Nicoiserie

This beautiful salad I ate for lunch today was only reminiscent of the nicoise salads I enjoyed in days of yore. Here, grilled vegetables from last night's dinner stand in for the roasted potatoes found in a traditional nicoise salad. The piquant capers effectively transported my tastebuds to the rooftop restaurant in Athens, Greece, where I first learned to love this culinary genre. This was a delicious, empty-starch-free lunch.

My first impulse was to title this post "Nicoisish" but then the second syllable unlocked a random and almost forgotten memory of having studied an element of Neoclassical Decorative Arts called "Chinoiserie". My mind is all over the place today, but it's rather exciting. I am so surprised at what is coming forth. Most of these emerging memories had been faded, forgotten and potentially lost. Could it be that the Wahls' Protocol is beginning to work? I love thinking, and remembering. I've had a lovely life thus far and it'd be a shame not to know about it.

Along with a few of my fellow Art History Major compadres at my alma mater, William and Mary, I was fortunate enough to take a wonderful Decorative Arts class within the Dewitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum in Williamsburg, Virginia, across the street from the College and historic Duke of Gloucester Street. "Chinoiserie" was one representation of European Neoclassical Decorative Arts toward the end of the 18th century. It is simply the Eastern influence in European designs in furniture, textiles and other decorative items created during that time. It was one of my favorite classes.  It was amazing to be able to study the actual items instead of slides in a sleepy, dark auditorium. How I'd love to do it all again -- even the dark auditorium part!

Fun fact: The historic building which houses the Dewitt Wallace Museum was formerly a sanitarium (modern euphemism for what used to be called an "insane asylum"). A former neighbor of my mother's was in residence there in her later years. The neighbor used to babysit my mom and her younger sister, and had always made mom uneasy. Currently there is a history museum to commemorate the building's former incarnation on the upper level of the building. True story.

What is This?

You've probably guessed it: eggs! In this case turmeric/dill eggs. This was so much more fabulously delicious than it looks. The eggs look cooked to death, but don't let the rusty turmeric hue fool you. While lightly crisp on the outside, the yolks were still liquidy-warm inside.

Turmeric is so good for us! Regaled for it's integrative success in treating head-and neck cancers, it's also a powerful anti-inflammatory and, surprisingly, has been found in a clinical study to give Prozac a run for it's money in treating certain forms of depression. I'll not eschew any of these benefits, but I indulge in turmeric, in food and supplement form, for its anti-inflammatory role. For those of us with auto-immune disorders, anti-inflammatories are a valuable end-game tool. They not only alleviate aches and pains, they quiet the over-the-top immune response that usually accompanies inflammation of any kind. Despite our best efforts to avoid immune system triggers, it does happen. It's nice to have a few tricks up our sleeves for the inevitable occasional assault. I enjoy turmeric at least once every day, whether in curries, just sprinkled atop food as a seasoning or in a delicious mug of Wahls' Protocol Bone Broth with coconut milk and a little cinnamon. This healing, warming rhizome will be more and more appealing as the weather cools.