Bennie & Boomer

Bennie & Boomer

November20th

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THE KING & I

Posted in: Bennie & Boomer

BENNIE, Your phone call this week has been on my mind. I completely understand how you feel, some days you wake up and question your self worth. I have been doing that for fiftynine years two hundred and seventytwo days. We all do. There are two intertwined emotions that can jump up and are hard to shake: doubt and fear. Anyone who claims not to experience them are in denial or they are compensating with another behavior, usually by bragging or picking on someone else.

So, I have another song to share with you. It is one of my theme songs. I realize that it is ALWAYS playing in my head, but often is drowned out by those bad vibes I let creep in – especially from other people. I never knew where the song came from until today. I looked it up because I only know bits and pieces of the lyrics. The song is I Whistle a Hapypy Tune and I found out it came from the Broadway musical The King and I. The King and I was based on Margaret Landon’s novel, Anna and the King of Siam. I have never seen the play or the movie, so I have no idea how it got into my head.

Whenever I feel afraid
I hold my head erect
And whistle a happy tune
So no one will suspect
I’m afraid.

I can hear you saying it: “Cheesey”.

You are right, it is cheesey, but amazing how a few words can stick. I don’t even know the melody, but I sing it anyway, I’m singing it now.

Just like the encouragement to “keep your chin up” is equally cheesey, it works. I can’t say it eradicates the dark seed of doubt, but it sure changes things. Little practices can have big results.

Make believe you’re brave
And the trick will take you far.
You may be as brave
As you make believe you are

You may be as brave
As you make believe you are

The other thing that is important to remember, I think you are fantastic. It is ok to feel the way you do, but when it starts to get you down, just whistle.

Love, Boomer.
November1st

3 Comments

ONE SIMPLE TRUTH

Posted in: Bennie & Boomer, Daily Bread, Life

ONE SIMPLE TRUTH

Email from Bennie, Sunday October 29, 2011

celebrated my b-day with my friends last night and i had an absolute blast. we didn’t really do much of anything but eat greasy Chinese take out and drink lots of cream soda. what i’m discovering more and more is how much i enjoy sitting at a table with friends and eating ( even if i didn’t cook the meal) me and my friends sat there for a good 2 hours talking, laughing and making stupid jokes….it was an absolute blast that i wouldn’t trade for the world. there’s something very connecting for me to eat with people, eating by myself is so depressing and when i sit down and munch away with friends i feel so fucking good!!! we were all eating each others food and sharing egg roles and it was awesome. i plan to stay in touch with these people, they’re my Guilford family and i feel so good with them, they like me for me and that, let me tell ya, is a rare and beautiful thing. i can be 100% bennie around them and not feel stupid for being weird and corky…because they are too!

xoxo’s
#2#1
ps~ i know the storm clouds will clear, i know this, i do, i just wish it would happen faster is all.

#2#1,

Yeah, eating alone sucks sometimes.

I had dinner with friends last night as well. A big topic of discussion was food, sitting at the table with family and the writing that you and I are sharing. We also laughed a lot and finally decided to call it a night so we could rest our stomach muscles.

Having spent my adult life cooking professionally, running a restaurant, I came to realize what is important is not the food or my culinary skill as it was about bringing people together around the table. The common lore is that the “hearth is the center of the home”, this is mostly true. It should be the “Table” is the center of home and community. (One of the reasons why I insisted on a “family meal” at work prior to our evening shift).

A few years back when your sister was just joining Teach For America, I had a young waiter, Justin, planning on a teaching career. He was at UNC-A in his senior year. The topic of discussion at family meal one evening was the importance of teaching and teachers. I know I have told you this story before, as well as similar “table stories“, but it is worth repeating.

Justin recounted what he had just learned in class that day. “At the end of third grade, the state of North Carolina conducts end-of-year testing. The results of that testing are used to plan how many jail cells to build in 12 years, as they are able to predict future outcomes for these children, based on their test results.” This was disturbing news. He continued; “in addition to that, there are two main factors that predict success on the test, first; the socioeconomic status of the child and second; what they eat!” I was floored. It was hard to believe, it still drops my jaw.

