LOOKING FORWARD TO NEW PATTERNS...

It's full moon day and I feel the impulse to post a little something... I realised after posting my last contribution that I had forgotten to talk about exam-time cooking.

In early April, when the three young men who share this house with me were heading into exams and final papers etc, I made them the same offer I made last year, to do all the shopping and cooking and cleaning until they were done with school heaviness. Like last year, their reaction was very gratifying, "You really mean it? We can help with the washing up..."

They are so great. All year we have shared kitchen chores, with me getting one night a week's duty and each of them taking two nights a week. We share shopping in a loose collaborative way, and it's easy anyway, since we live right near Kensington Market with all its choice and plentifulness. And so they really appreciate what is involved in my doing all the food-providing this month. How lovely is that!?!

Of course I also feel the challenge, because after several years of NOT being responsible, it's an interesting change for me to know that I am on every night, that they are relying on me. In turn that means that when I've had evening plans, I have had to make sure that supper is made ahead. Many people in many households do this every night, and let's give them a huge tip of the hat for that effort, but it hasn't been my situation at all.

We eat rice most nights, and on it we put Thai curry of some kind, or dal of various kinds (mung or masur or urad) with vegetables in it, or stir-fried vegetables or meat or a combo, or beef stew or South Asian-falored burgers, fried or grilled. It's a homely array of easy-to-make and easy-to-eat food, supplemented by various salads and stir-fried vegetables, and roasted root vegetables.

There's not much in the way of sweets or desserts, except that this month I have felt they needed the extra treat of an easy and accessible piece of skillet cake. That's meant that I've made some version of the skillet cake, topped with chopped apple or frozen berries or a mixture, pretty regularly. It's always a success, and takes no effort, no thinking, jsut the wets in one bowl, the dries in another, and a fifty minute bake.

Yes, I know, the next step is to get them comfortable with making the cake itself. Maybe next fall, when school starts again?

For now, they are done, and so am I. I mean, I'm off the full-time kitchen duty, the young men are off doing their summer things, mostly gone and sometimes back here, and life moves forward. I'm planning to spend a lot of time figuring out food from Burma this summer. It's going to be great!

SAN MATEO EXCURSION

We headed out on a flight to San Francisco earlier this week, destination San Mateo, an attractive small town not far south of the airport.  That unbelievable blend of eucalyptus air and clear blue skies and slanting shadows that is California in the fall, was like a tonic.

We were in San Mateo to talk at a cooking class/supper at Draeger's.  The people who came were engaged and interesting, and the people doing the cooking were a delight.  We felt very taken care of.  The menu included Napa and Red Onion Salad; Uighur Lamb Kebabs; Tajik Flatbreads, beautiful, and full of flavor because the dough had been made the day before and had done a long slow rise; Tomato Salsa, with its hint of sesame oil; and Black Rice congee, topped with chopped persommin and ginger, a great idea from Terri, who was in charge of the kitchen.  We did no work, just chatted to people.

In the course of the evening, May, who was in the class but in fact runs the restaurant kitchen at Draegers (the restaurant is called Viognier), talked about the homeless and their food culture.  She contrasted their relatonship to food with that of all of us in the room that evening.  The homeless need to spend a large part of their days figuring out how they can feed themselves, while we work to earn money which we can then go and spend on food.  So there's a huge cultural difference that doesn't get talked about.  We told her that she should consider writing a book...

Now I'm back in Toronto, while Jeff, who flew west from San Fran, is happily in Chiang Mai, in the warmth and last rains of early November.  Lucky guy!