One of my favorite things is to fix a nice meal for Merlyn. I like assembling various ingredients to create a flavorful and satisfying and attractive as well as a nutritious and healthy meal. I suppose I have a general recipe idea but seldom measure or even use the same combination of ingredients in my concoctions.
I often fix eggs, potatoes and toast for breakfast. One of my challenges is how many different ways can I cut up a potato so it has a different appearance and texture. It has a different flavor too. Do I add other ingredients such as onion, cut according to the way the potato is sliced or diced or julienned, green or red or orange or yellow peppers or all the above cut to blend with the potato and onion shapes? Do I add chili flakes or dill with salt and pepper? Maybe I’ll add no other ingredients, just plain potatoes. Maybe I’ll fix a scramlet where I add bacon bits, toast cut in small squares, onions, peppers, add the eggs, stir and top with cheese and maybe parsley flakes; each time fixing a slightly different meal with a little difference in taste.
If done just right it should be beautiful, delicious and presented on a plate with colors and patterns that shows it off perfectly. On days that I’m not fixing an egg breakfast, about half the time, I usually fix oatmeal or granola. Of course I have to add walnuts, dried cranberries, with one or more fruits, bananas, peaches, pears, apricots, apple, dates, figs, kiwi, etc. I once put thinly sliced celery and apple with the walnuts and oatmeal. Since the celery leaves were on the stalk I added them too. It was very attractive and I thought delicious. Merlyn said he didn’t eat lettuce with oatmeal so I’ve never fixed that again. The only other time he complained was when I fixed oyster stew. He informed me he didn’t eat oysters. Considering that I’ve only had two complaints in aproxamently the 1100 meals that I’ve fixed since we met,
I feel OK with my food fixing obsession which gets even more complex with lunches and dinners.
When we invite people over which is rare, but does happen occasionally, I like to make sure it’s a memorable event.
We once invited our friends Jack and Glenn over. I fixed Cornish hens with an orange sauce, dressing and vegetables on a bed of sliced romaine and tomato pieces on red patterned Chinese plates. The table looked beautiful and Jack and Glenn wouldn’t let us eat until they had taken photos. Then they raved about everything. A couple of days later we receive a nice card with the comment that they felt like they had been transported to another time and space of magic and wonder. I like it when a meal comes off like that, a real ego boost. As with a lot of people who really like to cook, I can go on for hours discussing food preparation, ingredients and techniques.
When my daughter was diagnosed with terminal cancer she was told that if she didn’t have a hysterectomy immediately she would only have about three months to live. She said no.
She then went to a healing center where they told her she had a gluten allergy which had caused the tumors. She was given a very strict diet, nothing with gluten which is added to most prepared foods to improve the texture and smoothness and to prevent separation of the ingredients, no eggs or dairy products, no meats except for turkey which is anti-carcinogenic, and no fruit and vegetables like corn and I forget all the other forbidden foods. I got a call for help. Neither she nor her husband knew where to start with fixing foods she could eat. I was also at a loss, but since I was retired and had the time I started studying the problem. With a list of what she could eat I fixed her a variety of dishes like vegetarian split pea soup, vegetable and turkey stew, etc.
About a week or so later I was told that she now could have nothing cooked except the turkey. My concept of food preparation had always been to cook everything except for salads and a few fruits and vegetables, and starting with what meat was being served. Now what’s with this raw foodist diet? I had never heard of that and was completely at a loss as to where to begin. Everything had to be completely “natural” and “organic.” I got a few books on raw foodist food preparation which then required a dehydrator and all sorts of possible gadgets for grinding, slicing, processing, etc. To my surprise the best book on preparing a raw food diet with recipes was written by someone I had known for 30 years. I then fixed an assortment of meals that got us through the first couple of months. The tumors started to diminish in size and my daughter was feeling better. She was now allowed to add some fruit and more vegetables. After five months she was completely tumor free and by now could fix her own diet. Shortly after that they moved to Africa. She then got pregnant, had her first daughter, moved back and is due with the second around the first of the year. Had she not listened to her inner voice and had followed the medical advice; she would be living a very different life. Instead she took control of her health and her future.
I had the opportunity to fix uncooked meals which was at the time a totally foreign concept. Now I get to cook whatever I want to. I can plan and shop and spend hours in the kitchen. I get help cutting and chopping. I get to do what I really enjoy doing and the greatest reward is to be able to do that for someone I love.
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