One of my oldest bff's since junior high stayed with me for about six weeks this summer and insisted on buying a crock pot while she was here because, like me, she doesn't know how to cook.
"What do you mean, no crock pot?" she said, stumped that first week in the kitchen.
"I've got a blender," I offered. "Oh, and a bread machine from Saver's that sort of works......Since when do Jews do crock pots?!"*
What luxury! Our joyous reunion delivered days of eternal sunshining, long bike rides, and lake swims which repeatedly returned us ragged and hungry back to the Beach where the heat and nutty goodness of slow cooked vegetarian stews awaited us. Eventually, sadly, fall days gave way to her departure back to Austin. She did not take the crock pot with her.
I'm fully aware of it beneath the counter next to the rice cooker. It's calling out for use, especially since I've gone back to doing things the hard way since Paula isn't looking. I kept asking her to show me how to use it because we both knew she was going to have to leave some day. "There's nothing to show," she said, "you just turn it on."
"But what do I put in it? How much of everything?" The concept totally baffles me. I am suspicious of things that promise to make something out of nothing by putting everything into something by pushing a single button.
"Oy, Roc..."she mused, "what are ya, living in a cave?"
Some might say.
Last night I soaked a pound of chick peas (or as Ma would call them "gaaarbanzoes," note the hard Minnesota a and o) and I haven't a clue what to do with them now. It occurred to me I just might maybe use the crock pot, but jeez-oh-dear, where to start?
...
Please send your support in the way of recipes and crock stories* at once! And for fun, turn your recipe into a poem. Play around with line breaks, add words, memories, anything, spice it up, make it up... whatever it takes to get these poor chick peas to finish living out their life's purpose!
...
5 garbanzoes
husked
squeezed
picked from the gardens by an unknown hand
3 cups
water A lemon
parsley
sage
not thyme
no time.....
Hope to write with you soon! Chef Roxy
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