I asked Brenna about this and she confirmed this to be a “fact” that TFA bandied about in their message.

Over the next few months, I searched the internet for the exact citation of this finding, even contacting TFA. I have never been able to verify that particular fact.

A few months ago, I was contacted to submit a proposal for a TED talk here in Asheville. Of course I thought about our own experience of “recreating the home cooked meal in the 21^st century” – Bennie and Boomer’s story as a topic. The importance of food, what we cook and how we cook it is always present in my thinking. I needed to sharpen this thought and find the essential truth.

So back to my research about the influence of food on children’s lives.

This time, I was far more successful in finding quantitative research that confirmed what I have known intuitively for a long time.

Here’s what I found. There were five major studies published around the end of the 20^th century, big stuff: Council of Economic Advisors, Harvard Medical School, University of Michigan, University of Minnesota, and Columbia University. From there, I dove into the local reports about food issues in Buncombe County.

None of them said exactly what Justin and Brenna said. They said more, tons more. And they all said the same thing, “More mealtime at home is the single strongest factor in better achievement scores and fewer behavioral problems in children of all ages.”

The findings reported that children who spent five dinners at the table with at least one parent had greater academic success, better psychological adjustment, lower rates of alcoholism, drug use, early sexual behavior and suicidal risk. Levels of obesity were also reduced and a healthier diet was followed. This was the golden nugget of truth. I titled my TED talk “ONE SIMPLE TRUTH”.

A fact of life is that our eating habits reflect the dysfunctional nature of our culture. According to a study published this August, in Western North Carolina 29% of school age children go hungry. Additionally, in Bunbcombe County grades K – 5, 30% are overweight or obese. Looking only at fifth grade that number jumps to 39%! This is bizarre. 60% of school age children suffer from a debilitating diet. Even more bizarre, if we could help parents and children sit down and dine together 30 minutes a day 5 days a week, we would be well on our way to solving so many other problems.

Frank Zappa was right – kill your TV set, or in this case your gameboy, xbox, smartphone and all the other distractions that impose on mealtime. Instead, we have killed the family table, we have destroyed the ritual of the shared meal.

I am convinced that this simple truth has an even broader affect. I believe that sitting down to dine – meaning taking the time to be present at the meal with no distractions, benefits anyone who joins the Table. I have even come to believe that while it is important WHAT we eat, it is even more vital HOW we eat, which is to say, take our time and share.

We have work to do.

I apologize for telling this story again. You email and your messages of sharing food with your friends bring real joy to me. To quote you “there’s something very connecting for me to eat with people.”

I didn’t get selected for TED this year, something about they only had room for a science talk.

-Boomer

Here’s the research:

Changes in American Children’s Time 1981 – 1997, Sandra L. Hofferth & John F. Sandberg, University of Michigan 1999

Teens and Their Parents in the 21^st Century: An Examination in Teen Behavior and The Role of Parental Involvement, Council of Economic Advisors, Federal Government 2000

Family Dinner and Diet Among Older Children and Adolescents, Matthew W. Gillman, M.D., et al, Harvard University 2000

The Importance of Family Dinner, Colombia University, The National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse 203-2011 (on going research)

Correlations Between Family Meals and Psychosocial Well-Being Among Adolescents, Marla E. Eisenberg, ScD, et al, University of Minnesota 2004

And here’s a simple soup.

Take a small (coconut sized) squash, (I used a sunshine squash because I like the sweetness of that variety) and put it on a foil lined baking sheet. Put it in the oven whole at 350° F for about 45 minutes. You have to check it once in awhile. Roast it until it is soft when you squeeze it. It may even crack and begin to weep a little liquid, but no more. Let it cool. Cut it in half and scoop out the seeds, (you can wash the seeds and roast them if you like, sprinkled with a little salt or curry powder or ground ancho chili powder they make tasty snacks – cheap ones) then scoop out the flesh and mash it with a fork or potato masher.

