My Soul Looks Back
Page 18
– Serves four to six –
1 shank-end, half-bone-in leg of lamb, 4 or 5 pounds
6 large garlic cloves
11/2 teaspoons dried lavender flowers
1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
11/2 tablespoons finely ground sea salt
2 tablespoons mixed peppercorns
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon herbes de Provence
Preheat the oven to 450°F. If the butcher has not already removed the fell (parchmentlike membrane) from the lamb leg, trim it away along with all excess fat. Using the tip of a sharp knife, make 15 or so small incisions in the leg, spacing them evenly.
Place the garlic, lavender, and thyme in a small food processor and pulse until you have a thick paste. Poke a bit of the paste into each of the incisions in the lamb. Place the salt, peppercorns, dried rosemary, and herbes de Provence in a spice grinder and pulse until you have a coarse mix. Rub the mix all over the lamb, covering it evenly. Place the lamb on a rack in a roasting pan.
Roast the lamb for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350°F and continue to roast for about 1 hour, or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part away from the bone registers 130°F for rare, 140° to 145°F for medium-rare, or 160°F for well-done. Cooking times will vary depending on the shape of the lamb and the consistent heat of your oven. Remove the lamb from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes before carving.
Carve the lamb parallel to the bone in long, thin slices and arrange the slices on a platter. Transfer the warm sauce to a sauceboat and serve immediately.
Spicy Mint Sauce
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Makes about 1 cup
1 (8-ounce) jar mint jelly
1 small jalapeño chile, seeded and minced, or to taste
1/4 cup dark rum, or to taste
While the lamb is resting, combine the mint jelly, chile, and rum in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, or until the jelly liquefies and the sauce is warmed through.
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PLAYLIST
Music was very much a part of this experience and there was a lot of it, ranging across genres and time frames from the gutbucket blues of Bessie Smith that Sam taught me to listen to and love, to Maceo Woods’s growling gospel organ, to the shining trills of Martina Arroyo and Leontyne Price. When I was back in my apartment? I was listening to Carole King, who seemed to be talking to me—“You’ve Got a Friend.” When I was trying to hang in there no matter what, Aretha explained why I hung in—“You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman” (or at least how I thought a natural woman should feel). Or if I was feeling unsure, Jacques Brel and Nina Simone agreed—“Ne Me Quitte Pas.” I caterwauled my way up and down my emotional roller coaster in my Jane Street apartment. At other times, my emotions changed my mental playlists. I had a mental wedding playlist (although the word had not yet been coined) that included Curtis Mayfield songs like “We’ve Only Just Begun” and my all-time West African favorite, “Il N’est Jamais Trop Tard,” and a playlist for bad days that included every maudlin ballad known. From the dancing tunes of our raucous parties to the wailing notes of my grief, there was always music. Here are some of the songs that went (or should have gone) with the moments.
CHAPTER ONE: CLUB 81—SAMMY AND JIMMY
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“Tuna de Letras”—Will Tura and Bart Peeters
“Tenth and Greenwich (Women’s House of Detention)”—Melvin Van Peebles
“Memories Are Made of This”—Dean Martin
“Try to Remember”—Tom Jones and Jerry Orbach
“Come and Get These Memories”—Martha and the Vandellas
“The Way We Were”—Barbra Streisand
“Memory”—Betty Buckley
CHAPTER TWO: AND THE BABY MADE THREE
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“Mockin’ Hill”—Patti Page
“Tired of Being Alone”—Al Green
“Je Cherche un Homme”—Eartha Kitt
“To Be Young, Gifted and Black”—Nina Simone
“Mama Didn’t Lie”—Jan Bradley
“Father and Daughter”—Paul Simon
“Fame”—Irene Cara
“Ego Tripping (There May Be a Reason Why)”—Nikki Giovanni
“Just Like a Woman”—Nina Simone
CHAPTER THREE: BANTAM SAM WAS THE MAN
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“Home Is Where the Hatred Is”—Esther Phillips
“Your Love Is So Doggone Good”—Esther Phillips
“Peace Be Still”—James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir
“Send in the Clowns”—Mabel Mercer
“Solitude”—Billie Holiday
“Amazing Grace”—Maceo Woods
“T’ain’t Nobody’s Bizness If I Do”—Bessie Smith
“Me and My Gin”—Bessie Smith
“I Shall Be Released”—Nina Simone
“A City Called Heaven, ‘I Am a Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow’ ”—Martina Arroyo
CHAPTER FOUR: OH, THE PEOPLE YOU’LL MEET!
