My mint Mint baBy and The God of Small Things

Over the last few weeks, one of the first few things I do after I rolled out of bed was to check up on my single-sprig mint plant who's been stretching lonelily but earnestly and stubbornly on the windowsill of our living room. I broke the routine two mornings in a row because I had to dash out early (in my sense of the word) to collect data for my QP and would come home pretty exhausted. A couple of afternoons ago, I walked up to the mint again to see whether he would like a drink under the setting sun, and voila-

Look!!!! A little guy had stuck his head out from the soil, saying hello to me, and to the world, with a coy smile. After much anticipation.

He caught me by surprise.
He melted my heart.

He made it, he made it, he made it!!

He had to fight for his life from the very moment he was pulled out from the backyard of this proud Israeli homeowner in Providence, RI. He had to endure a 4-hour drive back to New York (wrapped only in a moist Kleenex), to someone who possessed no pot and no soil, and who decided it was more important to have a nice dinner before giving the mint a new home.

When he was finally home with me, the mint looked like he had started to give up, slouching and all. Two of his leaves had turned brown... I ran downstairs to see if I could borrow a pot and some soil from my landlady (a.k.a. my godmother). She pulled out a plastic bucket from a corner in her living room (which I thought was the bucket you got from KFC, which Martha thought was a popcorn cup from a movie theatre, which later turned out, upon closer examination, to be a coin cup from some casino), and went to her front yard with me to get soil. After perhaps 7 hours in the run, the mint finally could rest in a temporary 'home'. Little did I know that I had planted a part of its root upside down and had to pull him out after two weeks to straighten things out.

As you can see, my friends, it has not been an easy journey for the mint. The mint Mint baBy cannot be taken for granted. He's a little miracle. The joy he brings to me is enormous compared to how small this baby is. It's truly amazing. I have been checking up on the mint Mint baBy every single day since he sprouted. He's been growing, little by little. More pictures will sure follow.


Incidentally, two months ago, I picked up a copy of The God of Small Things which had been lying around someone's stoop when I was strolling around my neighborhood (actually, 'strolling around' isn't really correct. I was more like hurrying back to my apartment on that sunny yet freezing afternoon). I actually bought my own copy years and years ago, but have never finished it... This time, I'm going to finish it, while watching the mint sprouting and growing slowly, and learning to enjoy the immense satisfaction and happiness small things in life can bring.

Finally, I feel the need to explain why this post qualifies to be under the roof of 'Amy's Food Odyssey'. Well, this is a post about my mint Mint baBy. I have to confess, the first thought that came to my mind when I was given the minty baby root was that I'd be able to make Israeli *int Tea out of it some day (using the asterisk so as not to scare my baby).

Yes, some day.
But not any time soon.

Not when it's still a baby trying to grow bigger, taller, and stronger, in the coin cup from some casino in Atlantic City. Not when it has only one sprig and a few baby leaves.

This means that I need to protect him from my roommate Martha, who's already got a few recipes lined up: 1. Moroccan *int Tea; 2. Mojitos; 3. Coriander/Cilantro + *int pesto. Even Martha believes that mint Mint shrinks whenever she’d walk pass, possibly hearing the silent chant coming from Martha, going "Fair is foul, and foul is fair...".