Falling in Love with the Onion
61A Chance Meeting
I started to fall in love with the onion when I was twenty-two years old, which was one year after the onion and I met for the first time. At the time of our first meeting, I was traveling through Barcelona with my classmate JoAnne on the post-college rite of passage for young Americans--the traditional summer abroad.
Those Hippie Years
The popular Europe on Five Dollars a Day had been my planning guide for this important step toward responsible adulthood. In those days, it was quite possible to enjoy comfortable accommodations, eat well, and travel throughout Europe for such a modest cost. However, my more frugal companion, JoAnne, needed to cut the cost even further. I agreed to her capable though painful plan, and together we managed to reduce the daily cost of this grand tour to two dollars and nineteen cents each. We camped out or stayed in youth hostels instead of bed and breakfast establishments, we took cheap cold showers instead of the more pricey warm showers, and we hitch-hiked instead of traveling by rail or car. And finally, instead of patronizing restaurants, we ate fresh foods from village shops, street stands, open-air markets, and the homes of new-found friends who were as curious about our hippie vagabond style as we were about their cultural and culinary traditions.
Beautiful Barcelona
Coming home in September, I emptied my duffle bag of its used-up clothing, journals and pictures, stones and pebbles secreted from exotic beaches, forests, and cities, and a few small gifts for my family gleaned from my daily savings. At the bottom of the bag lay a folded scrap of paper I nearly tossed out, until I opened it to find a hand-written list of the ingredients to a spectacular vegetable salad served to us by the mother of a new-found Barcelona friend named Miguel. Miguel had given us a ride during one of our hitch-hiking adventures, and as we drove along into the center of the city, he offered not only to help us find accommodations but also to share his family's evening meal.
It was by way of Miguel's mother's exotic vegetable salad served that evening that the onion and I became friends. It immediately won my affection by how gracefully it joined its chunky companions--the fresh bell peppers, hot peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers--as a full-fledged member of the salad family rather than as a scarcely noticed guest. Never before had I eaten large wedges of dense onion cut the way you core and slice an apple. In the salads I knew before Barcelona, the onion was condiment rather than substance.
Now, at home and thousands of miles away from my new friend, the onion, I re-folded the scrap of paper as I silently thanked JoAnne for making me pinch my pesetas. If she had not been so relentless in executing her frugal plan, we never would have met Miguel or savored his mother's divine dish, which I vowed to make for myself some day soon.
Finding Mr. Right
A Friendship Interrupted by Dreams
I packed my travel treasures away in a dresser drawer and got down to the business of fulfilling my dream of becoming the next Spanish painting curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Along with this dream lived another, just as compelling--finding Mr. Right. My dream man would banish poverty, unify mankind, bring peace through non-violent protest, share my love of Spanish art, be able to run with the bulls in Pamplona, if necessary, and also provide the house, white picket fence, dog, and the statistically probable 2.4 children for which I yearned. Needless to say, he would be tall, dark, and handsome. I knew he was out there, I just had to find him.
It was a busy time for my dreams, and so the scrap of folded paper describing an exotic vegetable dish remained forgotten for nearly a year, until I moved out of my mother's home and into my first apartment.
To cut to the chase, let's just say that nothing about my dreams went according to plan. I did not take New York by storm and I did not find Mr. Right. Instead, I fell in love with the onion.
Falling in Love
Falling in love is a process that may begin with friendship or infatuation, but for love to mature, to become true and lasting, it must travel uncertain roads. Along the way, love meets with misunderstanding in need of reconciliation; it flirts with danger, pushing to realize the limits of its strength; it faces burdens it must learn to bear and obstacles that seem to defy being overcome. After all of this, should love still remain, then it is true and lasting.
So it happened with me and the onion.
By the time I settled into my new apartment and rediscovered the little scrap of paper, I was excited about recreating the salad of my memory. Perhaps my grander dreams evaporated as mist into sky, but I felt confident that this simple dream of restoring a pleasant memory would be a success.
Not All Onions Are Created Equal
Wrong again. My first attempt was fraught with misunderstanding, or more more to the point, it was undermined by an utter lack of understanding. I did not know that all onions are not created equal. Instead of buying a sweet onion variety, such as the Vidalia or the Spanish Sweet, I had chosen a strong, pungent, yellow storage onion, excellent for adding to stews and soups or sautéing with meat, but absolutely horrible when eaten raw. I was only twenty-two, on my own for the first time, so what did I know?
Feeling daunted, but not yet damned, I tried again a few days later, this time with the right variety of onion, if not the right caliber of knife. After washing, peeling, and halving a large, fresh, Spanish Sweet onion, the over-sized knife I chose for the task slipped from my wet hand, slid off the kitchen counter, and with the precision of a dagger thrown in a circus act, pinned the outside of my little toe to the wooden floor. At that moment I believed I was damned as well as daunted, and I thought, "This relationship is becoming entirely too dangerous."
