Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Adventures in Recipes...


Faith, my youngest child, loves to help me in the kitchen. After we gather ingredients for a recipe, I then read the directions out loud to Faith and we commence the building of whatever food item that is on the agenda, be it soup or cookies, et cetera. One afternoon, we were in the process of trying out a new chili recipe and I was, of course, reading the instructions out loud. This particular recipe read, "Toss until all ingredients are intimately mingled." What?!? I may not be the connoisseur of cookbook instructions (though I have read several cookbooks cover to cover), I have never come across that particular phrase in cooking! How romantic! If one thought of one's food as being "intimately mingled", would not one enjoy their food just that much more? It reminds me of that movie about the lady who makes a meal for her extended family while she is extremely upset and the whole family begins to weep before the end of the first course! I love that scene! To me, it is a reminder of how one person in a home can influence all of the others without ever realizing it. Also, I think that from now on, when someone asks me for a recipe, they may find that I have somewhat altered the instructions of a recipe to reflect a recipe that is more than just a preparation of food, but an exercise in what exactly goes into the recipe besides the physical ingredients. When I ate that chili this week, I thought of how the ingredients were "intimately mingled" as if a chili could be full of passion or romance-or both! Could that extend to our moods? hmmm...

7 comments:

stepintoflow said...

good post, Anj! ...now gimme some sexy chili!

(said while chewing-grumbling like Bob in "What About Bob?")

Luisa Perkins said...

*lips smacking* Mmmm, chili....

Nicely done, Anj! I totally agree that we put something metaphysical into our food when we make it.

Jenna said...

And nurturing through food is becoming a lost art, but so important. Great post! I can't believe you've been there for 2 years already!

Brillig said...

Mmmm, intimately mingled? hahaha. Love it.

(Here via Luisa, by the way...)

Unknown said...

Cute kids! Good chili, intimate mingling.....life is great! Nice Blog, with LOTS of estrogen:)

Dawn said...

I am over from Luisa's. I don't think I have come across anything like that either, but it reminds me of the movie Ratatoulle (okay, I don't know how to spell it). I love to cook and love recipes (which I usually adjust). Great post.

Unknown said...

I came across from Luisa's, too. What a great mom you have.

Blogging is a bit like that recipe--a huge meshing and melting of ideas and conversations, intimately mingling our souls across the globe.

Welcome, Anj! And enjoy :-)