I am most taken by the oldest of the old ways. My purpose in this lifetime is to preserve and pass on human heritage mostly in the forms of our most ancient and steadfast food traditions. I am most taken by the oldest ways because they the most deeply rooted. Have you ever tasted a walnut or a pear from an ancient tree? Then you know that it has the most complex and deeply rooted flavor. Maybe it is because I am an old soul, maybe it is purely a matter of genetics and proteins, but the more a thing has endured, the more fond I am of it. So hurt, love, live, and age your spirit and body. It will shine through in a wise and worn way, like a worn woolen scarf... which found me today... after I had lost my FAVORITE life partner of a scarf back in July in the San Francisco International Airport's trendiest "T2" ...damn you T2! I was distracted by all the innovative, trendy newness... totally suckered in... and I carelessly boarded my plane without scooping up my scarf, my best friend, that had been my blanket when I shivered and my shawl when I needed a light cover-all. I loved that midnight blue pashmina scarf... but now I have been given a new one that is actually very old. It is the color of my father's eyes, soft baby blue with foggy periwinkle cast to it... it is a good gift for Port Townsend to bid me off with. Yes, I am leaving Port Townsend after a year of happy residence. I fly to my mother's home in Connecticut this Sunday and will bip and bop around the state visiting family and friends until January 9th when I will fly back to school in San Francisco. Dearest San Francisco where I may resume my studies and complete a degree. I will be so proud!!!! And so will my father. Never could I commit myself to a person whom my father detested with such deep scorn.
So perhaps the cabbage and porkchops fantasy may be possible for a brief while with the boy from my past. Maybe.

I'd like to list a few of the oldest of old traditions which I am passionate about. I learn more EVERYday, so this is only a modest list, a sampling;
sauerkraut: vegetables + bacteria
beer: grains + yeast
gruit: grains + yeast + herbs
cheese: milk + enzymes + mold
yogurt: milk + enzymes
wine: grapes + enzymes + yeast
mead: honey + yeast + herbs
melomel: honey + fruit + yeast
charcuterie: meat + time + spices + salt
sourdough: flour + yeast
soy sauce: soy + bacteria

all of these things require proper environment and time to succeed. the results of being a food steward are incomparable to anything off the shelf. pffft.