Three weeks passed while my toe mended. I felt confused, even betrayed. For as hard as I had tried, why could I not make this relationship with the onion work? Why did it have to come to the point of blood and stitches? Yet, I could not dismiss the pangs of loss I felt at not recreating that Barcelona salad. I decided to give our relationship one last go, one last adventure down another uncertain road.
Learning How To Love the Onion
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The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection (Modern Library Paperbacks)
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Opening My Eyes
Now, this final time, I prepare myself with steel-toed shoes (mandatory attire for my job as a medical illustrator in the dissection lab at the medical school) and a book from the late 60s called The Supper of the Lamb...body armor for my visceral needs, spiritual inspiration for my waning courage.
The author of the book, Episcopal priest and accomplished cook Robert Farrar Capon, suggests that I take the time to meet the onion anew. During our meeting, he says, I will see the onion as I have never seen it before. My preconceptions about and experiences with onion varieties, knives, and bloody toes I will put by the wayside. I will listen to my onion for what it is, and will not impose my beliefs on it. Instead, I will leave myself open to its point of view. After our meeting, the onion will no longer be the adversary; rather, it will be my companion, my partner.
Not a Sphere
I bring a cutting board, a small paring knife, and the onion to the kitchen table. I sit down in a chair and begin the meeting. As I carry out a thoughtful dissection, my onion reveals the self beneath the skin.
I learn that it is not a sphere, except by the accident of human sight. It is comprised of fingers of flesh growing from a root into an encasing shell, which makes it appear to be round only because of the growth pressures within that are constrained by its outer skin. It is growing, as I am. Even when plucked from the earth, it still grows, and it will send its green sprout up through its tip to secure its progeny, just as I will procreate some day. It is a life form, just as I. We share this magic, and in that sharing we are not different, we are alike.
Apologies to Shakespeare
'Tis but thy name that is an enemy...
What's an onion? it is nor curse, nor stench,
Nor foul, nor bite, nor any other blight
Belonging to the mind. O, be some other name!
What's in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would be sublime;
So onion would, were it not onion call'd...
Now, I am prepared to accept what is there, not what I think is there. The onion has no need to cause me pain; it gives of itself as a matter of what it is, not of what it wants to be or what I expect of it.
When our meeting is over an hour later, I find I have made perfect wedges of onion to create the salad I've been wanting for a year.
I add the glistening wedges to their chunky vegetable companions waiting in a large shallow bowl. I douse them all lavishly with red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. On top of that, I sprinkle black pepper, a few pinches of salt, and some dried oregano and basil. I pour myself a very large glass of red wine to celebrate the return of my friend, the beginning of my love.
True and Lasting Love
We came a long way, the onion and I. We braved the uncertain roads, meeting the challenges presented to us. In the simplest sense, I let myself go in the process, thereby letting the onion be itself. And I love it dearly just for what it is. True and lasting love was born in this journey to acceptance.
Onion Fun
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A Sampling of Hubs about Onions
- Frech onion soup for vegetarians
For some reason it never occurred to me that I could probably make a reasonably good French onion soup with vegetable broth. I’ve always assumed the classic hot bubbly cheese-topped soup was off my list due... - Caramelized French Onion Soup
1 medium onion, sliced 1 tbls. butter 1 to 2 teas. sugar 1 teas. Worcestershire sauce 1 1/3 cup beef broth (low sodium) 1 tbls. white wine or water Coarsley ground pepper to taste 2 slices French bread ( 1... - Cooking made easy - How to cut an onion
Cooking made easy – How to cut an onionNow this may sound simple, but when I first started to learn how to cook, I became frustrated when I came across instructions that assumed a level of knowledge I... - How do you caramelize an onion?
To caramelize simply means to brown the onions. The natural sugars that are in onions come out when they're slow cooked over medium heat. Methodology: Choose large, firm cooking onions. The mild, yellow...
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Comments
Christoph, what I love about your comments is that they provoke layers of thought, maybe like the layers of an onion. One thought reveals another, and then another, until the original thought is either expanded beyond the scope or constrained within the essence of the topic.
I believe that you see the essential truths in your *suburban patch* that I saw in the summer abroad. It is not so much a matter of place, but a state of mind.
As my grandmother would say, *You got raised good.*
Thank you for your warm words.
Now, will you please go back to your original avatar? I miss the image of the man who tips his hat.
What a beautiful slice of writing, Sally! Thank you for sharing such warm, deep thoughts. You reminded Christoph of a movie, and you reminded me of a song. It's called "Onion Girl", and it's on one of your Lilith Fair CDs. Check it out!
Are you going to make that salad again? Do you still have that piece of paper? And does this mean we will no longer giggle at a certain special someone who orders an extra plate of onions at a diner, and piles every single ring onto her unsuspecting sandwich?
I love you, and I love all of your creative endeavors (that don't involve me eating onions).
Slice of writing, annemaeve, I really like that.
