The kitchen is my sanctuary. However, with a stress level that went into overdrive during the holidays, far too many on-the-run meals (if you could call what I ate meals!), and a frenzied year-end catering schedule, my creativity and passion for cooking was all but depleted. By the end of 2007, I was...listless and limp like the old mop that stands in the bucket of my laundry room. Can you relate? As we begin 2008, let us rediscover our spirit and passion for cooking. Just maybe one or more of these fun activities will inspire us to do just that.
Rent a Food Movie
There are numerous films to choose from, but here are some of my favorites:
Babette’s Feast – A feast for the heart as well as the senses, this Danish film won the Oscar for best foreign film in 1987.
Big Night – The producer and star, Stanley Tucci, with his mother and his food coach wrote a cookbook called “Cucina & Famiglia.” The film-featured timpano recipe is in the book, and I have made it. Believe me, it is every bit as fabulous as it looks!
Chocolat – Beautiful and sensual. Remember, chocolate is good for you!
Like Water for Chocolate – Love really is the best secret ingredient, isn’t it?
Ratatouille – Talk about a passion for cooking, this little French rodent definitely has it!
Tortilla Soup – The stars of this film are the spectacular cooking sequences and lavish Mexican feasts.
Buy a Cookbook
As inspiration, pick up a tantalizing title or one of the following books that I recently added to my collection. Take some quiet time to read your new book from cover to cover then, on a relaxing weekend, prepare one of the recipes.
The Taste of Country Cooking (Knopf, 2006). Considered America's foremost authority on traditional southern cooking. Edna Lewis shares her recollections of life on the farm and the meals her mother and aunts cooked—simple but elegant meals based on her family’s approach to food—fresh and local. Late in her life, Miss Lewis became friends with Scot Peacock, a chef almost 50 years her junior. Their friendship deepened into a unique relationship, and as Miss Lewis grew older chef Peacock became her caregiver. Edna Lewis died in February 2006, but Scott Peacock insures her legacy lives on in his recipes as executive chef at the Watershed Restaurant in Decatur, Georgia.
Mod Mex (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2007). Scott Linquist combines his classical culinary training with contemporary and traditional preparations of Mexico’s regional specialties. This cookbook has excellent techniques and easy-to-prepare, luscious recipes (that work!). The striking photos of mouthwatering dishes depict regional Mexican cooking at its best!
Small Bites Big Nights (Clarkson Potter, 2007). Govinda Armstrong began working at Spago under chef Wolfgang Puck at the tender age of 13! He is now the executive chef and co-owner of the acclaimed Table 8 restaurants in Los Angeles and Miami. I promise his book will inspire you to get cooking. Home chefs as well as professionals will find easy but elegant recipes—from delicious small plates and brilliant desserts to great cocktails. Try the Tangerine Scream!
The Olive and the Caper (Workman Publishing Company, 2004). Susanna Hoffman lived and worked in Greece on and off for more than 30 years. Her mouthwatering collection of present-day and time-honored recipes makes for fascinating cooking and adventuresome reading. While doing food research in Greece in 2001, the September 11 tragic occurred. Because I couldn’t return to the States, I had to extend my stay and toured the Greek Islands. The islands were breathtakingly beautiful, but my heart was not into cooking. This book, however, brings back the captivating food memories and pleasurable aspects of that trip. It ignites my love of Mediterranean cooking.
Form a Cooking Club
Gather a small group of friends and get together on a regular basis to cook delicious foods and share food experiences. You can select a theme for each gathering such as appetizers, soups, desserts, or world cuisines. Occasionally, you may want to invite a chef or cooking instructor to teach at one of your meetings. Ideas and formats are limitless. Most important, have fun and enjoy each other’s company.
To all you culinary goddesses, together let’s re-launch our passion for cooking for it is a warm, creative, and loving art and a gift for the soul!
