03/13/2022

I decided to pop in and participate in E.M.’s Sunday Ramble today. The time change found me restless all night and as a result I slept in this morning. The prompts today were an easy way to wake up my brain. Today we are talking about Kitchen and Food.

When you are in the kitchen cooking (or cleaning), do you have anything playing in the background (i.e.,TV, music, Julia Childs, etc.) while you are completing your tasks? If you are not someone who cooks or does chores in your kitchen, think of another chore or task. While you are doing that task, do you have anything going on in the background?
- I love listening to music when I cook – especially if it is a long cook. I found a streaming Sirrius station that alternates rock classics with country classics and it has become my go to station for the kitchen. The country songs bring up good memories of my parents, and the rock classics take me back to a time of my youth.
What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten that someone cooked for you?
- It is probably not weird, but it was a food I had never eaten before. (I am not a terribly adventurous eater.) When I first traveled to Maine to meet my ex’s family, they did the traditional meal of steamed clams and boiled lobster – all drenched in butter. I enjoyed the lobster but the clams were a hard pass for me. All the rich butter made me sick, though and you don’t want to be sick after lobster and clams.
Thinking of that weird food, did you like it enough to eat it again or get the recipe?
- I have cooked many lobsters since that time, but clams are a lot of work for my taste and I do not enjoy them. I have not cooked lobsters in years and I’m not sure I will ever cook them again.
What’s the food you usually refuse to share?
- Coming from a food oriented culture, I learned early on food is to be shared. I cannot think of anything I would not share. I miss the ore-Covid times when a group of people would gather around a community table. I hope we will feel comfortable to do that again.
Do you use recipes when you cook, or do you have your own way of cooking the food that you love? If you are not the person who cooks in your household, pick a task that has directions/instructions. Do you follow the directions or put them to the side?
- I love cookbooks and new recipes. All the ancestral meals I cook are all from memory, look, and feel. I enjoy new recipes found online. I try them as instructed the first time, then if I like the outcome, I tweak it the next time around. I usually do not veer from recipes involving rising agents like yeast breads or complicated baking recipes. I rarely buy boxed mixes these days – they are so over processed. On the rare occasion I do, I often add additional ingredients.
Bonus: Pick three smells in your kitchen that make you happy when you smell them.
- My lemon hand soap, my fresh cilantro and dill, and freshly zested citrus.