Food Love

Today my office closed up shop at lunch time, and we all headed to a cooking demonstration by Bryant Terry. I really knew nothing about him except I think I had heard he was a vegan activist. I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but hey, I support veganism even if my kids are meat-atarians, and a cooking demonstration sounded all fun and glamorous and TV like.

It turns out he is a very chill and interesting guy. Afterward, a friend described him as zen, and that fit him perfectly. His passion is encouraging young people in at-risk areas to eat more produce, and he does this by working to increase access to produce and by teaching them to cook. In many instances, they are second or third generations individuals who haven't cooked, and if you've never seen anyone in a kitchen, what the heck are you going to do with a head of broccoli? (Those would be my words, not his. He was all eloquent and stuff.)

So I learned several things from him. (Actually, I am sure I learned a lot more, but I am just going to share a few for now.) I learned that if you are making guacamole and mix in the avocado pit, it will be much slower to turn brown. (Lime juice works too, but then you have to watch the consistency.) I also learned that all savory dishes should have salt, a fat, and an acid. He made the most amazing collard greens I have ever tasted. They were so simple and didn't even require bacon grease. (Go vegan!) He blanched them in really salty water first, then sautéed them with olive oil and garlic. He added raisins, a sprinkle of sea salt, and orange juice. They were amazing. I have some spinach in the fridge that desperately needs to be consumed. I am definitely going to try this.

He also said that our energy is transferred to our food. If we cook with love, the food turns out better. Wait, I know. Sounds completely nutty, but it's hard not to relate to the story he told. He talked about how after a fight with a girlfriend, he made a favorite recipe, and it turned out horribly. This happened in our house last Wednesday. Jeff was having a not great day with the kids. Actually, that's an understatement. I've blocked out the details that were shared with me, but I think this was one of those Alexander, and the Horrible, Terrible, No Good, Very Bad (or whatever it's called) Day kind of bad days. You know, a rainy day at home with kids. We had planned on having spaghetti for dinner, but Jeff realized it was not a good day for having a pot of boiling water under the same roof as the children and dogs. So instead he was making a pasta bake. This is a really simple dish where you cook the pasta is the oven in a cake pan or a casserole dish. We make it all the time, yet that night it just wouldn't cook. After extra time and a higher temperature in the oven, the pasta was still crunchy. However, once I came home from work and got the kids and their crazy energy out of the house, dinner came together.

What this makes me think of most is Baba, my little Ukranian grandmother who makes me look like a giant. She is an amazing baker and cook, and anyone who has ever met her knows you will instantly gain 5 pounds when you walk in her door. And it will be worth it. She makes the best noodles, fabulous pastries, and an apple pie that is to die for. (I take back that comment about gaining weight by walking through her door. I am pretty sure you can gain weight just thinking about the food she makes.) But she never uses recipes or measuring cups. I don't think anyone can ever really recreate her recipes, because they are all "a little of this, a little of that." But they are all made with love. Love for food and for the people eating it, and it shows. The energy is all right and the food is delicious.