Peel and cut two large potatoes into ½” cubes. Cut two leeks into thin circles, washing out any dirt. In a saucepan, heat some oil or butter, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the leeks, cook over medium heat until they are soft, add the potatoes and the mashed squash. Cover with chicken stock, vegetable stock or plain water. Add one teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of ground pepper. Bring to a simmer, stir a few times and cook everything until it is quite soft and you can mash it up. Taste it and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Serve it with a salad, piece of good bread. You can add some ½ & ½ to it. Yesterday at lunch, I chopped up some of the blanched greens that I cooked on Saturday and ate the remainder of the pumpkin brownie, sat it the sun. It made eating alone not so bad and clean up was easy.
October30th

3 Comments

TAKIN’ TO THE STREETS

Posted in: Bennie & Boomer

Takin’ To The Streets

Bennie,

I hope you read your aunt’s response to “On the Edge” as well as Dan’s. Some of my thoughts follow.

I know what you are feeling. Seems like I am standing on the same precipice, just at a different spot. A lifetime in the restaurant business, gobs of experience and ten thousand connections and still I struggle day to day, trying to gain a new momentum. So, when I read Tina and Dan’s letters to you, I felt they were written to me as well. Funny how life is.

We are in a storm, a worldwide storm, and this storm is causing wide spread destruction. We can’t stop it. This much is certain, it will pass and there will be a new dawn. What is less certain is how you and I come out of it. Some of my days have been dark, but it never remains, I always am able to find the bright spot. So it is O.K. to fret, but don’t fret too much or too long.

In 1970, I was a sophomore at Northwestern University. Students around the country were protesting the war in Vietnam. At Kent State University on May 4, 1970 four students; Allison Krause, Sandra Scheuer, Jeffery Miller and William Schroeder were murdered by a group of National Guardsman, nine other students were injured. This led to a student strike at Northwestern, which effectively closed the school, the remainder of the term. It was a time of turmoil and uncertainty.

During our strike, students barricaded Sheridan Road, the main road through Evanston. I was a photographer for the yearbook. To gain perspective of the crowd gathered in front of the library on Deering Meadow, I was perched out a second story balcony window, looking out over the crowd and facing Sheridan Road. We heard rumors that the National Guard had been called out. Close friends beside me, we speculated if our own deaths were imminent. Fortunately, the Guard never materialized, nor did they later that day at a large rally at our football stadium. Except for one incident, the student protest at NWU was non-violent. .

The nation-wide campus protests of May 1970 brought a new level of attention to the anti-war sentiment of the American public; in this way, they were responsible in some part for the eventual withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam in 1973.

It was the summer 0f 1970 that I moved to North Carolina. Having taken to the streets, I then took to the mountains.

There is a different war out there today. It is a more subtle enemy, but equally ingrained in our behavior as the war of violence. It is the war of greed. Both require a similar response – nonviolent protest. I found myself surprised and dismayed in 2008, wondering where your generation was – the country was involved in a war of insanity in Iraq and Afghanistan. No protest, no one in the streets. (I am still trying to comprehend the rationale for these wars, as I was in 1970 regarding Vietnam.) Fortunately, today, there is a howl against greed that is gaining ground. We are out of balance, as we were in 1970.

I understand that this war of greed is not your chosen war. Your war is the war of social injustice and you are protesting that injustice. The war of social injustice is also the war of financial inequality. Greed is part of both wars.

You think a year goes by quickly, imagine what the passing of forty years of cooking is like – pssst, a puff of steam and cracker burnt to carbon. Having spent that time at the stove, stirring pots and making friends, following my passion has put me exactly where I planned to be as I dreamt of the future. The world of cooking has become a tiny soap box to stand on, not a very tall one. This does not matter. The box is made of the wood of integrity, balance and compassion. It was never for money, though sometimes I wish it were (like how to afford that new hip?). Now, after all that rattling around, the few things I have to say, when I stand on the little platform, the truths I am trying to share are listened to and considered. I can ask for no more. Your real work is the same, to find those truths, test them with the fire of life and carry them forward, making your realm better than the way you found it.