As for *Onion Girl*, I love the song but have not listened to it since 2001. I will dust off the CD and give it another whirl. And check out *Opening Night* as well.
This Hub, as you so astutely observed, but I failed to realize, is indeed related to this special person who orders an extra plate of onions, just as she would order a serving of almonds when the trout on the menu comes without them.
Aren't we gifted?
It is magical to me when you eat the onions burried in her pasta salad.
Sally, that read like a wonderful Ode to an Onion!
It also reminded me of that funny riddle based on Walter Scott's poem:
Charge, Chester, Charge!
On, Stanley, On!
Had I but been in Stanley's place
When Marmion urged him to the chase
A tear might come on every face!
Thanks for a great hub!
yummy onions cook with them everyday..mostly loved it when i grew them...thanks love for a great Hub...G_ma :O) hugs
Shalini, I never heard that riddle before, probably because my English is American, not British. I'm guessing the *I* is the onion. Thanks so much for sharing. I always enjoy your unique perspective and thoughtful comments!
G-Ma, I can tell you are an onion lover, because of how delicious your caramelized French onion soup recipe sounds. Since the colder weather is finally settling in here, it will be time to do some serious winter soup cooking, and your recipe is on my list. :)
Thank you Sally - your hub just added a touch of romance to the common onion :)
What a great hub! I went to London for a month at 19 on money saved from a year working behind Kreskge's lunch counter in a greasy white dress, so I was enthralled by your tales of Europe. Many years later, teaching part-time as a graduate student, one of MY students (who also had a passion for Spanish art) went to Spain and on the day of her departure sent me flowers with a card that said I inspired her to take that chance in her life and she was grateful (I was doing something totally idiotic and impractical and I didn't really know her well--just casually--Who would ever guess that being an airhead could inspire others to see the world?!? But I'm glad it did...)
Anyway, I realzed reading your description of your dream man that the reason you never met him is that he is Barack Obama.
<Sigh>
At least you have the onion!
When I was a kid, my grandmother used to serve wedges of raw onion with beef stew. Everyone would make a little pile of salt on the table beside the onion wedge and dip the wedge into salt between bites of stew. She served this with buttered white bread. And the onions were the HOT kind, not the sweet kind. I've never seen anyone do this since then, but it sticks with me.
Fabulous hub, Sally. I really enjoyed it. And I LOVE onions.
Hi Sally, Your hub is so beautifully written.
It makes me think back to my own inter-railing adventures in Europe. I never did Spain at the time, although I've been there since. Italy and France were my great passions and I remember having a big debate in Florence with my equally cash-strapped travelling companion about whether to go to the Uffizzi to see the Botticellis, L'Academia to see Michelangelo's David, or pay the small charge to climb to the top of Brunelleschi's Duomo. we couldn't afford to do more than one thing, and my non-arty companion insisted on the Duomo. I still have the photos (and the memories) from that day. Those Florentine hills stretching away into the distance, the Arno snaking through the city, and all those wonderful old buildings. One day I'll go back there and see the Accademia and the Palazzo Uffizzi, and climb those old stone steps again.
BTW I love onions too, particularly in French Onion soup!
Sally, Once again you did it !!! Great writting about onions.No wonder you loved me when i was visiting you and cooking with lots of them and garlic LOL *S*.
Love always.
Flying
Pam, your comment cracked me up. I know what you think and how you feel about Obama, but I gotta tell you, he falls short of Mr. Right...he's away from home too often. ROTFLMAO.
I see that you see that I wanted the impossible. Good news, I'm happy with myself, after all these years. As my mother says, Mr. Right is in heaven and I will meet him there.
About Kresge's....Man, oh man, do I remember those days of dime stores, Woolworth's and Kresge's. You and I grew up with the germinating seeds of the big box stores. And we also wore our greasy white uniforms, looking to make a little buck and learning how to survive. My greasy white uniform was worn at a local luncheonette counter as a soda jerk. I actually loved that job, and I guess that's another story.
When we don't know how we make a difference in someone's life, it's wonderful that they would tell us, whether we're ready for the news or not. This student of yours knew that you made a difference and showed her appreciation. Flowers say so much.
Now about raw onions and salt. Your story brought back a memory. Although I never ate onions with beef in the way you describe, I do remember spring and scallions, where my family put a dish of washed and trimmed scallions on the supper table, and the right way to eat them was to dunk the eating end into a dish of salt. Pam, thanks so much for refreshing that memory!
And many more thanks for your awesome comments. I feel new writings coming on!
Shalini, the onion is both loved and despised. Loved for its lore and health benefits (which no one can deny), and despised for its plebian history and effects upon the unsuspecting. I think the two perspectives, love and hate, deserve the onion a place in romance. The little riddle spun off Sir Walter Scott's *Marmion* says it all. The onion is eternal!
Amanda, a big piece of my heart belongs to Firenza. I stayed there for six days, sick as a dog with a bronchial infection, tended to by my companion and the doctor she found for me through a young man she befriended. In those six days, I slept fitfully, coughed up nasty phlegm, and lost 10 pounds but still managed to tour the Uffizzi and traverse the Ponte Vecchio, through the help of the friends she made.
