Chili Music

I can't remember when I started singing. I think it was about ten seconds before I started blinking. Suffice it to say, mine is a musical life. And it has always been my belief that anybody can make music. Anybody with a pulse can understand at least the basics of rhythm. Anybody who can feel can get an inkling of volume, pitch, harmonies, and percussion.

Music is in all of us, even the deaf, the mute, and the horribly untalented.

You see, anyone can learn to make music. Not everyone can learn to make music well.

I think the same holds true for cooking. Take the noble vegetarian chili, for instance. My partner Fey has a wonderful recipe for this dish that takes about 20 minutes and (by her standards) requires the basic culinary skills of a monkey. Simpler than peeling a banana, this recipe is.

So.

When she is not feeling well and asks me to cook, our menu inevitably returns to this chili. I go to the kitchen. I pull out the ingredients and cooking tools. I turn on the stove. She walks me through it, step by step, in order.

And it is a passable meal.

Last night, Fey made this same dish, same ingredients, same steps, same tools. And it was delicious. Maybe it's experience, maybe it's practice, or maybe it's something completely intangible.

Maybe her chili is better than mine in the way two pianists can play an etude by Chopin with very different results. One pianist plays the notes, the crescendos, the decrescendos, the tempos and rhythms. The other makes music.

My partner makes music.

I make chili.

Thank goodness I can write about this stuff. Thank goodness Fey can cook it.

WhistleStop Curry Soup

I am adoring the WhistleStop Cooking blog! On the fifteenth, they posted a recipe for Curry Soup that looks divine. With Fey being sick, I have decided to take on a bit of the cooking responsibilities at home. I've never been much of a cook--but I'm a fairly good sous chef, and I take directions well. As long as it doesn't require any fancy techniques, I should be okay.

And I really want to try this soup.......MMMMMMMM...

Simple Pleasures: Dinner with Mom

Fey and I love eating out. But there are some realities that even we cannot avoid. The main one is we are not wealthy. Inevitably, we must eat at home.

For me, eating at home is not such a sacrifice (except the dishes part) because Fey is a phenomenal cook. Her dad was a chef who trained in Paris and ran the Non-Commissioned Officer's Club at a major Army base. The genetic predisposition was obviously passed down, and my partner is a great cook even without formal training.

While her mom is a good cook too, she is hampered by a significant other who only likes...shoot me, please...country food. I'm not talking that delicious, wholesome, fresh country food that makes you happy to be alive, that reconnects you with your roots and reality. He likes The Other Country Food--you know, cafeteria specials, bland meats and gravy, vegetables over-cooked to the point of brutality, lots of butter and fats, and...oh, this is important...no flavor.

Fey's mom is a frequent companion on our restaurant escapades and has a healthy appreciation for fine food. Every once in a while, she can't stand it and has to share a favorite recipe with a receptive, appreciative audience.

We are that audience.

So last night, Mom packed up her groceries and spices and bottle of extra virgin olive oil and schlepped it over to our place to make us dinner. Her recipe? Grilled Salmon with Rosemary from The South Beach Diet Cookbook.

We don't have an option to grill at our place, so she broiled the salmon. Either way, it was fantastic--appropriately seasoned, moist, and less than 250 calories a serving. She also made rice and vegetables and cut up some English cucumbers for a side. It was simple, healthy, and ultimately delicious.

The best part, of course, was that we got to spend time with Fey's mom, just hanging out and talking and eating. It cost us nothing but a sink of dirty dishes and an hour or two of our time, but it was one of the best meals we had in a while.

Now...if I can only figure out a way to get my mom up from South Louisiana for a visit. Mmmmm....red beans and rice....