(post, Diane Wood)
You know what? Sometimes I can be such a, well...a dork. Yup, it's true. Here I was catching up on emails after being gone for about a month - no email. Can you believe it? It was horrible. Long story. One dork piece of me is that I actually saved all of my Culinate emails to read last - I needed to savor them slowly. The other dork piece of me is that I never think I have anything to blog about. Foodie of the universe (blush) and no food thing to write about. Right! I saw your cookbook giveaway for Turquoise and food thoughts began to flow. Earth to me...I live with, and share a kitchen with, a beautiful man who was born in Iraq, became a U.S. citizen over fifty year ago when he was six, and in the past nine years has taught me so much about the delicious foods, the amazing flavors and the remarkable Assyrian culture. I've learned how to eat and make some wonderful dishes, like luasha(sp?)a flatbread, similar to lavash, that his mother and grandmothers made daily on their outdoor ovens. He said, "I don't know how to spell it; I just ate it." Fair enough. We've made dolma (very similar to Greek dolmathes)from his family's recipe. We've cooked a nameless chicken dish where the egg noodles are first baked in the oven until slightly crisp and then spices-whose-names-I-can't-pronounce are toasted and rubbed on the chicken before it's added to the pot. I now make kefte (think keftedes) with other such exotic spices that share pantry space with the usual parsley, sage, basil, etc. There are salads that have become a part of my everyday kitchen repetoire. These are just the tip of the iceberg - or, um,sand dune? geez Making myself hungry.Now I'm trying to think of something really profound to say that would tie together in some extrordinary way, my thoughts on cultures and foods and sharing and making peace in the world by making foods together in the world. Like a traveling global bakeoff. And I know I'm not the first one to have that kind of thought. It's a good thought to keep thinking, though. Make peace with people by making food with people. Ok, so the next time I think I have no foodie thing to write about, I'm probably lying. Like I said, sometimes I can be such a dork. Diane