Poetry and 5kg of Hummus! ~ Mariella

What could hummus and poetry possibly have in common? Well, today, Me!

On Wednesday evening I received a phone call after the MidWeek Market asking for Hummus for the Annual Vernissage Art exhibition in Plettenberg Bay.

http://showme.co.za/plett/events-entertainment/vernissage-v-a-celebration-of-life-creative/

A few things blossomed in my mind simultaneously, firstly, that I hadn’t made any hummus that day because of the ominous weather forecast, that I am no caterer, and that I’d wanted to apply to contribute a poetry performance to the next Vernissage which was now squarely upon us.

Was I too late?

As I was working for the rest of the week and had no chickpeas in the house I passed on the number of a catering supply company for the hummus and inquired about possibly submitting a poem for approval to perform at the exhibition. I was told the evening’s schedule was already carefully choreographed but I could bring it along and see what happened.

Did I have anything appropriate? was the question. Yes, yes, was my reply, omitting that it could be found neatly filed away in the recesses of my mind.

The brief? Woman’s day, drawing the female form, art. 

I had some work to do.  

As it turned out, the caterer couldn’t provide hummus by the deadline and there was no where in town which would have the amount they needed and so I offered to make it, I was then told they needed 6kg!

‘6kg !’, I said, ‘Are you sure? That’s a whole lot of hummus’. 

We got it down to 5!

After much phoning around I ordered Chickpeas from the same caterers and had a friend pick it up. That was yesterday, and the exhibition is tonight, so guess what time I went to bed~!

Quantity is a funny thing; I can now tell you how to make roughly 7 kg of hummus and enough chickpeas to make chickpea dishes for the next week! 

I should just have googled it! 

1 kg dried chickpeas yields roughly 2 kg cooked.

I returned home by 6:00pm and dumped 4 kg of chickpeas in water, waited four hours and then boiled them for an hour and let them cool overnight.

This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, all the while walking around with a piece of paper in my hand reciting a poem I may not perform!

I drained the chickpeas and ran them through the Oscar, it took hours off my prep time.

http://www.freshearth.co.za/store/p-2179-oscar-juicer-da-900-chrome.aspx

I seperated them out into batches

To a 2kg patch of minced chickpeas I added about 400ml water

4 cloves of garlic

A quarter raw onion

1 Table spoon ground Cumin

1 Table spoon ground Coriander

1 Table spoon ground Paprika

Juice of 6 tiny lemons

4 Table spoons Tahini

A Cup of Olive Oil or close to that!

Salt to taste (I added 3 teaspoons)

And then blended it all up using a hand held blender

I would say it took me less time to write the poem! 
But it was fun and not a little strange to know that I’m contributing to the food and maybe the entertainment too! Creativity finds all sorts of ways to express itself! Wish me luck and here is my poem:

Eyes on her
Pricked at her skin
Tickled her toes, ears, waist
Eyes on her
Inescapable 
But not those eyes 
That want
Appraise
Condescend
Disregard
These eyes invited, redeemed, enjoyed
These eyes saw
The curve of her spine
The shallow dimples at its base
the easy character of her hair
her expression, 
how it oscillated between focused thought and void

in a vast suspension of time
They saw the parts she loved
And the parts she hid
And in these places found a playground, battle ground, holy ground 
for their hands to render 
A stolen hiatus on paper
The sound of their tools like soft traffic over her
They pressed and coaxed and lifted her form

from the tips of their pencils
And she felt the pressure of it on her skin and in her soul
Pressure like a turning hand to her cheek drawing her attention to some vital message
I am woman, I am perfect