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“We’ve Only Just Begun”—Curtis Mayfield
“You’ve Got a Friend”—Carole King
“Send in the Clowns”—Mabel Mercer
“Why Did I Choose You?”—Mabel Mercer
“This Joint Is Jumpin’ ”—Fats Waller
“Love and Happiness”—Al Green
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours”—Stevie Wonder
“Superstition”—Stevie Wonder
“Suzanne”—Nina Simone
“(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” —Aretha Franklin
“At Last”—Etta James
CHAPTER FIVE: OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! WEST SIDE RAMBLES
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“Let’s Stay Together”—Al Green
“Midnight Train to Georgia”—Gladys Knight and the Pips
“Dixie/Up on the Roof”—Stuff
“Lift Every Voice and Sing”—Stuff
“Sunday in Savannah”—Mabel Mercer
“Chase Me, Charlie”—Mabel Mercer
“Wait ’til You’re 65”—Mabel Mercer
“Der Erlkönig”—Jessye Norman
“Vissi d’Arte”—Leontyne Price
“Dio Che Nell’alma Infondere”—Plácido Domingo
CHAPTER SIX: WANDERLUST: SONOMA, HAITI, AND PARIS
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“Choucoune”—Moune de Rivel
“Haiti Chéri”—Jacques Sauveur Jean
“Haiti”—Lolita Cuevas
“Marabout de mon coeure-bonsoir dam”—Toto Bissainthe
“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”—Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell
“Paris au Mois d’Août”—Charles Aznavour
“I Love Paris”—Ella Fitzgerald
“J’ai Deux Amours”—Josephine Baker
“California Dreamin’ ”—The Mamas and the Papas
“California Love”—Tupac Shakur
CHAPTER SEVEN: TITINE AND TABASCO
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“Tous les Garçons et les Filles”—François Hardy
“Ne Me Quitte Pas”—Jacques Brel or Nina Simone
“Un Homme et une Femme”—Francis Lai
“Neither One of Us”—Gladys Knight and the Pips
“Didn’t We”—Barbra Streisand
“La Mer”—Yves Montand
“Les Marchés de Provence”—Gilbert Bécaud
“Je Cherche après Titine”— Yves Montand
“Non, Je ne Regrette Rien”—Edith Piaf
“Lilac Wine”—Nina Simone
CHAPTER EIGHT: SOUL-FULL
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“I Will Survive”—Gloria Gaynor
“There Is a Balm in Gil
ead”—Martina Arroyo and Dorothy Maynor
“Come Ye Disconsolate”—Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway
“O Death (Death in the Morning)”—Marion Williams
“Ain’t No Sunshine”—Bill Withers
“I’ll Fly Away”—The Blind Boys of Alabama or the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
“Amazing Grace”—Aretha Franklin
“Who Is He (And What Is He to You)?”—Bill Withers
“Drown in My Own Tears”—Aretha Franklin or Ray Charles
“For the Good Times”—Al Green
CHAPTER NINE: AFTERMATH
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“Solid”—Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson
“Go Tell It on the Mountain”—Smokey Robinson and the Miracles
“Scandal in the Family”—Maya Angelou
“Peas and Rice”—Maya Angelou
“Three Little Birds”—Bob Marley
“How Can You Mend a Broken Heart”—Al Green
“Blame It on My Youth”—Mabel Mercer
CHAPTER TEN: IT AIN’T OVER ’TIL IT’S OVER!
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“Just My Imagination”—The Temptations
“It Is Well with My Soul”—Harding University Concert Choir
“Hallelujah”—Leonard Cohen
“Hallelujah Chorus”—George Frideric Handel
“Doni Doni”—Bembeya Jazz National
“How I Got Over”—Stars of Faith
“Here Comes the Sun”—Nina Simone
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
How do you thank a lifetime’s worth of friends? It is impossible and awkward. Do you just go down the list of those who offered specific assistance or thank those who kept you on the planet during the writing of the book with calls, food, and encouragement? Do you thank those from years ago who, with a word, a gesture, or a kindness, made things better on a bad day? Or do you limit yourself to those who moved you forward on the road or held your hand while you wrote? The following is a little bit of all.
Certainly the list of folks to be acknowledged has to begin with my late parents, Rhoda and Jesse Harris, without whom I would not be and would not be me.
The Queens College SEEK Program and its faculty and staff past and present, especially Frank Franklin (Ibae), Corrine Jennings, and Doreen June Bobb; the Queens College English Department; Kami Tobitt and Tenisha McDonald. I have worked there for more than forty-six years and to say that it is home and that those I work with and have worked with have become my extended family is rank understatement.
Continuing and renewed friendships from “then” include Louise Meriwether, who simply said “Absolutely” when I asked if I should tell the story; Helen Brodie Baldwin, Jimmy’s sister-in-law, who said, “Do it!,” put names to faces, and reminded me of things in St. Paul-de-Vence, in Paris, and in New York; Lydia Stuckey, Maya Angelou’s personal assistant and friend for more than thirty years, who said, “You’d better,” answered the phone, and generously shared memories; Martina Arroyo, who shared reminiscences as well; Nick Townsend, former Queens College colleague, who gave me Durham background and insights into Sam’s early life; Richard Alleman, who remembers me when—and his new husband, Tony Neufield, who knows me now—who both encourage me always; Olivia and Willy Blumer, who also remember me as I once was, as does Linda “Zap” Cohen, who reminded, encouraged, and connected me to my new “fur family”—Hatshepsut and Hannibal.
