Scratch Cooking August 11th

So it looks like our one year anniversary of the scratch cooking project is going to pass with a whimper rather than a bang. That's because I am on a business trip to Springfield, IL. So instead of cooking tonight, I went on the Lincoln's Ghost Tour of Springfield during which we visited historic sites and heard about various Lincoln seances and hauntings. The guy who led the tour was pure camp, but it was pretty entertaining.

We did do a typical southern California dinner for Mallaury's last night in the U.S. Monday night - Mexican food! All her favorites - guacamole, fresh tortillas, corn on the cob, rice and I made a dish with leeks and fresh black eyed peas. I sauteed a small sliced leek with about a cup of fresh, shelled black-eyed peas, salt and pepper in olive oil. Dessert was home-made chocolate ice cream with fresh raspberries.

So much has happened since we started this project with a wild hare and a cross-country road trip. Literally, life and death have been brought into stark relief in our lives. We lost a dear friend and gained many dear friends. We helped others and were helped in return. We were forced to confront fears and let down defences. We traveled and hosted friends and became more comfortable in our lives. And through it all, we cooked. And in the cooking found solace, found creativity, found community, found family, found ourselves and grew closer. We discovered the joys of cream and butter and egg yolks. We made sour cream and cheese and cream cheese and creme fraiche. We dropped pounds while eating dessert. The kitchen and dinner table became places for conversation and connection. We ate a lot of chocolate. We had a lot of fun!

I "met" all of you, and every time I wondered why I was doing this, you were there to remind me that it actually mattered. And you all became my friends and my inspiration.

So after a year of losing the convenience of packaged food but gaining all of that, why would we give it up? Cans and boxes and plastic bags of frozen foods? SCRATCH THAT!