Contrary to the mildly self-deprecating would-be humor on this topic to be found elsewhere on this site, I do, in fact, have some fairly well-focused plans for this webspace, some of them suggested by the standard format of the sister sites on other servers, and some by the sysop's personal reputation - and I mean the latter in a solidly good way. Aside from a bit of the journaling of my trip to the far side of strangeness that one finds on the Halls of Eternal Disbelief, one finds a photographic focus on one part of the United States (here, probably on the North East). One finds a little regional cooking, which in this case will be Pennsylvania Dutch and Shaker cooking. Yes, I know there's some overlap into Midwestern cookery with that, but the Appalacian mountains have never been much of a cultural barrier, so there is no way to completely disentangle the Midwest from the South or the East. History won't let us do it.

There is usually (or should I say, will be) a little European cooking related to the roots of the American regional cookery presented (Spanish for the New Mexican section, French for Lousiana section, and in this case, a little English, Dutch and German). The European cooking really isn't a main focus on these sites, though, serving as a sort of bridge between American regional cookery and some sort of Nonwestern cooking, as I bring the reader over to an exploration of the relationship between the (supposedly Western) American cookery and a variety of nonwestern cuisines, both as a matter of history and of possible culinary exploration. In the case of Lousiana and New Mexico, the history has been convenient for our purposes. French cuisine serves as a link that takes the reader to West African cooking, which historically did influence Lousiana cookery, itself having been influenced by French cuisine during the French colonial period in West Africa. Spanish cookery takes us to Southwestern Native American and the highly Native-influenced Mexican cuisine - both of which were impacted on by a period of Spanish rule, so again our segue is not an unnatural one. In the case of the Northeast, though, our vague sense of tidyness departs.

To be sure, one can find plenty of places where English and Dutch cuisine have enjoyed the colonial privilege and thus influenced the cooking of some part of the third world. The primary culinary focus of these sites is to be African, and the region apropro if we are looking at English and Dutch cuisine should be an obvious one - the Southernmost countries, tilting eastward (South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana), which is where I started with the Nhopa Dovi recipe (probably destined to be relocated here). But there never really was a strong Southern African culinary presence in any part of the United States. Yes, there is a Bantu genetic element to the African-American population, but that which is Nigerian seems to have made a far stronger imprint. One can only offer these dishes to an Eastern US reader as an interesting novelty, not as something that is part of his heritage to any great extent.

I mentioned Spanno. Free webpage providers do not have a reputation for promoting free speech online, and sad to say, few seem to deserve one. Spanno, the sysop for this provider, if rumors are to be trusted, would be very much an exception to this. Looking over the Terms of Service, I find myself inclined to believe those very favorable rumors. No vague prohibitions against "offensive" material ("offensive" to whom, and on what grounds), no demands to keep one's site childsafe, nothing that looks like a warning of censorship to come. Just really reasonable stuff like "hey, please don't crash our server or use your space to sell bootlegged software or hacker stuff" - and how can one complain about that? Of course, I've heard good words before and been disappointed before (hi, Mr.Langfeld), but I get the feeling that this may be a little different. Famous last words, maybe, but we'll see. If my hopes aren't going to be disappointed in this, I think that this might be the place where I post a few reviews of restaurants and other attractions in Chicago, as experienced by a local who doesn't get any kickbacks, and maybe a story or two. Not having to censor myself is precisely what would make the difference.

Nor now, not much up, yet, just a little narrative material in the Burning Man section of this site, but there is more to come. Finances being what they are, travel and travel photography will have to wait for a while - though I might be able to get relative to snap a few pictures in Boston and New York, so who knows? Recipes will be coming sooner, those calling for a lower budget, and for those planning a desert trip, this might be the section of main interest. The recipes you'll be seeing come from a fairly arid region in which the conservation of water is a major concern - thus, for example, the South African bredie, in which the meat cooks in the water released by the vegetables, reminding one somewhat of a Near Eastern steamstewing, albeit with the far milder seasonings one would expect of a Dutch-influenced cuisine, in a place in which spices are relative newcomers. Not that all will be Western-derived by any means - certainly that first dish you saw was not. Look for new recipes around February, I think, and please consider signing up for my site update list. It's a low traffic list set up to save visitors the time and trouble of checking back to see if new material is up, yet. Thanks for dropping by, and hope you'll enjoy your future visits.

Until then, you might want to return to the ring you entered my site from.