It is amazing what the lack of funds will gift us with. For as much as Spain and its art and history intrigue me, Florence has a big piece of my heart.
Thank you so much for sharing!
Onions. I love them. There's nothing like the smell of onions frying in a pan. I remember being lured into my mom's kitchen to the smell of onions frying, only to find out she was going to add it to the liver she was cooking. Turned me right off! I'll take them with a nice juicy burger or a tender steak thank you :)
I also love scallions. I use them in my turkey chili recipe and sometimes I'll throw them in scrambled eggs.
Oh, and by the way, I did publish my cabbage and onion dish, it's in my Recipe for Friendship hub. I wonder how we forgot that LOL.
As far as traveling, the only places I went was to visit my grandmother in OK, or my grandmother in Perth Amboy. I don't recall onions as a staple in their menus, but nevertheless, their home cooked meals were to die for. I never made it to Europe, and probably never will.
Another wonderful hub, dear friend.
FlyingPanther, you will always be onions and garlic (and lots more!) to me. Thank you so much for your comment.
Yeah, Trish, why did our parents do that...make the enticing smell of onions only to combine the onions with nasty liver? I actually love liver, prepared the right way. But when we were growing up, there must have been some kind of dictate about using tough cow liver, frying the hell out of it, and smothering its nasty self with perfectly good onions.
You and I have to talk about this some time...why all the good fried onions and the horrible liver???
My mom eats onions like apples, but I can['t eat them at all! Every time I have tried I have had to go to the emergency room!
Imagine being a chef and not being able to eat onions!
Cheers!
Chef Jeff
CJ, your comment warms my heart. I am not at liberty to say which members of my family cannot tolerate onions. But clearly, you have a relationship with them, and I sympathize completely.
I can't tolerate any milk products, yet I cook with them, so long as someone else eats the result. I'm guessing it's the same with you about onions!
Your mom might share some gastric or gastronomique things with my mom. My mom eats onions like apples, too.
Perhaps there is more to the apple / onion relationship that meets the eye?
Lovely piece of writing Sally! :)
Onions are such an intrinsic part of Indian cooking I can scarcely imagine life without them. Of course we only have the 'red' and 'white' variety here but they're enough to enhance any meal.
Wish someone would write a paean to garlic... :)
A poignant piece with just the slightest hint of tear-producing fumes. A love affair to be treasured. I will never look at an onion the same again.
FP, did I happen to mention that my other love is garlic? I was thinking about writing a paean to it, in a romantic form of poetry. How interesting you should mention the idea.
I got inspired to do it because of Shalini's comment regarding Walter Scott and Marmion. Since I don't believe in coincidence, but rather that there is a reason for everything, even if we don't know what it is, I'd say I now have three important indicators that I should be writing that paean: your comment, Shalini's, and my love of garlic!
Thanks so much for your inspiring comment.
Frank, that my writing created *just the slightest hint of tear-producing fumes*, I am extraordinarily delighted! I only wish I were able to offer you a few tissues to ease your eyes' discomfort.
Thanks so much for reading and leaving your most awesome comment.
Best regards, Sally
fascinating.
Wow the humble onion as a love affair! I just mutilate them by the dozen and devour them!
You know, HD, there does come a time when the honeymoon's over, right? So I admit, I've since done my share of mutilating, after the big rush started to become more of a little trickle. However, I confess, there are still moments when the magic comes back and stays for a while. :)
Tom, thanks so much for reading and commenting.
Sally - if the onion inspired a love affair, we wait with bated breath for what the garlic will bring! :)
Shalini, I will be sure to include the words *baited breath* in whatever that Hub about garlic will be. :) But now you have given me a challenge...what can be more compelling than a love affair? I'll have to think on that.
I feel as though I have read a lovely hapter in a wonderful book, you have delicious memories with your onion, and how far you had to travel to meet the onion of your dreams! Now, having read it, I will never look at an onion that I won't think of your story...including your poor toe. You paid a high (or low) price for your dedication to the misunderstood onion, I too love them, but I have not had the special love affair that you describe. I would be envious, were it not for the injured toe...
Your blend of preparing a dish and life's maturation, was a sparkling glance into your thinking...a window to your soul that we were allowed to peek into.
This was a special treat, for all who are glad they know you. I could just see you flirting with European culture, a great adventure...Europe on $5 a day and you did it for less? There's the book you could write.
Only you could make a rembrance about an onion such a sweet read.
The only things that make me cry!! Sally, you have made onions very cool!
i too would rather stay in youth hostels instead of bed and breakfasts any day! they are soo much fun!
Thank you, Marisue, for putting the whole thing in the right perspective. Once my toe got involved it was *do or die*. I just wasn't going to let it beat me, no matter how miserable I was because of it. I'm glad *we* worked it through!