Sustaining friendships from the “now” include Ann Glickman, Toby Glickman, and Susan Leonard—the Birch Wathen Lenox Civilization team; Don Sloan and the members of the Oxford Cultural Collective; Moriba Jackson, who tweaked the cover; Kim Severson, who suggested that I write the New York Times article that was the genesis of this book; and Nicole Taylor and Adrian Franks, my adopted “kids.” Glenn Roberts gave quiet and real support.
In Charleston, a shout-out is due Kit Bennett and Mary Silsby, Mitchell Crosby, Linda Mayo-Perez, and Jimmy Williams; in Nashville, Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams; in Macon, Carey Pickard and Chris Howard. In Oak Bluffs, a whoop of thanks goes out to Rhonda Conley, gardener-turned-friend and partner in crime; the late Madelon Delany Stent and her family; Keren Tonnensen, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Gretchen Tucker Underwood, Robin Bolles, Sandye Grymes, Mitzi Pratt, Flip Scipio, and Dorria Bell; and the entire Vineyard krewe of Jessica. In Brooklyn, the stalwarts Elaine Greenstein and Jose Medina and Martha Mae Jones all keep the phone ringing, lure me out to dinner, and generally keep me on the planet.
My international family: Patricia Wilson and the Breteil/Levi/Desportes clan in Paris; Haroldo and Mary Costa; Gersoney Azevedo, Ekede Sinha, and all at Casa Branca, in Rio and Bahia, Brazil, the Allus, worldwide; Dana and Christian Sardet; and the Komaclo/Houemavo/Grimaud/Swallow families in West Africa and England are all life sustainers.
The members of my blood family are too numerous to note, but they are owed thanks, especially those to whom I am most connected: Gail “Asantawaa” Harris, James Eliott Harris, and Vanessa Abukusumo-Whitney.
My adopted New Orleans family grows larger each year, but the matrix remains Kerry Moody; the extended Costa family, especially the newest arrival, Henry “the Falcon” Stout; Daphne Derven; Michele Jean-Pierre; Lolis Eric Elie; Amanda McFillen; Gail McDonough; and “Aunt” Leah Chase and the humongous Chase clan, who has adopted me, as has the Lucullus crew—Michelle, Rebecca, “Chippy,” and Warren.
My “saints” keep my life running what passes for smoothly: Eddie Garcia, my sainted mailman, who keeps my mail coming when I don’t know whether I’m coming or going; David Amaral, my sainted plumber on the Vineyard; Lionel, who can repair anything; and “Bob” Toussaint, Joe Oliver, and Leadfoot Louie, who get me around on time.
Dr. Lerner and staff keep me smiling; Dr. Donald Moore and staff keep me alive; and Dr. John Mastrobattista and Sita keep me seeing the pages. I am indebted to them all.
And then, there are Olive Allu, Don Sloan, Eluned Roberts Schweitzer, Jan Bradford, Abby Hirsch, Jocelyn Brown, Ann Glickman, Olive “Aceituna” Tomlinson, Patricia Lawrence-Haughton, Patrick Dunne, and Wendy Taucher—readers who encouraged, reminded, and gently supported.
None of this would have happened without my dream team of Susan Ginsburg, my agent and sister/friend who believes in me when I don’t believe in myself, and her indefatigable assistant, Stacey Testa, who recognizes my voice whenever I call and gets me through.
At Scribner, which is housed in the Simon & Schuster building where I was published for twenty-one years, I feel very Edna St. Vincent Millay, “round again ’til I’ve come back to where I started from.” There, I owe thanks to Sally Howe, editorial assistant; Laura Wise, production editor; and copy editor Beverly H. Miller, who have kept me on target, on time, and coherent. I thank Jessica Yu, publicist, for getting the word out and helping me with the intricacies of social media.
Executive editor Kathryn Belden, my editor and my friend, holds my hand when I need it, lets me cry when I need to, and forces me to be a better writer and, more often than not, a better person than I think I am. I will be forever in her debt.
Finally, all praises are due the Lord, Orisha, and creative spirits who keep the ink flowing. I am grateful to all. To those whom I omitted, I offer my sincere apologies. I’m old enough to claim that age-related forgetfulness is the reason.
Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, September 26, 2016
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© J. PINDERHUGHES
Jessica B. Harris is the author of twelve cookbooks documenting the food and foodways of the African diaspora. Her most recent book, High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America, won the IACP Award for Culinary History. She has written extensively about the culture of Africa in the Americas, lectures widely, and hosts her own radio show, My Welcome Table, on the Heritage Radio Network. Harris acted as a consultant for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture and is a member of the Kitchen Cabinet at th
e Smithsonian Museum of American History. She was the inaugural scholar in residence in the Ray Charles Chair in African American Material Culture at Dillard University in New Orleans and has been a professor of English at Queens College for more than four decades. She is a founding member of the Southern Foodways Alliance, has received an honorary doctorate from Johnson & Wales University, and was inducted into the prestigious James Beard Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. Harris divides her time between New York, Martha’s Vineyard, and New Orleans.
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