Garlic for what ails you....

I have a bilingual garlic keeper. OK I live in Canada, but to my knowledge I don't think that I am required, by law, to have a garlic keeper that's bilingual. Now maybe if I lived in Quebec, I might have to, or maybe it would be uni-lingual - French.

Anyway, I have always loved the fact that the French for garlic is "ail," because garlic is often taken as an antidote for an "ailment." It's this richness in the layering of language that I find so special.

I also felt that I needed something better than a vegetable drawer in the fridge or an odds and ends basket on the counter to store these treasures.

So one year for my birthday,  I ask for a garlic keeper - my "prayers" were answered in both official languages :) Here it is....

Garlic is a member of the onion family and is rich in folklore.  Some use it as a protection against wild animals, evil spirits, even vampires!  Others avoid it because of its associations with the devil - cloven hoof - as a result some regional cooking never uses garlic.

So my little garlic keeper has become not only the repository of a lot of flavourful bulbs but also a tabernacle for a sacred healer, mythical protector and/or evil sorcerer.

"There's no such thing as a little garlic" - Arthur Baer - Bon appétit.

PS - find something small in your house or shop and make it special!!