It's as though I'm walking back into a house that has been locked up for most of the year. After sustaining a brain injury in January I had to shut down my blog. Shutter it up. Now I have to clear out the cobwebs and make attempts to remember where I left off.
Or on second thought, I'll start anew.
My first attempt? Telling my stories and asking others to tell theirs. Nothing more. That will be the focus for now. Much simpler than my original plan.
I did not tell many stories involving my own children before January but that's part of my new plan. Here goes with a story about my 11 year old Netta and a request to help her fulfill a dream.
Ever since my daughter Netta was tall enough to reach the kitchen counter she was by my side watching me cook. She wanted to do anything I'd let her do. When she wasn't in the kitchen she became captivated with television shows and movies whose focus was food.
The first movie that stood out was The Princess and the Frog. Netta became fixated with it and begged to watch it. It wasn't until one night when she asked for a cutting board, mushrooms and a knife that I realized she had taught herself how to mince mushrooms by watching the animated prince make gumbo in the swampland of Louisiana.
After Netta mastered mincing mushrooms with her knife she wanted anything in sight to cut down into smaller pieces! Her knife skills began with a plastic knife. Now she uses my metal knives with her hand placed on top just as she learned from the chefs on Iron Chef and Chopped.
One Saturday morning I was tired and resting on the couch. She ran into the room and exclaimed, "Ima (mom) I want to make a garnish."
"A what?," I mumbled looking in her direction.
"A garnish, PLEASE Ima."
Because I knew I would get more rest if I agreed, I gave in quickly.
In the kitchen I grabbed a glass bowl and a cutting board from the cupboard. "What do you want for your garnish?"
"Apples, cucumbers, and green onions." she blurted out.
"Grab your knife," I said. I set her up and as I had monitored her knife skills on many occasions I confidently walked back to the couch to continue resting. With closed eyes I listened to her banter about cutting and mixing.
Within ten minutes I returned to the kitchen.
"Ima, I want more ingredients."
"What ingredients are you thinking about?" I saw her glance over at the counter to the right of the refrigerator.
"Figs."
"Figs?"
"Figs," she said as confidently as the sun that shone through the kitchen window.
"Okay then. Do you want to make a dressing?"
"Yes."
"What do you want in the dressing?," I said as I moved toward the cabinet that held the oil and vinegar.
"I want canola oil and red wine vinegar."
"Any herbs?"
"Oregano and sage."
"Really?" Trying to hide my skepticism about how this was taking form. Netta's confident speech and manner was not something I wanted to mess with.
"Oh, and some honey too."
Netta finished chopping. I made the dressing with her suggestions. Then she folded the dressing in with the other ingredients.
In unison we took a bite.
"Yum," I said tenatively. "Yu-um!" Louder this time--kind of surprised that the concoction tasted as good as it did.
From that moment on we've encouraged Netta to experiment with flavors and textures. She spends more time with food or talking about food than anything else in her life.
She's 11. She didn't talk until she was 4 1/2. And now she's talking about tumeric and beurre blanc and marscarpone cheese and sauteing and grilling and fileting and...
Visitors come into our home, walk into the kitchen and FREAK OUT when they see Netta quickly mincing with her hand on top of a sharp knife.
I laugh when I see their eyes grow in size. "Can you believe it?," I say. "The doctors could not tell us at two if she would ever walk or talk. Look at her now."
She does not care that her corpus callosum in her brain never developed. Even though I've explained it to her. Nothing gets in the way of her dreams. Nothing.
And this child's dream is to be a chef.
Here's where I need if you are still out there amongst the cobwebs. Help me get wannabe chef to New York City to meet one of her favorite chefs--Alex Guarnaschelli.
I entered a recipe into Fisher Nut's Recipe Contest. If you want to help us get to New York City go to the link (please ask others to as well) and vote 5, every day until the contest ends.
And let me know if you have a story to share.
In January I did not know if I would write again.
It's nice to be back.
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