Thursday 3 December 2009

in the shadow of things...

Thursday 3rd December 2009
a shadow, something indeed so intangible. we remember when we were younger chasing our shadows around the garden and using our hands to create the shadows of animals on our bedroom walls. in those times of such innocence we are shielded from the shadows we later learn about. the shadows in the corners of our minds where our deepest fears lurk like predators, haunting our dreams and holding us back from what we know we can do, the shadows that fall across our hearts, for every love that is loved and lost and takes with them a part of our very being and the shadows that often encircle our souls, squeezing out the very life force that sustains us and brings us to our very lowest point. these are the shadows that cast the darkest force and these are the shadows that remind us to search in every part of darkness for the light, to embrace the glorious rays that dance across the earth each day and that we fail to truly bask in for lack of time, lack of energy, lack of love, lack of money. that light is the very brightness that shines from within us. because life really is a dance filled with steps that bring us dangerously into shadow and yet in the next pivot, back into the luminous light. it is remembering that light always follows dark, that one step always follows another and that this glorious dance happens only once so shake your hair down and let loose...shadows, light, come one, come all...we are ready with toes pointed and palms out-stretched...let the music begin...

Tuesday 1 December 2009

how sweet it is...

Tuesday 1st December 2009
palm sugar is the most wondrous of substances. whenever i see it like this piled high in market baskets i have this overwhelming urge to just pick up a piece and take a gigantic bite out of it. of course, this would not be the wisest thing to do because it would be insanely sweet, but it just has this bite-able look to it and it also reminds me of chocolate.
these sections of palm sugar have been made into this shape from coconut husks and palm sugar is used as a cooking ingredient in all kinds of dishes here both sweet and savoury. It is made by making several slits into the bud of a coconut tree and collecting the sap. then, the sap is boiled until it thickens after which, in the traditional way, it is poured into bamboo tubes or coconut husks and left to solidify to form cake blocks. rather ingenious, don't you think?