...boy meets girl, girl loves boy, and girl follows boy to the east coast to go to law school because it seemed like a great idea at the time and infinitely better than being a doctor like girl's immigrant eastern European parents would have liked. Girl finds out she's a hell of a lot better cook than being a lawyer. So girl effectively stops going to classes and instead stays home and watches Foodnetwork and learns to cook to justify her laziness. Then girl makes some major mistakes in the kitchen together with moments of pure brilliance, and girl figures out she's not half bad and could "do this." Boy and girl get married then move back to California and settle in Orange County where girl fights off the Orange People and hair stylists trying to convince naturally-brunette girl to go....(gasp) blonde. Girl has two adorable kids -- little girl and little boy -- and cooks for them. And more people. And more people. And teaches other people to cook who previously ate frozen chicken parts formed into animal shapes. And soon everyone's asking girl for her recipes so girl gets annoyed having to type up the same damn thing 20 times, so instead develops a blog.
And so The Enchanted Spoon is born.
Girl, boy, little girl and little boy (and now baby girl) now reside in considerably more normal and green Seattle where they take hikes every week, which is something exercise-allergic girl never thought she'd do.
But shockingly girl loves it!
So now The Enchanted Spoon is a recipe collection of sorts, some made-up-on-the-spot stuff I made for dinner or parties that went over well, some family traditions and recipes that have survived Communism and a move to the United States, and other culinary adventures both inside and out of my own kitchen.
Food is a beautiful thing. Truly. It's not just about sustaining our own life, but it connects us to others. It crosses cultures and barriers of time to bring us together with our ancestors, and bridges the gap between us today and our family to come. It is shared at times of celebration and comforts us in time of grief. The same foods we eat today have been prepared for thousands of years before us. We can look to the past to see how they cooked a particular food, and in that we can see how they celebrated the same way we do today, honoring the same exact things in life. And how exciting to think about how the future will cook the same food we do today! The Romans stewed fresh tomatoes; today we make them into foam; I excitedly wonder what our future generation will do with them. And all the while, our favorite dish is still that marinara sauce our "Nona" made when we were little, that we dream of making for our own grandchildren one day.
Food is a tapestry, weaving together generations and cultures into a rich picture of ideas, feelings, faith, and love. Good food is one where you can taste the soul -- one bite makes you feel the passion, the work, the history, the journey of the person who made the food for you.
My earnest hope is this blog will help inspire you to try new things in your own kitchen and rediscover past recipes and traditions from your own families. And in that great culinary community, where plates and full and glasses are filled, we can share in the celebrations of LIFE.
