A Tomato, Some Butter, and Thou
Food Friday
Come to think of it, I don’t need thou. Give me a tomato, a garlic clove, a bit of oil or butter and some pasta – and I’ve got a tasty, from scratch dinner done in no time. (One of my deep, dark secrets is that I can eat an obscene amount of s‘ghetti. Really. It’s downright embarrassing. It’s one of my comfort food/Friday meals. Yay, me! Feeling depressed? Nothing a little more butter won’t fix! Oh, who are we kidding? A LOT more butter. It’s Friday, and even it’s not, I deserve it.)
I’ve cooked my entire adult life, often without a book. I was lucky to grow up around women who were whizzes in the kitchen and I learned from them without even realizing it. Whip up pudding from scratch? Absolutely! Fry a finger-lickin’ chicken? Sure, where’s the flour? Rustle up something from pretty much nothing? But, of course! You mean some people can’t do that????
And who on earth would ever use Cool Whip? That’s an abomination! I can go on for days about the best of Southern funeral food…and some recipes you simply MUST HAVE cream of mushroom soup or it just won’t turn out right. (Uber-foodie and cookbook writer James Villas is a soup fan, so there.)
So, I’m always perplexed when I hear, “Oh, I don’t cook. Not just for me. I live alone.” Good grief woman! If you’re not worth cooking for – then who is? I actually prefer dining alone sometimes, particularly on Fridays, when I’m fried by five (and people can’t see me eating that huge mound of noodles…) Also, if you’ve had a really bad week, all that chopping can be downright therapeutic. Take THAT, Mr. Onionhead!
Some of my best (and simplest) memories involve food…that I cooked by myself, for myself. Standing in the kitchen, watching a gorgeous sunset, drinking a bit of vino, chopping veggies. Ah, life is good; I feel sorry for people who don’t cook, “not just for me.”
P.S. A good pasta sauce is as easy as opening a jar of Barilla, adding garlic, a bit of olive oil and some red wine. Let simmer for about ½ hour while you have that first glass of vino and get the pasta water boiling. My friends and I also frequently and unapologetically serve this to each other.
P.P.S. The photo is tomatoes from my garden last year. If there’s anything better than cooking tomatoes, it’s cooking tomatoes you’ve grown.
About the Author
Mary Schmidt Has Written 26 Articles For Us!
Mary is a proud Corporate America refugee, having long ago decided that quality of life is far more important than quantity of stuff. However, that said, she thinks money is a very good thing - when used as a tool, not a success measurement. In addition to writing for us, she blogs about business development and marketing at www.maryschmidt.com and about marketing to and by women at www.lipsticking.com. In her consulting business, her clients have ranged from mega-corps such as Hewlett-Packard to local Mom & Pops.
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I’m coming to your house for vacation. How much to stay in your guest room and let you cook for me, for…oh, a long weekend????