So you see, there really isn’t much to worry about. There is ample work in the days following school. You seek truth, justice and equality. There is no greater goal. Will it land you a job? Will it pay your student loans? Most likely not. Those things are kinda important, but they are not essentially important. What matters it that you are finding your passion. You have youthful energy, intelligence and the search for truth on your side. And my respect and love.

What’s ahead is time in the streets. See you there.

-Boomer

Some Other Matters: You shared some of your music with me. I have two songs for you: Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane and Something Happening Here by Buffalo Springfield.

Here are the lyrics.

Volunteers

Look what’s happening out in the streets
Got a revolution Got to revolution
Hey I’m dancing down the streets
Got a revolution Got to revolution
Ain’t it amazing all the people I meet
Got a revolution Got to revolution
One generation got old
One generation got soul
This generation got no destination to hold
Pick up the cry
Hey now it’s time for you and me
Got a revolution Got to revolution
Come on now we’re marching to the sea
Got a revolution Got to revolution
Who will take it from you
We will and who are we
We are volunteers of America

Something Happening Here

There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear
There’s a man with a gun over there
Telling me I got to beware

I think it’s time we stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

There’s battle lines being drawn
Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Getting so much resistance from behind

I think it’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

What a field-day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and carrying signs
Mostly say, hooray for our side

It’s time we stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life it will creep
It starts when you’re always afraid
You step out of line, the man come and take you away

We better stop, hey, what’s that sound

Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, hey, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, now, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down
Stop, children, what’s that sound
Everybody look what’s going down

Finally, what I had for dinner tonight. After all, I am supposed to be helping you with cooking.

Of course, I shopped at the tailgate this morning, elitist foodie-pig that I am. (More on THAT later). I bought 3 very large heads of greens – tatsoi, lacinato kale and Russian kale, a bunch of carrots, a bunch of turnips, one pound of onions, one pound of butterball potatoes, two sunshine squash, a loaf of heirloom grit bread, a tub of fresh goat cheese and a brownie. I spent $44, ($6 for the bread, $8 for the cheese and $3 for the brownie, $15 for the greens and the remainder on potatoes, carrots and turnips and sunshine squash). When I got home I immediately put on a large pot of salted water and blanched all the greens, rinsed them with cold water, allowed them to drain, dried them and put them in the refrigerator. They will keep well until Wednesday and are ample for 7 or 8 meals. I cut the loaf of bread in half, wrapped it well in foil and froze half of it. It might not last until Wednesday, but I am cooking tomorrow or Monday and will make another loaf, which will only cost 75¢ in materials.

So for dinner, I cut 2 potatoes into quarters, put them in a small roasting dish, tossed them with 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, dusted them with some salt, pepper and paprika. Into the oven at 400° F for twenty minutes, then added one small onion sliced (I know you hate onion, actually it was a leek I had out of the garden), and roasted them for another 30 minutes at a reduced temperature of 350° F. I took them out of the oven while I went upstairs and took a shower. Came down, chopped a handful of the greens, tossed them into the same roasting pan, a little salt and pepper and back in the oven for 10 minutes. Out of the oven, some toasted sesame seeds on the greens, sliced a piece of bread; which I spread with half a tablespoon of goat cheese. This was dinner. Dessert was half of the pumpkin brownie. I am guessing total cost was about $4. I am full and happy. Two pots to clean up, the one I boiled the water in to cook the greens and the small roasting dish.

Breakfast will be coffee, a piece of toast with goat cheese and fig preserves. Lunch, some sunshine squash soup I made yesterday, bread, a little cheese and an apple.

-Boomer
October24th

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On The Edge

Posted in: Bennie & Boomer

“On The Edge”

Bloggers Note: this isn’t like the fluffy piece I wrote last time. Just thought I’d go ahead and be polite and warn you. So now you’ve been warned, read on…if you dare.

The world feels like it’s on the edge of a great and mighty precipice and I feel like I’m standing on the very edge with a bottomless pit waiting to suck me down. I’ve officially returned for my final year of college and needless to say, I’m terrified. Of course, I don’t think this comes as a shock to anyone who’s ever graduated from college, because it is scary. Even if you have job offers and a clear and precise plan for afterwards it’s still overwhelming. It especially feels this way for my generation.

