Number 9

"It represents completion, although not a final ending — more like the fulfilment of one cycle so that you can prepare to initiate the next one. It’s a recognition of life’s ongoing ebb and flow." Cosmopolitan

Nine years ago today I began this blog - well this blog in its earlier form. And the blog has indeed ebbed and flowed, sometimes more ebb than flow I have to admit. Probably even more as the years spin by, because repetition increases as memory fades.

So before I try to say something about this milestone let me thank you all for hanging in there. And apologies for the highs and lows of the writing.

'Completion, though not a final ending' is a nice way to describe the number 9 - the last single digit in the infinite sequence of numbers - poised on the brink of 10 - a special number to many. I remember thinking as a very young child that 10 was an ancient age, and that it was so far away I might never get there.

Mathematics wise, there is a rather magical fact about the number nine - any number multiplied by 9 will always result in a number whose digits add up to 9. So. for example to take an obvious one - 9x9 is 81 - 8+1=9. And there are any number of examples like that. Sometimes it's not quite so obvious - 9x11=99 - but 9+9=18 not 9. However, look - add the 1 to th 8 and you have 9 again. Magic. The mind boggles at how that should be - well my mind boggles anyway. I think there are other mathematical properties as well but I'm not a mathematician and so I won't go there.

The numerologists of course have a ball with their interpretations of the number 9, and they are not always the same either - This is just one:

"9 is the number of helping, the mother and father, maturity, endings, love, ego, selfless and selfishness, nothing, and everything" r/numerology/reddit

'Nothing and everything' is a really good phrase to consider, however with reference to this blog. For that's what food is isn't it? Nothing and everything - all at the same time.

Enough of the number 9. Back to nine years old today. I won't do the what's in my fridge thing this time. As I noted in that very first post Inside my fridge:

"I’m willing to bet that they would be much the same at any time of year - the fruit and vegetables, just might be different."

And indeed they are, some fruit and vegetables; most of the standard dairy products - milk, butter, cheese, eggs, cream; various leftovers, and meats like bacon and salami, not to mention the jars of condiments and pickles and the bottles of orange juice and soda water. If I'm lucky there might also be some wine in there.

I vowed back then to write every day about some food related thing, which of course has not happened, although it's surprising really how closely I have indeed kept to that aim, and perhaps how sad that is. Is there nothing else to do? Places to go, adventures to undertake, books to read, films to see, people to meet and greet?

I think as we grow our world shrinks somewhat. We are less mobile, less energetic, and so we retreat, to a smaller, and yet more magnified world, in which small things matter. And what could be more significant, and yet more ordinary than food. Like life itself.

Possibly writing this blog has led me to ignore other more important things - decluttering the house for the sake of my poor children springs to mind; maybe writing a memoir of my life, which they might read late in their lives - all summed up by that dreadfully impersonal phrase, 'putting one's affairs in order' I guess.

So no, I think I'll continue to keep writing, trying not to repeat myself, because I learn things - every day there is something new to learn. I tell myself it's doing something creative, that keeps my brain active and staves off brain decay of one kind or another. I also won't get too bothered if I don't write every day because nobody cares but me.

I have a Why page on this website in which I tried to explain how this all came to be, and at the foot of the page, is a kind of statement about some of the things I hoped to cover

"Food is so much more than just a source of nourishment and subsistence. Its richness colors culture, history, and even literature. Its coalescing prowess brings people together into communities by creating a sense of familiarity and brotherhood. Some might go so far as to say that food is one of the major forces forging a national identity. It gives individuals a feeling of belonging that is at the core of nationalism. It serves as a hobby, a passion, a profession and sometimes even as a refuge."  Attatreya Mandal - Realm of History

And curiously I think this frame from an Instagram video that I came across this morning via my Smitten Kitchen newsletter, about what is a quesadilla, a taco, an empanada ... demonstrates all of that in a way. I find it difficult to explain exactly how, but yes it does - fun, sustenance, national identity, how to cook something, everything to do with social media, and if you wanted to look into it - history, science, technology too. And yes, community. Loved it. It was such a fast, succinct, and educational story - yes story - about how subtle changes with the same technique - wrapping stuff in tortillas - leads to quite different things. We should tell stories about things all the time. Indeed we do, even without realising it. What is gossip if not story, for example?

Day one of year ten tomorrow. I wonder how that will go?

YEARS GONE BY - with one more year entering the list

July 15

2024 - 8 today

2023 - A French lunch on Bastille Day - written the day after obviously

2022 - Six years of blogging deserves bubbles

2021 - 5 years old today - inside my fridge again

2020 - Deleted

2019 - Paul Bocuse and celebrations

2018 - Happy birthday to my blog

2017 - Nothing - still in France I think, but soon to return - on the 20th.

2016 - Inside my fridge - Post number one.