There’s no getting away from the fact that I cook a lot, in part because I like to. There is a difference however in being creative in the kitchen, deriving joy from coming close to replicating the Holiday Snack Bar Fluff Cake from Long Beach Island’s famed snack bar or in watching the clock tick the afternoon away, knowing at 6:00 pm the expectation is that I’ll have dinner on the table, regardless of my desire to cook or even to eat.
Some dinners are so routine that even on hot summer days when I’m feeling half-baked I can cook them on autopilot. Those meals involve the grill, not a simmering pot on the stove or another hot spot. The simmering can occur when an outside source, adds a most volatile ingredient, anger. The appearance of anger, an emotion that works as a toxic spice is not good for digestion. The oxymoron here is that anger is an emotion that REQUIRES feeding. It takes quite a bit of energy and self will to create this constant stew. It is easy to deceive oneself into thinking that something that erupts so suddenly can actually be what it is. Usually it’s simmering right along until the pot gets stirred.
I collect beautiful wooden spoons and my favorite is called a double love spoon that my mother brought me from Wales. The beauty of the carved artwork intended to feed newlyweds in love can’t alter the blend of ingredients once anger is infused in a simmering pot, nor can I beat it out with my wire whisk or favorite French rolling pin. I suppose that technique is in a cooking class I’ve yet to master.
The paradox is that the feeding of anger is as addictive as eating chocolate. It doesn’t taste as good though and I much prefer chocolate, especially if it’s from France.
Tonight’s menu will be ‘Take Out’. I am still on a mini vacation that has turned into a staycation at my brother’s house on Long Beach Island, whisking away any desire to be in a hot summer kitchen, happy to have a break from summer stews and looking to carve out a new kitchen view.
As I said, I like to cook, so I’m always on the outlook for a new recipe, and it’s all the better if it includes chocolate and doesn't simmer.
