March is the Month of Expectation

March is the Month of Expectation

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March is the Month of Expectation.

The things we do not know—

The Persons of prognostication

Are coming now—

We try to show becoming firmness—

But pompous Joy

Betrays us, as his first Betrothal

Betrays a Boy.

I never fully understand the metaphors of Emily Dickinson’s poetry on first reading, but always her language rivets me. I'm guessing her poem presages March weather as not fully winter, but not wholly spring either. I know this fickleness of Nature firsthand because we wait almost the whole month, nurturing baby starter plants before planting them in our community garden plot once we know frost won’t kill them.

March is also Women’s History Month, and so I pay tribute to Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman in Congress (1968) and the first African American woman to run for President (1972). Chisolm paved the way for the likes of Kamala Harris with her saying below.

I also finally used up the rest of the Asian barbecued pork that Cecilia gave me by turning it into fried rice. I was going to stir fry vegetables separately, but decided nah, just integrate it all with the protein and starch.

I had the ingredients all prepped and ready: pork, more pork (i.e., Spam), Napa cabbage, sugar snap peas, heirloom baby carrots, bamboo shoots, jasmine rice, scallions, red onion, garlic, ginger and a sauce or slurry of soy sauce, Maggi, oyster sauce, chicken broth and corn starch. Unfortunately I burned the peanut oil in my wok when I was preheating it and filled my condo with smoke. I spent part of making dinner just scraping and rinsing my wok before finally cooking the rice which I hurriedly set out for serving and ran a huge serving to my neighbor, who said she loved the crunch of the vegetables and the moisture level of the rice (hmmm, I thought it a bit too soppy).

However, unlike kimchi fried rice, hubs ate my Chinese fried rice, and we finished dinner when I finally remembered to take a pic of the final dish or rather what was leftover.

And I had half a can of Spam, which I love simply sliced, pan fried and then sandwiched between a soft potato or white bread. Even the low sodium version is deliciously salty.

Seriously, my favorite lunch, which I'm having multiple days this week. I like to cook it ahead of time (yeah I know it's already cooked) with that slight brown crust and then reheat it in the toaster oven before making a sandwich.