill, we came across a protest, so we stopped and asked what it was all about. The strikers were food retail workers fighting for $15/hr minimum wage. It was the national day to strike. Workers all over America did not go to work yesterday; they were in the streets protesting:  #FightFor15

Walking through the Boston Common with Lorig's friend, Erricka, headed to the African-American Historic Trail on Beacon Hill, we came across a protest, so we stopped and asked what it was all about. The strikers were food retail workers fighting for $15/hr minimum wage. It was the national day to strike. Workers all over America did not go to work yesterday; they were in the streets protesting:  #FightFor15

Walking through the Boston Common with Lorig's friend, Erricka, headed to the African-American Historic Trail on Beacon Hill, we came across a protest, so we stopped and asked what it was all about. The strikers were food retail workers fighting for $15/hr minimum wage. It was the national day to strike. Workers all over America did not go to work yesterday; they were in the streets protesting:  #FightFor15

Walking through the Boston Common with Lorig's friend, Walking through the Boston Common with Lorig's friend Erricka, headed to the African-American Historic Trail on Beacon Hill, Marash Girl came across a protest, so they stopped and asked what it was all about. The strikers were food retail workers fighting for $15/hr minimum wage. It was the national day to strike. Workers all over America did not go to work yesterday; they were in the streets protesting:  #FightFor15

The Armed Virgin; or, Virgin with a Rifle

Yesterday, at the end of a peaceful walk along the Charles River, Marash Girl was startled by the image below, spray painted on the side of the cement support of the Cpl. Joseph E. Thompson Footbridge in Watertown, Massachusetts.

                                                        The Armed Virgin; or, Virgin with a Rifle                 Photo by Marash Girl

Search as she might, Marash Girl could not find a meaning for the letters SATTA.  Do any of you know what SATTA means?  Or what this image signifies?  

SQUARE KNITTING NEEDLES

Have you given up your knitting habit because your hands are cramping up with tendonitis, or worse yet, arthritis?  Don't give up hope!  Square knitting needles (yes, there are such things) are easy to hold and don't require the flexibility that traditional knitting needles require. Try them!  You'll like them! Or if you don't knit but know folks who do, please spread the word!

"Göz ichinde kalir"

A memory of a conversation between Uncle Paul and Marash Girl's father Peter, both of whom were born in Marash in the early 20th Century, and escaped  death at the hands of the Ottomans during the Armenian Genocide of 1915.

Newtonville, Massachusetts, 1960

Paul:  I just put down a deposit on the house on Page Road but Nectar is insisting that I should remove that deposit -- that she saw the house first!  

Peter: Why would you remove the deposit?  She could have put a deposit on the house herself!

Paul:  I have to remove my deposit and let her have it.  Göz ichinde kalir! (Marash Turkish) (In Istanbul Turkish, Gözün üstünde kalmasın!)  

Peter:  Are you crazy?  Forget the göz!

But Paul could not forget the göz, the "eye" (evil eye?) which would always be upon the house, jealous, envious, and possibly evil, should he buy it, so he graciously backed out of the sale and allowed his cousin Nectar to buy the house, much to Peter's dismay.

And so, awareness of the  "evil" eye was alive and well, even in the late 20th Century, even in the United States of America, even in a Christian family!

Even with folks who never wore the blue bead!

Marash Armenian Shoemakers and Bakers c. 1900

1900 Maraşlı Kunduracı ve Fırınciler  =  c. !900 Marash Armenian Shoemakers and Bakers 

Photo  and caption above courtesy of Bir Zamanlar Marash

Script at base of postcard in German reads: 

"Schuhmacherwerkstatt u. Bäckerei des armenischen Knabenwaisenhauses in Marasch"

 The Turkish translation on Facebook (significantly) left out the word Armenischen (Armenian) which appears prominently in the lower left corner of this postcard!

On memory

Years ago, Marash Girl asked her friend Norman Krim, a man who at that time was well into his 90's, how it was that he had such a good memory.

With his left hand, he pulled out a small black book from his inside jacket pocket, with his right hand he reached for his pen, held both up and said, "I write everything down!"

Grandma Jennie's Choereg (Choreg) Recipe

Today Marash Girl will prepare Grandma Jennie’s Cheoreg for an AIWA event, and as you will not be able to sample it, here's the recipe that she's using so that you can make it for yourself.

Grandma Jennie's Armenian Cheoreg (Choereg)

Grandma Jennie’s Cheoreg

Dough preparation:

1 pkg dried yeast (place in 1/4 c. warm water with a bit of sugar)

1 c. milk

1 tsp. to 1 tbsp freshly ground mahlab (available at Armenian grocery stores) - Marash Girl uses 1 tbsp.

1/2 Tbsp black caraway seed optional - Sev Goondoug available at Armenian/Middle Eastern grocery stores.

1/3 c sugar or more

3 eggs, beaten

1 c butter, melted

5 c flour (Grandma Jennie used Gold Medal Flour; When Marash Girl tried it with King Arthur Flour, the product was not as soft.)

2 tsp salt

Topping: 

1 egg, beaten (to wipe on top of shaped cheoreg before dipping in sesame seed.)

Sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.  While oven is heating,

mix dough ingredients together with large heavy spoon. Dough should NOT be stiff, but rather fairly loose in order to achieve a soft choereg, the way Grandpa Peter liked it.  Set aside the dough to rise in a covered glass bowl, away from drafts.  When dough is doubled in size, punch down.  Take the equivalent of a half cup of dough, roll into 6 or 7 inch strip, circle strip around itself (snail-like) to make a circular roll.  