I returned on Saturday the 20^th, after a 3-hour drive with North Caroline’s ‘finest’ drivers. The age of automobile chivalry must be dead because I was the nicest driver on the road. My car was packed to the nines, I had Lady GaGa blaring at me and the A/C on full blast because until the f**king republicans start believing all those ‘crack pot’ scientist’s on global warming, we’re all going to fry to crisps in this heat. After unpacking I went and enjoyed dinner with some friends of mine to celebrate our return. It was during dinner that we all finally started to relax and enjoy being away from home again (no offense to parents). We all had a very similar summer: couldn’t find work, volunteered or did internships, lived on money-tight budgets, fought constantly with our parents and were all utterly depressed. This summer has officially earned the title of “The Transitional Summer”. This was the last summer that most of us will return home after schools over. It was a hard summer because instead of feeling accomplished and useful, I felt the opposite. I was at odds with my parents and myself. Yes, my relationship with my father has improved but that doesn’t mean that it’s totally repaired and perfect. The relationship with my moms has been full of tension and uncomfortable silences, so in essence; it was pretty shitty and I’m kind of relieved to be back.

And yet, I’m not.

A year goes by fast, really fast, especially in the parallel universe known as college. This is all I have left. One f**king year and I’m not ready yet. I’ve been asked so many times that dreaded question feared by all college seniors: “So, what are your plans for afterwards?” I always gave some bullshit answer because I didn’t know how to answer, I honestly don’t know. Yes, I have interests, loads of interests, but nothing is set in stone and everyone seems to want a piece of me. My friend at dinner told me she just started telling people: “that question makes me want to drink a lot”. It gives me a similar feeling, and I don’t drink. So, here’s my request: please stop asking. We don’t know. Believe me, we wish we did, we’d all feel more comfortable and secure if we knew what lay in the great beyond of our lives…but, we don’t. We know this lack of definite certainty bothers and worries most of you, you want us to succeed and have those fancy and expensive college degrees not go to waste. Again, we don’t either. We all want our dream jobs with a plentiful income, but that’s not reality. At the moment our current reality is foreclosure and out-of-business signs, a powerful nation suffering a recession that should really be called ‘The Great Depression Take 2’, a war that’s gone on for over ten years and that’s drained us of money and confidence in our government. I saw a magazine cover yesterday that pictured George Washington with a massive black eye and I laughed at how fitting that image was. We’ve taken a massive beating and worse yet; it’s not over. We have to go back into the ring and fight some more despite how utterly exhausted we are. It’s not fair.

I’m freaking out because this is the world I’m about to enter into and I feel lost, it seems everyone else does too. The world is divided, too many people are talking all at once and everyone’s out for their own gains…. what’s happening to us? It’s like we’ve gone from Technicolor to black and white. To quote one of my favorite Harry Potter characters; Hagrid: “we’re liv’n in dark times.”

Well, I’ll be damned, he’s right.

-Bennie
August28th

6 Comments

VOICEMAIL FROM BENNIE

Posted in: Bennie & Boomer, Life

BACK AT GUILFORD

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Voice Mail From Bennie LISTEN.

“Bonjour, c’est moi. GOOD NEWS, my lasagne was a successssss. I’m so proud of myself. My stove now works, which is utterly delightful and my food was not shit, which is good. I even fed my roommate and she didn’t die - life is nice. I’m so proud of myself, it was actually better than I thought…….so I’m feeling fine, meeepp. So basically right now I rule the uninverse…..in this moment I am epic and awesome and so am quite happy. Talk to you later. Bye.”
July25th

10 Comments

BENNIE SPEAKS

Posted in: Bennie & Boomer, Food, How To Cook, Life

BENNIE SPEAKS: Parent & child

Here are the things I know about my father: he’s a chef, he likes to blow shit up and he’s got a ‘special’ sense of humor. Wow, three things…that’s pathetic.

