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Things Known

I baked a whole mackerel with mustard greens, jalapeno peppers, turmeric and tkemali sauce for dinner recently. It was one of those events where a good fish was on hand but the rest was a mix of whatever the fridge held a day before grocery day. The results were wonderful and though they bore no resemblance to the mackerel I was familiar with from my younger days in India, very reminiscent of home. 

 Something about blending ingredients from the past with more recent discoveries always makes me happy. The Georgian spice set is still new to me but one I have come to love. I can see affinities between spices I grew up with and berberis and ajika. There are ways to bring them together to create tastes known and novel at the same time. Reading about exotic spices, I always want to try the few that I have not worked with yet - see how they fit into the spectrum of things I know to create tastes that are surprising and fun.
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