~ Summer Evenings ~
~ Miniature Love ~
![Hydrante 1 2 bis](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6200/6098697107_e3efa94304_b.jpg)
This picture was submitted to "Black & White Wednesday", an event created by Susan at "The Well-Seasoned Cook".
![Cherry Tomatoes 1 7 bis](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6077/6099245094_42face04fc_b.jpg)
~ Miniature Love ~
![Hydrante 1 2 bis](http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6200/6098697107_e3efa94304_b.jpg)
~ Monstrous Hydrant ~
"Run away from all your boredomThe feeling of constantly running and wasting your existence for others is even stronger when it is impossible for you to make the most of those oh so precious, yet hilariously rare free days. Then, taking a break is a little bit of a torture as you are trapped in your rabbit box apartment and sentenced to not going out of a perimeter of a few kilometers around your domicile as taking cars, trains or aeroplanes is definitely not in your budget. So, in a way you feel trapped, deprived and like in a jail since you cannot escape your village, town and canton in order to get some fresh air. Money really determines the size of your cage, so to speak.
Run away from all your whoredom and wave
Your worries, and cares, goodbye
All it takes is one decision
A lot of guts, a little vision to wave
Your worries, and cares goodbye
It's a maze for rats to try
It's a race, a race for rats
A race for rats to die
It's a race, a race for rats A race for rats to die..."
- Excerpt taken from the song "Slave To The Wage" By Placebo
When you are neither rich nor possess many earthly belongings, you tend to direct your attention toward the little things in life, what is not materialistic nor can be quantified in money terms. You learn not to have greedy expectations or to take things for granted, to be satisfied with not much, to have a more spiritual insight into things and to become increasingly open to the outside world and that which surrounds us...- Ernest Hemingway
“The present moment is filled with joy and happiness.
If you are attentive, you will see it.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh
"Be Content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you."- Lao Tzu
Thanks to my "misfortune", I am a keen lover of Nature. It never fails to surprise me and I cannot get enough of admiring it and incessantly being flabbergasted by its unlimited wonders. I am capable of sitting on my balcony for hours looking at the sky and the way clouds evolve. The dreamlike and elegant flight of the buzzards fascinates me. I cherish the welcoming morning chant of the birds and that of the perky rooster living in the garden opposite my building block. The imposing solemness of the Salève mountain that towers over my village like a monolithic monster bedazzles me. My kitty Maruschka is a real bundle of joy and brings a charming feline touch to my day. The flutter of leaves in the evening wind brings me peace of mind. The croacking of frogs makes me smile. The sudden appearence of a fiery and fluffy fox during my Saturday walks delights me. A warm summer breeze wraps me in a shroud of pure bliss. The rumbling river nearby comforts me. An afternoon spent foraging for exceptionally fragrant wild blackberries excites me to the highest point. Listening to the electric sounding songs of the cicadas which have colonized the area lately just fills my heart with joy. The shape of a fruit or the color of a vegetable sends me into a state of meditation. The sheer variety of food astounds me and makes me feel so thankful..."Don't seek, don't search, don't ask, don't knock, don't demand - relax. If you relax, it comes. If you relax, it is there. If you relax, you start vibrating with it."
- Osho
Somehow, I have the attitude of a Zen (or Taoist) monk who sees magnificence everywhere he looks and doesn't burden his soul with negativity. Genius lies in simplicity, naturalness and harmony. Being able to stay humble brings you inner strenghth as it is when humans are left with the strict minimum that they are forced to face themselves and dig deep into their inner being in order to "survive" the lack of artificiality in their existence."Two novice Zen monks are arguing about whose master is more evolved and accomplished. So the first monk boasts, 'My master is so powerful, he can stand on one side of the river and write his name in the mud on the opposite side'. 'That’s nothing' said the other one. 'When my master is hungry, he eats and when he is tired he sleeps'."
- Anonymous
With food, the same can be said. There is no need to complicate things, spend considerable amounts on luxury ingredients or be frivolous. A well-balanced and uncomplex dish can have even more impact that one that is ultra-complicated, pompous and extravagant. Sometimes, it is the most elementary and frugal meal that leaves the greatest as well as long-lasting memories"The modern mind has lost all capacity to wonder. It has lost all capacity to look into the mysterious, into the miraculous - because of knowledge, because it thinks it knows."
- Osho
"Preparing food is not about yourself and others. It is about everything!"It is for that reason, that the recipe I am presenting today is not pretentious and is of Nippon inspiration. Like all things Japanese, it is subtly refined in both looks and taste, and shines in its purity, sobriety, equilibrium and apparent rusticity.
- Shunryu Suzuki