I'm taking a break from recipes today to reflect on my family. I know there's been so much centered around Covid-19 in the news and I've been trying so hard to create a platform for myself and others that excludes the crazy... something that creates an escape. Cooking and baking for me have always been an escape. An activity that I've done with the women and the men in my family and learned from them and created memories with them. A past time that has surpassed generations -- stained recipe cards with brown edges and faded handwriting used for years. Eventually, these recipe cards went digital and we started typing them into emails and computer programs and they became less personal... but the memories were still there.
The smells, the flavors, the process of making them together. It's all a memory. Thats what cooking and baking is to me, that's what FOOD is to me. The smells, the flavors, the feeling I have when I'm consuming a great meal -- It's as if it takes over my whole body! It sounds insane, but it's like listening to a great song... all your memory receptors are there, you remember all the lyrics and tap your toes to the beat and know right where the big climb is going to take you. My brother pointed it out to me years ago while we were out to eat that I literally do a dance in my chair when I'm consuming what I've perceived to be a great meal. I've done it all my life, it's my great meal-o-meter. *shrugs* I wouldn't change it. I love that I FEEL food this way. I love that it's an experience. And it's all because of the connections that I have to it... the memories I've made. The family experiences, the times we've shared. No one can take those back.
I just hope that in all of this crazy, that if there is one thing we can all create it's a few memories that will last. If it's around a mixer and a baking tin, or the cutting board and the sauté pan -- whatever it is, I want you to do it together. Take your minds away from the news and escape the sadness, create something with your hands. Fill your home with great smells, hear the sizzle of the pan, and taste the delicious result together as a family.
Create an Escape. Make Memories.