On the Rez!

It was so good to finally be home on Saugeen Indian Reservation in Southampton Ontario! I stayed with my Aunt Liz and her husband Burt in their beautiful home near the shores of Sauble Beach (which my grandfather managed to acquire from the Canadian government). Left is a photo of my daughter and I playing on the beach. The water was a little choppy that day but we could still venture quite far before feeling battered by the waves. We had started the day with a swim, had a big breakfast (lasagne! woohoo!), then made ourselves wait a bit before heading back to the beach, where we stayed for the rest of the day.

Later that evening we had a fabulous meal with my cousin Angie. She made the delectable Indian Corn Soup which, to an Ojibwa, is better than Mother's milk. So good in fact that I asked my own mother to take a photo of me digging in! Note the delirious expression of extreme pleasure! What is Indian Corn Soup I hear you ask? It's made from corn that's been soaked in lye (yes LYE) so it pops. Then it's rinsed and rinsed and rinsed then rinsed some more. Then some special Ojibwa magic is added so it becomes this gorgeous soup. It had been a long time since I had Corn Soup (so good it deserves capital letters) but I hereby declare my cousin Angie to be the best cook in the world! To celebrate my cousin's devotion to Ojibwa cuisine, here's another special Ojibwa joke that can only be Mars in Taurus in the 2nd!

Two Ojibwas go to a hot food stand and order two hotdogs. As they walk away, one says to the other: "Which part of the dog did you get?"