Thank you for your thoughtful words. I doubt very much that I could write about a love affair with a human and put the same feeling into it. Onions are so much easier to be forthcoming about! :)
compu-smart, it was my traveling companion's idea to stay in hostels. Left to my own devices, I never would have. As it turned out, I have both good and not so good memories of them. The music was always wonderful, with so many young people packing their guitars and other instruments. And some places were more friendly than others, but that could have something to do with language and culture. I spoke Spanish at the time, but not German or French...so I guess we can leave it there!
I am so glad onions make you cry. If they are the only things that do, then you need to chop up lots of them to lubricate your tear ducts...very healthy for the eyes!
Thanks so much for your cool comments.
I shared your hub on Digg, hope it gets the traffic it deserves, A LOT! =))
Sally - I'm so tempted to share this hub with my husband...but he loathes onions and would never understand. I'm sure it's simply an onion prejudice since I can sometimes smuggle them in with nary a complaint.
Thank you for such a beautiful, eloquent piece. I feel like I've been in your attic, discovered a secret love letter wrapped in ribbon and all I can say is, "Sigh...how romantic...." :)
Marisue, thanks so much! I'm so glad you enjoyed and want to share.
Spryte, I had to chuckle at your comment. I knew about your hubby's dislike of onions from, I think, your comments on my tomato soup Hub. And now I'm wondering if he's the jealous sort?
Is it possible that you could play up the *secret love letter* from the attic to your advantage? I'm thinking that if the onion is enough of a romantic challenge, he just might come around to your way of thinking! LOL!
Oooh...Sally, you might be on to something. *gears turning*
OMG...that would be too funny wouldn't it? I could have a hell of a lot of fun with that you realize. My guess though is it would end ugly... :) My husband isn't above "taking out" the competition.
LOL! Still...that would be a great practical joke :)
LOL Spryte...'nuf said. You are cracking me up! If you decide to take this thing forward, let us all know! ROTFLMAO.
Golly Spryte, my Husband hate's onions too, is there anything we don't have in common??? Anyway, I simply smuggle them into his food and he either eats it, or goes without :)
Great Hub Sally, loved both the hub and the comments.
Wonderful story about onions! As long as I can remember I recall eating onions plain like candy ( I must have be younger than 2), and eating these in most dishes. Any time I feel a cold coming on, such as I did today, I must cut up an onion and put it in whatever I a making that night. Onions, garlic, and peppers help me get over a cold much faster than any of those drug store cough syrups, plus they taste better too :). The only problem I have ever had with the onion is it makes my eyes water when I slice it. Thanks for the lovely Hub about your love with the onion. I do not believe in finding Mr. Right, for myself anyway, but I do believe in being able to cook loving dishes with onions :).
Misty, I got a real kick out of your comments and Spryte's. I admire both of you very much for making a marriage work despite this unacceptable trait belonging to each of your husbands. When I meet someone eligible to tie the knot, my first question isn't, And what do you do for a living?, rather it is, Now tell me truthfully, what is your opinion of the onion? Needless to say, if I hear a disrespctful, hateful, or prejudicial reply, well, that's the end of that. LOL!
SweetiePie, thank you so much for your thoughtful comments.
My mother is a big believer in onion and garlic being the cure-alls for just about everything. She, too, takes these vegetables almost as tonics to fix whatever ails her, including a cold, and she's in fantastic health.
I'm not so sure about Mr. Right, either. But I am sure that loving dishes include onions. Chicken soup comes to mind...there is no such thing as a good chicken soup made without onion!
Delightful hub! Made me think about a girl in school that many kids teased and tormented because she came to school every day with onion sandwiches. Wasn't till I met her family (10 kids) that I understood why poverty dictated that there were onions instead of peanut butter and jelly.
Kids can be so cruel, can't they? I'll bet many of those little terrors grew up to adore onion sandwiches, especially once gourmet delis started putting raw onions and ginger sauce on grilled artisan bread and charging an arm and a leg for what is only an onion sandwich.
Jerilee, your comment now reminds me of one of my favorite sandwiches, which I haven't even thought of in years. And that's sweet sliced raw onion and left over pork roast on home-baked white bread, spread with lots of fresh butter. For me, that was a treat at my grandmother's house, because we didn't have it until the first sweet white onions were ready in the garden.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful words.
My favorite is the wild onion -- ramps. They have whole community festivals in some state's rural areas when the first ones are ready in the gardens. Some local fire companies use them as a fundraiser with orders being called in weeks before and traffic control on the day of the event (West Virginia, western Maryland, Pennsylvania).
I have a vision...I see it in the crystal ball...Jerilee will write a Hub on ramps. Not to be outshined by Hubs on apple butter festivals, she will bring a new understanding to the wild onion in US history.
We really need that Hub, Jerilee! :)
Sally .Yes I do know for a fact that you DO LOVE garlic we but do LOL everytime i cook I always put alot of it for the taste and what a great taste it is!!!
