Saturday, July 05, 2008

Hibachi and another Mullein

I was sitting in the lawn chair looking at the field and trees and discovered this lovely little Mullein growing nearthe house. I'll try to harvest it before they come and cut the field. It is perfect as so often Mullein grows by the roadside. There, it picks up car exhaust particles. The purest wild harvested herbs are far from roadside pollution, such as this one.

I bought this little hibachi for the July 4th celebration with Mom. I am stretching it a bit to call it a celebration as to Mom it was just dinner as usual except the burgers were a little tastier. To me it was a big deal though. I haven't barbecued in years, maybe 25. It seems so American a thing to do. It shouts "family gatherings" which have not been a part of my life for years either.

I assembled the hibachi myself, but it wasn't too hard. The last hibachi I had 30 years ago was a lot more solid and sturdy. This seems made of weak tin. I used about 20 matches trying to get the charcoal lit. But finally it began to burn. The burgers smelled so good I ran in and fetched a garlic chicken sausage to cook also. Now I understand why it's good to have two people cooking. I had to be really organized and set up all the inside foods beforehand as for most of the time I needed to stay outside by the hibachi fire.

Homemade barbecue sauce.

I placed the hibachi in the driveway away from grasses and the house so I put out this dohickey I found in the barn so no one would drive over the hibachi. Mom ate her entire burger plus half the sausage so I guess it tasted good.

Note the spatula in the above photo. In the garage I found some barbecue tools left from Dad's barbecuing days. Hot mitts, spatula, tongs, a sauce brush. They seemed so touching in their box. I used them all. So, Dad was there with us too.

13 comments:

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

What is Mullein? Is it an herb? What is the color of the flowers?
Looks like you had the makings of fun yesterday even if you did the work. Memories were made. Thats the fun part later on when looking back. YOur Mom probably was delighted.

Salute said...

Hope you had a wonderful holiday.

marianne said...

I had to look up Mullein, and now I know what it is, just read a wonderful page in Dutch about it!
So nice to find it there, so pure.
Your BBQ looked nice! Using your fathers tools, how cool!
We don't celebrate the 4th of July, but it was my birthday. I usually don't celebrate it, but I went to get my father and mother so they could have dinner here. I made my mother her favorite dish (spare ribs). It was quite tirering for both of them, they are so fragile. In the evening we had friends over.
Today I have no energy.........
So sweet you bought the Hibachi and arranged the BBQ for your mom.
How long will we be able to this for them?
The hamburgers look yummy!
Love >M<

Anonymous said...

Wow, I just took my wildflower book out for the first time last weekend and we learnt Common Mullein. I don't know how to pronounce it. Harvest? Do you eat it? Use it in art?

How lovely that you had a bbq with your mum and your dad's spirit there, too.

Anonymous said...

I love those Mullein's, we have them here in Taos, but I never knew
what they were. Glad you had a sweet holiday with your mom.

Anonymous said...

The greens in the first photo captured something in me.....

.....enjoy your summer days.

sukipoet said...

Cris and anyone else who asked about Mullein. It is a weed to some people and a medicinal herb to others. The flower is yellow. You dry the leaves, crumple them up and in the winter light them as you might sage and breathe in the smoke. You do this when you have a stuffy nose. 9 times out of 10, my experience has been that my stuffy nose clears up. Euell Gibbons who wrote about herbs in the 60's i think, talks about making a tea out of the leaves but as they are bitter you have to add milk, or something like that. I have never done that.

thanks Mae. It was sad actually as my SIL has had again some worsening of her condition. My brother says it's not so much her symptoms but her reaction to her symptoms (she gets downright hysterical for hours) that is what causes all the stress, at least for him. Anyway, I feel sad and of course I cant do anything to alleviate the situation. So the holiday was a mixed bag.

Marianne, happy birthday. Well nic e you had your folks over even if it did tire them. And you. It is so interesting to me how tiring it is to tend to elderly folks. But what you say is true, how long will we be able to feast with our parents or parent. Hope you are treating yourself to some birthday specials. A friend of mine said, it's a birthday MONTH not just a day. That puts less tension into getting all the good stuff into the day. Spread it out a bit. Again, cheers. Blessings, Suki

sukipoet said...

kikipotamus, I think it is said mullen. Like in mulling something over and then just "en' at the en-d. I'm trying to think of something it sounds like and am failing. I wrote above to Cris about it's medicinal herb uses. That would be the leaves. The stalk actually I have heard, but not experienced, can be burnt in ceremonies.

Thanks Annie. Mullein can grow to be quite large. The one I showed is small but I posted about Mullein awhile back and showed a big one.

Thanks Britt-arnhild. And i hope you have a wonderful trip.

Mim said...

Lovely to have a family barbeque, no matter how many people are there. happy 4th to you!

Roxanne said...

dear suki - it sounds like a lovely celebration for you ... with those who were there with you in body and in spirit!

i'll talk to you in a week. i'm taking a week off in celebration of quitting my job, sitting in a cabin by a lake. i was planning to write a post tonight, but got some food poisoning ... so i only have enough energy to go pack then sleep! take care, suki!

sukipoet said...

Mim, yes. I tried to barbecue chicken the next night and couldnt get the briquet's lit. It always seems such a miracle to get a fire started.

Honor, oh dear, food poisoning. I hope you are feeling better and that you have a wonderful peacefilled time at the cabin. A transition time between what was and what is to be. Blessings, Suki

soulbrush said...

the whole event is simple, and real, close and warm, it went to my heart.happy july 4th.as i said before, i feel so very deeply for your poor brother, as he is the one truly suffering the most!

sukipoet said...

Forever Young thank you. Yes, my brother had finally gone away for 4 days to try to relax and then he came home to trauma. As he said, all his relaxed feeling flew the coop. Truly I don't think I could do it. He and SIL do have a choice as she could go to the hospice center where they have 24 hour caregivers. But he insists he will not do that.