Food and Family

I love to cook. I don't really have an interest in drawing and whatnot, so I guess cooking is my way of being an artist. It is so fulfilling to me to be in the kitchen (a clean kitchen, anyway), trying out new ingredients, getting my hands "dirty" and seeing the end result--a well-balanced meal, piping hot, on a colorful Fiesta plate. Xon says my secret ingredient is love. Awwwww....

Cooking is a major stress reliever for me. I would cook for 20 people every night if I could. Not because I think I am the world's best cook (Just ask Datya about the vegetable soup I tried to make her. Bleck!), but really, it is just not as much fun to cook for two people. My family came down for Christmas two years ago, and it was one of the highlights of my life. I always tell them I don't care where we go for Christmas--I just want to be able to cook.

I remember the first time I cooked dinner for Xon and his friends. I was a senior at Asbury, and I was living with Dawn's former roomie in a house in Wilmore. I cooked lasagna, salad, garlic bread and peach pie with ice cream. I spent all day getting that meal ready. I had no sooner said "Let's eat!" when I looked at the table, and it was all gone. I was flabergasted. For some reason, I had expected to have leftovers! I literally called my mom and asked if it was "normal" for guys to eat so much food. Now, she grew up with two brothers, and they were always bringing their friends over for dinner, so Mom just laughed and said yes. I was used to eating some noodles at lunch and that was it. Boy, would things be different now!

I don't know why I never thought to become a professional chef, but maybe that isn't the same. Maybe it is family and friends that I really like cooking for. Last Christmas, my mom gave me two aprons. One belonged to my great grandma Jessie--or "Granner," as we all call her. And one belonged to my grandma June--"Granny." Mom remembers both of them wearing the aprons as they cooked.

I also have a laminated copy (thanks to Wendy!) of Granner's handwritten recipes, and it is one of my most cherished possessions. I only know Granner through photographs and family stories, so I like to picture her wearing her black-and-white checked apron in her kitchen, getting her hands dirty, making meals for her young children--Stanley, Doyne and June. Granny followed in her mom's footsteps and cooked for everybody in the neighborhood. Everyone was welcome at her table. --And even though she died when I was just seven, we still make her rolls for every family gathering, and we recognize that no one makes them better than she did.

So maybe it is not just the act of cooking that I enjoy. Maybe it is the memories that are built around family dinner tables, year after year. Regardless, I am blessed with a wonderful family that has set wonderful examples for me to follow, and I have wonderful memories. I am thankful for them. And I am thankful for a husband who likes to eat, who likes my cooking...and who doesn't mind doing the dishes!