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What a coincidence! Today is the birthday of the science
fiction writer, Jules Gabriel Verne, born in 1828 to Pierre and Sophie (Allote
del la Fuÿe) Verne in Nantes (France) where his father was an attorney. He was an imaginative child and enjoyed
making up travel stories, something he continued doing when he was supposed to
be studying law in Paris [Verne père cut off the tuition, leaving Jules to do
what many fine artists do – work at a paying job in order to fund their art].
Among other things, he wrote
novels of travel and exploration that rivaled anything produced for the
gullible by 16th century authors, making full use of authentic
geographical details and the latest scientific discoveries to create believable
tales of adventure. You probably
know these from film adaptations:
Five Weeks in a Balloon
A Journey to the Center of the Earth
From the Earth to the Moon
In Search of the Castaways
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Around the World in Eighty Days
The Mysterious Island
Several of his books are
available on Google Books, at the Jules Verne Virtual Library, and of course,
at your own local library.
Read more about Jules Verne
at Wikipedia, and on the North American Jules Verne Society website (including
links to other societies, and warnings against the very bad early English
translations of his works).
And the coincidence? The winter storm named ‘Nemo’ is
bearing down on us in the Smallest State like its namesake bore down on the USS Abraham Lincoln. Captain Nemo, of course, is the
mysterious lead character of Twenty
Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
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"This, which you
believe to be meat, Professor, is nothing else than fillet of turtle. Here are also some dolphins' livers,
which you take to be ragout of pork. My cook is a clever fellow, who excels in dressing these
various products of the ocean. Taste
all these dishes. Here is a
preserve of sea-cucumber, which a Malay would declare to be unrivalled in the
world; here is a cream, of which the milk has been furnished by the cetacea,
and the sugar by the great fucus of the North Sea; and lastly, permit me to
offer you some preserve of anemones, which is equal to that of the most
delicious fruits." 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Professor Aronnax’s first
meal with Captain Nemo is not all that far-fetched. Turtle has been a favorite dish for centuries; recipes for
seaweed abound, as do those for sea-anemones. I am not quite that adventuresome, and I much prefer that my
milk come from Bossy at the local dairy, rather than the whale at the local
aquarium.
Nemo, of course, ate nothing
that was not wholly produced by his underwater kingdom. Maybe his clever cook was able to make SARSON BHARA KEKDA (Shrimps with
Mustard) taste just like Mom used to make, without the spices Mom used. (This
is an Indian recipe; Captain Nemo was originally an Indian prince who rebelled
against the British in 1857.)
Peel and de-vein 1½ pounds
of shrimp.
Grate 1 onion.
Mince 1 hot green chili
pepper to equal 1 teaspoon.
Mix together 2 tablespoons
of ground mustard and 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric with a little water to make
a paste.
In a saucepan, mix together
¼ cup of cooking oil (the recipe calls for mustard oil), 1 teaspoon of salt, the
paste, onion, and chili pepper. Add
the shrimp, cover and cook on low heat at a simmer until the shrimps are pink,
about 5 – 10 minutes. Stir to coat shrimp with sauce and serve with rice and…
seaweed salad?
Guaranteed to warm your
cockles.