Okay…let’s start over: before I started these lessons this I all I really knew. My father and I lost connection for a while. It was a mixture of me going from being child to teenager – me shrinking into myself – him not understanding how to reach out to his kid – who was obviously miserable. My dad loves me, but in those days my temper was even more unpredictable than it is now. This failure to understand and reach out was both of our faults, neither of us really knew how to communicate with each other anymore and it was uncomfortable and awkward for some time.

However, things feel different now…there’s been a shift. That shift started this summer after I asked him to teach me how to cook. I swear – his face lit up. That’s when it really hit me: this is something he really cares about, this is his passion. You can’t do something for 40-plus years and not care. Well, I guess there are people like that out there but we typically call them sad sacks because they’re f**king miserable with life…but not my old man. He loves what he does. Which is awesome!

My first lessons I learned to make stir fry, not particularly complicated, but it wasn’t about “being complicated”. I’ll never forget how he looked at me: with pride and excitement, here his little girl was finally showing interest in something that has been his lifelong passion. We enjoyed the meal together and a great conversation. It was like a breath of fresh air after years of suffocation. Dramatic description? Perhaps, but it felt so nice to have it just be us, eating a meal that I basically cooked by myself, and to see that glow-y ridiculously happy look in his eyes. Don’t get me wrong, my dad’s not a hard man to please but there something extra special about that ‘my daughter is taking an interest in my passions too!’ look that makes me feel giggly.

Like most kids, I want my parents to be proud and pleased with who I am and what I do, this is especially true of my father. I’ve always been a ‘daddy’s girl’; as a child I felt closer to him than my mother. He just “got” me better than she did, we’re similar in our personalities and our humor. Now food is also something we have in common.

So, since my relationship with my dear old dad is on the mend, I want to share some parenting advice – I know I’m no parent (nor do I ever wish to be one), but this advice is still valid none the less: cook with your kids. Seriously, my best memories of both my parents are when we were either eating together or I was pretending to be helpful in the kitchen while really just ‘supervising’. Cooking with your child is important because not only can you help them create healthy eating habits but you also get to bond while having legitimate fun with your offspring…. it’s a win-win. What a person eats is literally in direct correlation with their temperament and mental status. Don’t believe me? Just look up the countless studies that say ‘the more sugary, fatty, fake, gross shit your kid eats, the meaner and stupider they get’. Plus, lets not forget the ever growing obesity issue we have: if you eat right and set a good example of what’s good food…then ‘young grasshopper’ is sure to follow. I did (and I’m only mean sometimes).

My journey with food has only just started, but already I’m telling my dad ‘hey lets make this’, obviously he couldn’t be more excited. As stupid as this sounds, food actually brought me, Bennie, back to my dad, Boomer. Food, or rather discussions of food have opened up the rusty communication channels between us once again and now a steady stream of talking has started. So, to all you hopeless parents of teenagers who are getting the silent treatment and/or perhaps the one fingered wave (a favorite of mine) tell your beloved little smart ass that tonight you’re going to cook together, whether you have to drag them kicking and screaming or just in a full on pout…they’ll thank you for it later, promise.

-Bennie
July13th

8 Comments

BENNIE & BOOMER

Posted in: Bennie & Boomer, Food, How To Cook, Life

WORKING IN NEW DIRECTIONS

I have been relatively quiet the past year – not venturing out much beyond the perimeter of my yard, all else irrelevant. I have been deep in thought, contemplating what forty years of cooking means and how I will use that experience moving forward. Exploring new territory, finding the right path takes time and there are often many false starts. In the past, the answer to this pondering seems to appear in a flash – a moment of lucid insight. Such a moment occurred last fall. It has taken another 7 months to pull the pieces together and regain momentum.

The bolt of lightning struck me when I was talking to my #2 #1 daughter – Bennie. She was complaining about “caf” food at college. She spent the previous summer working out, walking and eating right. After returning to school, she said the food she was eating was making her gain weight and feel bad. Actually what she said was: “the food at school sucks.” (She does not pull punches, nor does she adopt the language of her father, whose profession required him to develop a more tactful way.)

