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In my regular life, I enjoy turning up random facts. This is one that I fell into this morning: Aram Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance was featured in jukeboxes all over the United States in 1948. Which resonates for various reasons. (THREAD) http://100years100facts.com/facts/aram-khachaturians-sabre-dance-featured-jukeboxes-united-states-1948/
2/ Let's do this as a walk retracing how I arrived at Sabre Dance. This morning, to focus my mind on something other than worrying about the republic and our great democratic experiment, I decided to make something different for breakfast.
3/ This was done in a familiar fashion, namely, what do I have on hand? I had ready made pizza dough, and cheese. For whatever reason, I was reminded of some khachapuri I had for the first time, from a vendor at the Farmers Market in LA.
4/ Remember traveling? Remember having discretionary income? Anyway, yes. I was in Los Angeles for the first (and so far only) time, exploring and enjoying, and Georgian cheese boat bread was one of those things. (I also saw the @LAPhil & @CraigyFerg but that is another story.)
5/ Cheese bread = winner. With an egg on top = potential. This morning I remembered it as a nom. I forgot what it was called, so I had to punt on the making. Thanks, TJ pizza dough. Thanks, always having cheese around. Thanks, @PenzeysSpices steak seasoning. Thanks, eggs.
6/ If you want to make actual khachapuri, there are lots of recipes online. Like this one from @nytimes. (Hint: Me mentioning journalism and shouting out to a newspaper is another clue to how the Sabre Dance story will be threaded.) https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021077-khachapuri-adjaruli-georgian-cheese-bread-boat
7/ This is my first thread. I might be doing it wrong. Apologies in advance if I err, especially because you are trying to follow and I appreciate that.
8/ Anyway, noting also that "With An Egg on Top" is a food truck concept I used to joke about. You may take that idea. Along with Everything With Bacon, an idea from years upon years ago, which I'm pretty sure has been done.
But back to Saber Dance, esp. Aram Khatchaturian.
But back to Saber Dance, esp. Aram Khatchaturian.
9/ I shared my experiment on another social media platform, mentioning the LA bread and the fact I had forgotten what it was called. Didn't take long for a friend to come through. Khachapuri.
I'd like to say my mind connected geographic dots. No, it was word sounds.
I'd like to say my mind connected geographic dots. No, it was word sounds.
10/ "Khachapuri" sounded like "Khachaturian." To me, at least. Why did I know "Khachaturian?" Why did I immediately know his first name was Aram?
(Pause with my brain a moment. Possibilities poured in. Music training? Cartoons? Trivia game?)
(Pause with my brain a moment. Possibilities poured in. Music training? Cartoons? Trivia game?)
11/ So I looked up "Aram Khachaturian."
Boom. He was born in what is now Tbilisi, Georgia. The very region of the bread I remembered and was vaguely recreating. But there was more.
Boom. He was born in what is now Tbilisi, Georgia. The very region of the bread I remembered and was vaguely recreating. But there was more.
12/ Khachaturian sought to blend musical heritages, including his Armenian background. He went to Moscow to study. Like Shostakovich and Prokofiev, he became a target of the Soviet Communist Party because of his "anti-people" music.
13/ Yup: my brain: "Russia, Russia, Russia."
Also my brain: Here I sit with faux pizza, pizza being a faux Italian foodstuff, faux pizza that is Georgian cheese boat bread, the Saber Dance playing in the background, thinking of melting cheese and melting pots.
And.
Also my brain: Here I sit with faux pizza, pizza being a faux Italian foodstuff, faux pizza that is Georgian cheese boat bread, the Saber Dance playing in the background, thinking of melting cheese and melting pots.
And.
14/ And the Great Democratic Experiment that is the Republic for which the Stars and Stripes stands, currently under a profound stress test.
So me trying to be mindful with cooking in order to take my mind off a keenly critical election season whose last votes will be cast...
So me trying to be mindful with cooking in order to take my mind off a keenly critical election season whose last votes will be cast...
15/ on the west coast (Sorry, Hawaii, you don't fit in my metaphor), the west coast where I ate Georgian cheese boat bread for the first time, the west coast I could travel to by air ship, this morning not quite 8 months since current POTUS acknowledged the pandemic...
16/ with an official National State of Emergency, well.
My distraction was shot to pieces.
But the attempt at cheesy bread with an egg on top was delicious.
As was the record number of early votes cast by the end of day yesterday.
My distraction was shot to pieces.
But the attempt at cheesy bread with an egg on top was delicious.
As was the record number of early votes cast by the end of day yesterday.
17/ I see you, America. I see you with your citizens voting. I am you. I am a citizen. A citizen in the same boat, eating a cheesy bread boat, feeling full well the import of the outcome of this election.
An outcome we will need to be patient for, while every vote gets counted.
An outcome we will need to be patient for, while every vote gets counted.