Love always.
FP
Oh ST-- I've finally found time to stumble around a bit on hubpages and am so glad I found your ode to the onion. It was a wonderful trip down memory lane in so many ways and just such a lovely personal piece of writing too. Reminded me of my own hitchhiking and youth hosteling European adventure in the '60's-- I was hitch-hiking in France but did get to Spain on the train-- I remember changing trains at Irun on the border because the Spanish trains had a different rail gauge from the French ones. At the time I thought this was very exotic--but then at the time I thought everything European was very exotic :-)
You make that Spanish Onion salad sound so tempting I want to taste it....am hoping you have the recipe and are going to add it to this hub eventually( please please????)
Wasn't it a great trip? Those days of traveling by the seat of your pants. Did that then, would never do it again! I like my hot showers, courtesy soaps and shampoos, room and valet service. I almost wonder if I weren't a different person then.
I remember the different gauge trains...I imagine today's Euro world has worked that out, but I have to confess, I haven't been across the pond since those early years, and so I don't know.
Hint about the onion salad: the recipe is in the Hub. Like the love affair with the onion, the love affair of the salad is a matter of the heart and the fresh vegetables at hand and the daring you choose to exercise. Big fresh chunks of stuff, lots of vinegar and oil, salt, pepper, and herbs, and a huge glass of wine.
Next time we get together at your house or mine, we'll make it together and lace it with memories.
WOW! That's a nice trip abroad outside of our comfort zone (and you also did it on budget). I also feel the more we know others the more we understand ourselves better. I agree the onion is truly versatile vegetable (and in India in households they stock up on onions/potatoes for all the emergencies). They last longer and can be added to any recipe. Only thing is after having a garlic or onion one needs a good mouthwash or spray to keep the smell out..LOL
You are so right, Countrywomen, about understanding ourselves better the more we know others. And for armchair travelers, such as myself these days, one of the best ways to meet and get to know others is right here on HubPages. Hubbers come from all over the world, and there's so much to learn through their Hubs and also through the comments. Now I know, for example, that households in India and in Polish-American communities sure have something special in common...big supplies of onions and potatoes at hand!
I don't worry too much about the mouthwash. I just make sure anyone I'm with is eating onions and garlic along with me. :)
This story certainly captured me at the beginning traveling, looking for Mr. Right and finally falling in love with something as an important as an onion. It brings the onion to an entire different light which is hard to do and now I can appreciate the onion even more. :) Wonderful story!!!
AEvans, thank you so much for reading and commenting and sharing your thoughts about this story.
When I read your words, I had to chuckle a little...Now I'm thinking, it's easy to fall in love with an onion; an onion is timeless, predictable, and utterly fascinating at all times, plus it is useful and necessary. No wonder it's easy to love, and so much easier to find and hang onto than Mr. Right!
Sally's Trove, I am happy that I could enlighten and add humor as it certainly is timeless. :) I truly appreciated and admired the article as you are a writer indeed, :)
Sally, what a treasure. It takes an exceptional writer to entrall with an ode to the humble onion. I was enthralled to the end.
Thanks, Scottie! I really appreciate your comment...no one ever told me before that they were enthralled by my writing. You just made my day. :)
Sally,
My pleasure, well earned comment!
You are amazing! You have proven that a beautiful thought at the hand of a wonderful writer can make something as common (sorry) as a onion, almost come to life. I try everyday to be a better writer, thanks for the inspiration it a way I never knew possible :)
Denise, thank you so much for your affirming comments. I do believe that anything, common or uncommon, can come to life through the expressions of the human mind...music, song, dance, art, poetry, prose, theater. And now that I'm thinking along these lines, I wonder if anyone has choreographed an onion dance? :)
I don't usually promote my own Hubs in my comments, but I think you might find my Hub, *Hello Field Theory, Goodbye Writer's Block*, appropriate to your comments. Using the technique outlined there, you can make anything come to life. Even a speck of dust (where did the dust come from, what kind of dust is it, where is it now, where is it going, did I have anything to do with its progress and if so what, what is the role of dust in the universe, how is dust like other things or even people I know). Oh my, I can go on. So enough of that!
Warmest regards, Sally
I'll never be able to look at an onion the same again. You've turned something so ordinary in our lives into something exotic and mystifying.
Thank you for the good words, RGraf. They made me think of William Blake's words...
*To see a World in a Grain of Sand / And a Heaven in a Wild Flower, / Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand / And Eternity in an hour*
The onion does have its mysteries. Have you ever seen onion cells under a microscope? They look like bricks, stacked one atop the other, just as you'd build a wall. Amazing!
Oh great!Now I'm dying for a cup of french onion soup:)
Hi Karen. What a timely comment. Just this past weekend, listening to our local cooking radio show, I learned that onion soup made with a miso base instead of the traditional beef makes for an outstanding *complexity* of flavors without altering the overall experience of the soup. What will they think of next? Hope you get your onion soup fix soon. :)
Mayonaisse and Onion Rings... what more can you want?!!? Thumbs up.