She went on to offer a solution. “I asked mom for a food allowance next year and she said she would do it, but I had to take some cooking instruction from you.” Whoa! Then the bolt of lightning. What an opportunity. My entire career I have been teaching – touting the virtues of the “Table”. Now, my own child, who has basically ignored any involvement in food preparation, is asking me to show her how to cook.

The implications of that request took awhile to sink in. At Thanksgiving, I realized what I needed to do was write a cookbook for her. I started journaling. An early excerpt:

“I won’t speculate on the odd convergence of events or wonder if the Universe has a design or wonder if there is a Devine Plan…This is one of those miraculous moments. Having finally stepped away from the world of the professional kitchen and trying to line up my next creative adventure, it seems to me all the pieces are falling into a magical place.”

“How do I gently nurture this wonderful creature into my realm that sometimes is plainly a lot of work…”

And so, the journey of Bennie and Boomer has begun. We are writing the book together.

In this contemplative and sometimes chaotic place I have been since leaving the restaurant kitchen, my brain has been racing. Bennie and I have been negotiating how these “lessons” would work. I did not want to be a chef training an apprentice, nor did she. We were both clear enough in our thinking to realize this was about empowerment, about sharing with each other an adventure together whose vehicle is cooking and whose goal was food choice. Our time together this summer has become so much more.

Our book is titled Bennie & Boomer: Recreating the home-cooked meal in the 21st century. It will be told in episodes and self-published, available online. The first episode due this fall. It will be a comic book and embedded within the story are QR links, allowing our readers to view “the interesting & instructive stuff”; a picture is worth a thousand words. We are working together to distill the kitchen into a simple and understandable place. More importantly, it is a place where we have been having a lot of fun, as well as amazing conversations. The real story is about our relationship.

THE OTHER NIGHT

High Holy Holiday of Boom and all – downtown for fireworks on Sunday, cookouts galore on Monday, a wild fireworks display at an unnamed farm in Fairview…(any need to explain where Boomer’s name came from?). Coming home from Hominy Valley and packing up my “tools” for Fairview, I dash into the kitchen to music, a happy young woman dancing – smiling, pasta flying.

Boomer: “Hey, what’s up? You seem happy.” Bennie: “I cooked dinner!”

On Wednesday, Bennie’s friend has come over, on a night we had planned to do some cooking together. Instead, I sat at the kitchen counter and gave a little direction – “turn the heat down”, “here’s a recipe for black walnut pesto – it is based on a classic from Italy”. “How about a Watermelon Cucumber Salad with lemon, mint, basil and olive oil dressing?” The two friends cook together, Bennie telling me later “You just disappeared, faded away, we didn’t even know you were there….”

The next Saturday, I am out, as is Bennie and her friend. I get home before they do. I hear them come in, lively conversation and music in the kitchen. In the morning, I am up early, on my way to cook and lecture at Warren Wilson College. The kitchen in a mess. “Damn it….” the thought flies through my head and then clears, as I realize Bennie and her friend came home and cooked a meal together, sharing late night hours of friendship. The song in my head is sung by Cecilia Bartoli with a back drop of a Blue & Silver 12-incher bursting over head….pure joy.

Blue & Silver 12-Inch Shell By Ned Gorski, PGI Grand Master from French Broad on Vimeo.

Black Walnut Pesto Sauce

makes 4 to 5 cups

2 tablespoons pinenuts (geez, these are expensive)

1 tablespoon black walnuts

2 tablespoons pecans

1 teaspoon of salt

4 – 5 tellicherry peppercorrns

3 cloves of fresh garlic, peeled

2 ounces of butter (that would be 1/2 of a stick, or 4 tablespoons)

3 cups of basil

4 ounces of grated parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil, approximately

Method: In a blender or a food processor, add the nuts, the garlic, the salt & pepper and 1/2 cup olive oil. “Pulse” blend it until the nuts are coarsely chopped. Start the blender again, and add some of the basil, allowing it to process and become smooth before adding the next amount. Add oil as need to keep it flowing, then blend until smooth, finishing with the cheese.

Keep refrigerated.

More to follow…