It's been almost a year since I
desperately needed a break from the four walls of my apartment and
sought out the Culver City Farmers Market. It was a spur of the
moment decision that has had enormous impact on our lives. I can say
that most of our produce is not purchased at that farmers market or
another. I've been serving a lot more fresh fruit and cooking a lot
more veggies. I am certain that those changes are why I had dropped a
nice bit of weight before my last visit to the oncologist. The weight
loss was a delightful surprise, because I did not practice moderation
of any sort during the holidays. Oh my, no. I was eating everything
in sight that was bad. But the good food and the walking staved off a
weight gain and helped me lose some. I've really enjoyed just getting
out around people and watching the children at the market. The outings got even
better when Marie began joining me. I had been missing my friends
during my very long recovery. While I am very grateful to have
networks like Facebook to keep in some contact with civilization,
there is nothing like a face to face conversation. I'm certain that
aside from strengthening a great friendship, the Farmers Market
outings helped jump start Sybaritic Press. The martinis may have had
a small role in that as well. We each have stressful lives. It is
lovely to get together and shop and let our wonderful bartender and
the staff at the Culver Hotel pamper us for a couple of hours. I
really miss the uber cute porter who used to kneel to serve us, but
what can you do. He may be on his way to being a movie star. Yes, he
was that uber cute.
Life in a Bite – Part One
I was very excited to see two of my
favorite food related celebs, Anthony Bourdain and Nigella Lawson,
were in a new show together. The Taste
is a competition show in which the contestants must make the perfect
single bite of a dish. I'd seen similar challenges in other
competition shows like Chopped or the Next Iron Chef where it is
asked that the chef demonstrate their cooking philosophy in a single
bite of food. I will say right now that I am not interested in a food
competition of any kind. I am wide eyed and hopeful or arrogant
enough to believe that I can get to cook for those chefs I admire
without the trauma and potential humiliation of a competition. Still,
I became obsessed with my cooking philosophy (do I have one) and
whether it could be expressed in a single bite. Jon had an eating
philosophy of a bit of croissant with butter and honey on a spoon. I
thought of something that would have a bit of complexity. It would be
a recipe that I had mutated and fused with other cooking cultures
I've explored. It should be something that means a lot to me
personally.
I had an idea that would work
reasonably well, but it seemed to be too simple. And then, I saw
Bourdain on an episode of his newer travel show, The Layover.
And there I found the missing elements. I figured out an original
recipe that was very much from my roots while reflecting all of the
methods of cooking I'd learned from other cultures. I even involved
my father in its creation. He's been very much pro-cultural fusion in
cooking since I gave him beef short ribs Boeuf
Bourguignon style. And he helped me with that final
element that really shows some creativity. I am mid-way through
executing the recipe for the first time, so I can't reveal much more.
I hate to be a tease, but I want to pull this off before I really
start crowing about how clever I may be. What I wanted to talk about
today is how absolutely giddy I felt figuring out an original recipe.
There are many recipes that I've put a spin on, but this one is made
of groupings of ingredients and procedures that are my own. It is
writing of a sort. Chefs have said over an over that cooking can be
storytelling. One element of this epic bite of food is collard
greens. Each time I make them, I think about my grand uncle KC and
how he taught me how to cut the leaves. Of course, thinking about him
involves tomes of some highly entertaining Warner family history. Or
I think about how my version of collards was a direct result of my
Mother's stroke at age 46. In the aftermath, I took my immediate
family through a tectonic shift in how the traditional foods were
prepared. I started using olive oil, garlic and smoked turkey to
flavor veg like collards or black eyed peas. This dish is definitely
the story of a world traveler who has wandered mostly through foods of different places and peoples. This excitement is the same as that of writing a story when
it's going very well. I wanted to share. The next blog will have full
documentation of how I made the dish and how it turned out. There may
even be a video. It's my plan to make sure that the chefs I kibitz
with on Facebook and twitter have a read.
Updates
Jon and I begin our marathon journey
this weekend. Remember, we take any donation. It's for the entire
walk as a unit – not per mile. Donations go directly to the
organization. https://www.justgiving.com/Deborah-Warner
. I should have the interview with Sean Hepburn Ferrer done by next
weekend. I'll also have a couple of cooking videos aside from the one
bite up next weekend. And I am really, really hoping for the safety
of everyone near me that I can find the time to write some fiction.
Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment