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…