I've never had mayo on onion rings, but I love it on French fries. You just gave me something new to try. Thanks for stopping by to read and comment.
BEAUTIFUL!
Your hub reminded me of a poem. Maybe you already know it, but in case you don't, here it is. I hope you enjoy. :)
Valentine by Carol Ann Duffy Not a red rose or a satin heart.I give you an onion.It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.It promises lightlike the careful undressing of love.Here. It will blind you with tears like a lover.It will make your reflectiona wobbling photo of grief.I am trying to be truthful.Not a cute card or a kissogram.I give you an onion.Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,possessive and faithfulas we are,for as long as we are.Take it.Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding-ring,if you like.Lethal.Its scent will cling to your fingers,cling to your knife.
Wow.
No, I have never experienced this poem. It is dynamite in so many ways. Full of life and life's challenges. Full of love and full of rebellion. Full of bitter sweetness. And also full of affirmation.
Thank you, thank you for sharing the connection you made.
I'm glad you liked it. I posted it in a different form, but I see it shrinked to this. Anyways, you got the ideea.
Sally: I like your writing style, especially learn that you can make an onion sound so unique. You manage your story professionally and poeticly. I really enjoy this hub.
Thank you for the good words, yxhuang. I have a friend who is fond of saying, "Onions are our friend," whenever something good happens to him. I'm not sure how he came upon this expression, but he uses it, like a mantra, to hold onto the feeling of the good thing that happened. There's poetry in anything, and, for me, perhaps the onion has a little more of it.
Hi Sally, what a beautifully written hub! I am going to chop some onions tomorrow morning along with some tomatoes for my taco. And I will be remembering your tale long. :-) Thumbs up!
Michelle, I'm so glad you enjoyed this adventure with the onion. Tomato and onion, a marriage made in the stars! Thank you for your good words.
Hi Sally, the world brings such beautiful coincidences into our lives. I was just writing an article to post on my Myspace blog on how to tell the difference between the feelings of our ego and our higher self or wisdom in order to understand ourselves better. When explaining how to get access to our higher self I envisioned the layers of an onion being peeled before you can have access to that part of you. I went searching for an image. I'm a member of stock.xchng. The image of the red onion you are showing here is the one I'm using.
Your post is beautiful. I don't know if you are aware of this but our higher self reveals itself to us through our creative work because it is where we give our love unconditionally. From my interpretation, your experience with the onion was a lesson to teach you what true love really is. We are taught that love is all the external things, the looks, the man, the house, the perfect human being. There is really no such thing in life. True love doesn't come in a beautiful package. It comes with lessons to help us grow and become better lovers who much rather prefer to support and grow with our partners rather than idolize them. Because none of us no matter who we are, are capable of living to the high expectations of the ego. The ego loves based on illusion rather than love. True love needs a history of lessons learned helping us create our fairy tale along the way. Mr Rights are not met, we work with them to help them become the man of our dreams. We do this with our love, compassion and forgiveness. Just like they would do the same with us. The greatest relationships are built by diamonds in the rough being polished with great care by the other partner. It is in the process of revealing their brilliance that they fall in deep love creating a bond that can never be broken.
I believe that there is a right man out there waiting for you. Rather than thinking about the outcome of what you would like for him to be, like you said, forget everything you thought you knew about Mr. Right and start over. This time ask your higher wisdom to bring to you a man that harmonizes with you spiritually, mentally and physically. Who can see the beauty of your soul or the God in you as you see it in him. Focus on how you want to feel in your relationship without attachment to anything material. Your request will be granted as soon as you are ready to receive it. It must if you ask!
I really love your article. I will post it in my blog with a link. I hope that you don't mind.
Peace and love,
Mayra
Mayra, thank you so much for your affirming and encouraging comments. I am delighted that you find such worth in this Hub.
I found your blog entry on MySpace this morning. I very much appreciate the words you used to frame my Hub. I will be emailing you at MySpace later on today, so please add me to your friends list there and look for my message.
Best regards, Sally
To my kind readers:
The link for Mayra Mejia (above) may not work for you. If you would like to visit her at MySpace, try this link...
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=us
Best regards, Sally
Ay! This hub has so many layers of lovelyness --pun pun! Laugh! I just know what salad you're talking about in Barcelona –my mom would toss you one that would blow your pants off! Laugh!Here's a tiny bit of 100 word love story I wrote for the onion, hope it's all right to post it :-)
I hardly ever cry, not even when I'm really hurting inside. You're the only one that has that power over me. You always make me cry. Glimpsing you from a safe distance doesn't distress me as much, but when our bodies are close together I turn into a puddle of tears. My eyes start to water all of their own accord. I need to get a grip. I love you and don't want to give you up, but I can't stand another day of tears. Will you please help me figure out what to do about you, Miss Onion, dearest?
The little story is delightful, Elena. Thanks so much for sharing it here!
