All about food

Today was all about food.  I haven't been shopping since before Christmas, with the exception of a few quick run-in's to the local Hannaford's.  We haven't had a decent dinner (or lunch for that matter) in weeks.

My shopping list has been ready for a few days now, but actually getting to the store was a challenge.  Not because I don't have the time, but it's far more about inclination.  And with good reason, for once you bring in bags and bags of fresh food, you have to deal with it, or else you'll be throwing it away in a few days.

This is really the first time all day that I've had a chance to sit down for more than five minutes.  It was actually a very productive day in terms of getting big things done.  The house to the Vineyard has been chosen and the food I have prepared today will keep showing up at lunches and dinners throughout the winter.

I was at the Co-op in Hanover by 10:30 and out the door $300-plus later at 11:30.  Since I buy as much organic as I can, it jacks up the cost considerably.  But oh, it's so worth it.  I just love to browse through the organic produce, taking in the real colors, the normal sized strawberries, the beautiful imperfect beets.  I feel such a sense of peace being surrounded by good food, a sense of harmony that all of my actions will result in healthy meals for myself and my family.

And the people in the store are like myself -- they care about food.  As opposed to the regular grocery stores where people are throwing in mounds of high-fructose corn syrupy items into their carts, or stacking up boxes of prepared (and processed) meals, these are people with lists and agendas.  Their agenda being to put into their bodies the best food possible.  To hell with the cost!

After schlepping in all the bags I sat down at the computer and wrapped up the vineyard house.  And then kept glancing over at the counter, knowing what type of hours all those bags represented.  After fortifying myself with a little sushi I'd purchased at the store, I spread out my recipes and began to do the "chop till ya drop."  (Which is roughly about now!)

I peeled the skin off of two free range chickens and immersed them in water along with some onion, bay leaf and garlic to simmer for several hours.  If you have never peeled the skin off of a chicken, well, you are missing something.  You see where the fat layers congregate, you see how it adheres with a special type of bond to the bone ... okay, okay.  I think you need to become one with your food.  You have to examine it, feel it, ally yourself with the notion that this before you will create a wonderful meal.

I think it's what cooking with love means.  You have to completely put yourself in the moment.  It's not about throwing a can of this and a bag of that into a pan and calling it dinner.  It's envisioning the finished product, the steaming bowl of soup or the spicy chili, or the wondrous turkey pot pie as it steams before you on the plate.  It's almost tasting it, and setting forth a spell "I deem this chicken to become the chicken soup that makes me swoon, that warms my belly in the dead of winter and fills me with its healthful promise."  (Can you picture me waltzing around the kitchen and using my magic spoon to cast my spells!)

I don't cook like this often.  And that is why it takes so much build-up to get there.  I know that I have to be in the proper mood, and the weather is helpful.  Today it rained, and there is nothing like a gray day to make me want to change the world.  And the best way to change my world is to fill the house with incredible aromas.  Everyone in the house is in a good mood when there is cooking going on.  They walk around singing, they keep asking when dinner is.  There is such promise in an upcoming meal -- even better when you get to smell it for an hour or so beforehand!

I was in the kitchen for four straight hours.  I started with a counter full of ingredients, and ended with pots, pans and dirty cutting boards and bowls.   Since I doubled everything, I had to kind of shift things around in order to utilize the 12-quart stock pot I bought myself for Christmas.  First I made the chicken stock and started the chili in the smaller pot.  Then I transferred the chili to the crockpot in order to simmer for a few hours while I cleaned out that pot then transferred the stock to its pot.  Then I cut up the chicken into bite sized pieces for the soup and then transferred the chili from the crockpot to the big pot.  Then added the 8 cans of beans and let that simmer for another few hours.  

In the meantime I cooked the turkey breast, let that cool, then chopped that up into bite-sized pieces.  That will go into the turkey pot pie that I will assemble tomorrow.  So despite all those hours, I only ended up with one complete meal.  (But ... I will freeze the chili in individual and family-sized portions so we will get at least one big meal and a lot of lunches out of it.)  I feel good!

And because the weather is so crappy, I don't really feel as though I am missing anything not skiing.  Tomorrow I will finish up the chicken soup and the turkey pot pie (I am making two of those, one to eat right away and another to freeze).

We just finished the chili and it was delicious.  And I am stuffed.  

It was a good day.