Place this roll in the palm of your hand, dip top of roll into egg mixture, then into flat dish in which you have placed sesame seeds. (This system gives a delicious thick layer of sesame seeds, not just sprinkles, and saves the trouble of brushing on the egg, then scattering on the sesame seeds.  It was Grandma Jennie's very own secret.) Place plain side of roll on greased baking tray, leaving room for choereg to rise (about 1 inch between rolls).  Dough will have risen enough by the time you finish shaping rolls to bake on greased tray in preheated oven for 15 minutes, but experience has taught that it is far better to let the dough rise overnight before shaping and baking!  ( NEXT TIME MARASH GIRL IS GOING TO TRY TO ADD MORE MILK TO MAKE A LOOSER DOUGH, WHICH SHOULD RESULT IN  A SOFTER CHEOREG. SHE'LL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT COMES OUT)

Whether or not Marash Girl has published recipe earlier, she is recording this recipe in memory of her mother, Jennie Vartanian Bilezikian who passed away the day before Thanksgiving many years ago, and remembering the family visits to her Uncle Joe (Grandma Yester's Brother Yusuf) & Auntie Mogie Bosnian (Ruthie and Didick's mom).  Auntie Mogie always welcomed us with choereg in her oven and baking when we arrived, ready to take out and serve us piping hot.

"Mourning Ahmad Chalabi"

Yesterday, November 3, 2015, brother James called Marash Girl's attention to an  article Michael Rubin published yesterday in Commentary, the article entitled "Mourning Ahmad Chalabi".

Rubin writes, "Ahmad Chalabi died of a heart attack this morning at his home in Baghdad. Many things are written about Chalabi, few of which are positive and many of which depict him as a cartoon villain. Chalabi was both brilliant and arrogant, but he was less villain than scapegoat. And he was first and foremost an Iraqi patriot."  "I first met Chalabi in the summer of 2001," writes Rubin, as he goes on to talk about the man as he knew him.

Marash Girl first met Ahmad Chalabi well before that, in the spring of 1960 (can you believe it?) when Chalabi was a freshman at MIT, a sweet and wonderful boy with whom she often had dinner at a place overlooking the Charles River. It was he who taught Marash Girl and her friend Judith Kirshner how to skip stones over water one spring afternoon at an MIT Arab Club picnic. That was well before life took its toll on all of them!  Marash Girl has missed the boy that she knew then, and now realizes that she will never see him again in this life.

Fish Chowder in Five Minutes

Don't keep that left over fish for too long; you'll end up having to throw it out!

Try making fish chowder with the cooked fish.

Chop up some onions  (after removing the onion's skin first) and celery (after washing, of course) and sauté them in butter/olive oil while you chop up some potatoes (Marash Girl does not peel the potatoes, but rather simply washes them in cool water before chopping.) 

Then chop up your leftover cooked fish (or fresh fish, if you have it, but it had better be very fresh or your house will stink of fish -- and this happened to Marash Girl once when she bought what was supposedly fresh white fish from Whole Foods!) Add fish to veggie mixture and saute.  Add thyme, if desired, salt and pepper.  Saute for a few minutes longer.  Add flour and stir if you want a thick chowder, or simply skip that step and add milk and/or cream and heat to complete the chowder.  "Delish," as Philip Craig's hero J.W. Jackson (of Martha's Vineyard Mysteries fame) would say!  Oh, and don't miss the book of Philip Craig's recipes, recipes gathered from his Martha's Vineyard Mysteries! (Delish! The J.W. Jackson Recipes; A Martha's Vineyard Cookbook published in paperback by Philip R. Craig and his wife Shirley Prada Craig).  And if you've never read Philip Craig's Martha's Vineyard mystery series (whether or not you have summered on the Vineyard), another treat awaits you!

EPA Hassles Conch Fisherman in Edgartown

Edgartown Harbor, Martha's Vineyard, Saturday, October 31, 2015

Look -- that guy on the boat is carrying!  said Marash Boy.

Carrying what?  asked Marash Girl.

A gun!  said Marash Boy.

A gun on a fishing boat?  queried Marash Girl.  "Let's go see what's happening," she said, as Marash Boy distanced himself from the drama and Marash Girl approached the dock.

Marash Girl looks on as EPA hassles local fisherman.

"I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt," the EPA official intoned to the owner of the Sea Raven, as the EPA official went through every bag of conchs, using his stainless steel measuring gauge to check the size of every conch,  tossing aside 
those  that were an 1/8th of an inch or more under 3 inches,  the minimum width set by the Department of Marine Fisheries (DMF) for the 2015 season. 



A local boatman commented, "And this guy has been operating his boat for about 44 years! He's a straight - shooter.    There are so many who aren't.  Why is the EPA bothering a good guy?  I'm going out to warn my friend not to come in; not with the Feds here!"  said the local as he rowed out to his fishing boat, hopped on board, and motored out into the darkening ocean to find his friend.

With all the druggies out there, the Feds had to hassle an honest fisherman?

Perhaps it was just a prank.  After all, it was Halloween!

l.to r.  Good guy's boat, EPA boat, local onlooker's boat on its way to warn his friend

Good neighbor on his way to warn his friend.

For more on conch fishing, see "The Conch Conundrum" by Barry Stringfellow in the Martha's Vineyard Times, Dec. 4, 2013.

All Saints' Day

Are we all saints today, now that we've had the opportunity to be witchy?