Oh, what I wouldn't do for a dish of your mom's salad. My humble attempt might approximate it, but I do believe that unless this dish is made in Barcelona, it won't ever be exactly right. (If it's all the same to you, should I ever have the pleasure of meeting your mom's salad, I'll be sure to keep my pants on.) :)
Isn't it fabamundo that my mom is in Barcelona? :-) And --AHEM AHEM-- I think mom dearest would insist that you do, in fact, keep your pants on! Laught!
Fabulous piece! I love the story format. Very cool. Onions are beautiful, aren't they. I tend to spend a lot of time at the grocer looking at them and choosing the ones that seem just right for me.
By the way, I have found that when I wear my contacts while cutting onions, I am better off. No tears. In fact I once forgot and , thinking I was immune to the onion, wore my glasses instead. Mistake. I almost broke it off with the onion right there and then; though I was completely blinded by fumes, I thought better of it, boiling it down to the realization that it was all me and not it, and that perhaps I should just pop in my contacts and give the friendship another go. Glad I did.
Want to try some of those recipes!
Everybody's been looking for the secret to not secreting tears while cutting the onion. Burnt match sticks in the mouth, breathing only through the mouth, putting peanut butter on the palate...the list goes on. Who knew that wearing contacts did the trick?
What's most important, though, is that you didn't throw out the friendship only because the onion caused you pain. You persevered and found the solution.
Yowzers, great comment. So glad you stopped by!
Beautifully written hub Sally. I really enjoyed reading it and had some good laughs too.
In India, onions form the base for practically every curried dish and they are an essential seasoning for all vegetables. And yes, they are also present in most of our salads.
Onions have many medicinal values too. When I was a boy, my grandfather would lightly brown an onion slice with a pinch of turmeric and a teaspoon of oil, and bandage it over any injury I sustained on the playing field. Invariably, that was all the medication needed. It apparently has considerable antiseptic and antibiotic qualities. In the deserts, when camping out or on a safari, a few onions a day help alleviate thirst and retain water in the body.
But, as in everything else, it has its negatives too .... it is certainly not the recommended mouth freshner before a date!
But, Jaspal, if you both eat onions prior to the date, how distasteful can that be to either? :)
My mother is quite well educated about the medicinal properties of foods, and she swears by the antibiotic properties of the onion as well. I never heard of making a poultice of an onion in the fashion you describe, but I can imagine it works as well as triple-antibiotic cream. I will share this "recipe" with my mother.
Thank you for your thoughtful and informative comments. I always love when you visit my Hubs...you add so much.
Thanks for that remark Sally ... you make me feel like a fresh spring onion!
They are also believed to have supernatural powers of protection. Even in this day and age, it is not uncommon to find an onion placed at some window sill, or strung up with a green chilly and lemon at a door frame. I am not sure though why the forces of evil are scared of this harmless though pungent bulb.
It would surely be a couple that knows its onions (and their aphrodisiac qualities) which goes out on that date after having a few each! :p
LOL, Jaspal. I read your comment just before I headed out to the garden for the spring cleaning. And guess what I found? And of course, the lovely spring onions (beautiful clumps of savory chives, plus Egyptian onions) made me think of you!
It does not surprise me that the onion is used for protection against evil. There's a long tradition of garlic warding off vampires, and onions and garlic are more closely related than cousins. I am glad to hear that onions are brought into the house and used as plants and decor. The onion is both noble and mysterious.
AHA! It would be the smart, adventurous man and woman to dose themselves with onions before the date, so long as they are both interested in the same outcome. LOL.
Oh, how I enjoyed this hub. Sally, I just do not know how you manage to write an ode to something like an onion (sorrrrrrrry) and get so many people thinking of the deeper meanings.
I love onions raw and well fried, but not in between. And as you said...I make sure that my husband is also eating plenty, then I do not have to worry about the mouthwash. Tell me, when do we read about the potato? I am sure you have an awesome story to tell about spuds too. :)
Dianacharles, I must thank Shakespeare for the idea for the ode, and not only for the idea but for most of the words as well. And now I must thank you for the idea about the potato. I'll have to give it a whirl, or a mash!
I believe there's a story inherent in everything, no matter how humble or small or grand; it's just a matter of finding it, or rather, of letting it reveal itself.
Indeed it seems that onion-eating should be a team endeavor, if all benefits are to be realized. :)
Christoph Reilly says:
14 months ago
Pure poetry. Onions, particularly Vidalia, are to me gifts from the Gods. Your story is a fairy book tale for adults. I, even to this day, regret that I did not do the "American abroad" rite of passage. I'm not sure if I understood life enough at the time to truly experience the essence of such a trip, but by sharing your experience, you make me think that maybe the trip itself would have prodded me into some deeper understanding, some divine concept of the world as a whole and not just my little suburban patch of it.
This reminds me of the film "Opening Night", which is as beautiful in visuals and language as your hub. Thanks for sharing. As always, two thumbs up!