Textiles and Tea and mayo

I tried mayo today, to see how it would work. I'm having poached salmon for lunch, so I'd like a bit of mayo with it. I won't buy it, no idea what's in those expensive jars, but Leigh, of Five Acres and a Dream posted a simple recipe today  

Here's the cast of characters

 I didn't have a glass container the right size that would also accommodate the stick blender, so I used a yogurt container. And I didn't have prepared mustard.

Here's the upshot 

I didn't have any prepared mustard, so I used dry powder mustard made with with milk. And I added a little pinch of salt and sugar.

It tastes okay, and we'll see how it works with the salmon and baked potatoes. The texture is thin, probably because it doesn't have the emulsifiers you get in prepared mustard. Next time around I'll use Dijon. And maybe olive oil, which I also didn't have, which is more viscous and will probably have a thicker consistency.

Meanwhile, yesterday's Textiles and Tea was a wonderful session with a Navajo (Dine) traditional weaver, dyer, felter and shepherd, keeping the old breed churro sheep. 

She's so knowledgeable,  patient and good humored with people unfamiliar with her traditions. She doesn't mind if people use Navajo designs, as long as they follow the complex protocols. It's a spiritual as well as a physical process. 

Some shapes, such as the boxes,  are significant, recalling the long trek Indians were forced on, and the language oppression they endured. She speaks the Navajo language and did so here and there during the interview. Her own name, given by her grandmother, indicates her work, to be a weaver.  She commented on the people of her age brutally prevented from speaking their own languages in the enforced government schools, who do not speak their own language now,  as a result.

Despite this, the beauty and movement of her work survives, and she wants people to use her weaving, not put it away or hang it as an artwork. I've heard this from other indigenous artisans. It's art and it's also meant to be functional.

She uses a lot of looms, not all Navajo, because she's always trying out new ideas. And she uses a number of fibers, including flax and silk, in addition to the wool from her sheep.

Check her website, seen in the top slide, for more about this wonderful talent. She's a weaving treasure.

Happy day, everyone, off to fix lunch now.