A post from my friend Heather:
I’m sorta obsessed with the food I buy.
It’s interesting how it’s always on display to me whenever I open the fridge or the cabinets. The new fridge we bought is 3x the size of our last fridge. And 14x brighter. [The last fridge didn’t have a working light bulb.] Truly an aesthetic experience to open the fridge and look for a snack.
Which I do often.
I can arrange the food artfully if I want. By label color. Or height. [“Heighth” as my father says.]
Or arrange by culture. Some Asian stuff, some French, some good old Southern American, some
Mediterranean.
The food reflects my life history.
Old Bay because I grew up in MD, and even though I don’t use it that often, it’s important to me to have it on hand.
Oyster sauce and rice wine are the result of my marriage to K. I had never tried cooking Asian
cuisines before I dated him. [Except some poor man’s stir fries once in a while.]
Tahini from my love of Mediterranean food, which I developed when I went off dairy.
I own something called kasreep, a preservative used in cooking pepper pot, because of my stepfather from Guyana. He died 4 years ago and when I come across jars of pickled mango in specialty stores, I buy it all up. Partly out of commemoration, partly because it’s so amazing with curries and I never know when I’ll be able to find it again.
Instant coffee for K, but also an excellent addition to brownies. Capers are a K purchase, too.
Poblanos, cilantro, and avocado from my years in Texas, learning how to use all the fantastic produce available year round.
Dijon mustard, mayonnaise, couscous, bottles of (cooking) wine from living and eating in France. Even my salad spinner I attribute to French influence.
It’s good to eat. It’s good to cook.
--Heather
4 Comments
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Ed
hmm…I keep a bottle of Malt Vinegar in case we ever have fish and chips (lived in England) and I have some packages of duck tongues from Hong Kong (never been there–someone gave them to me and I am waiting to see if I can find anyone game enough to eat one.)
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Heathermommy
I always feel bad we don’t eat more arabic dishes. I tell my kids they seem more half-Mexican than half-Arabic because the scarf down anything mexican.
Mexican is from my parents and starting out life in California. Then recently living in Arizona cemented my love of Mexican food. But not authentic Mexican, more like Americanized fresh mex.
Arabic food is from Rick’s side, obviously. I got a Arabic cook book from a friend when Rick and I got married. I also have Rick’s mom’s recipes but the measurments are way off. Stuff we do eat – tabouleh, falafel, hummus, lentil soup, mjadarra.
I fell in love with chocolate in France and I still have a recurring nightmare that I can’t find any pain au chocolat at any of the bakeries. It is very stressful.
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Oh, by the way. I LOVE that picture of you!!
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HK
My husband grew up mostly in Seattle, so we have malt vinegar on hand, too, Ed. As well as rice wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar. Who’d have thought one needed so many kinds.
Did I ever tell you about my friend Malika from Rheims, Heather? Her family was originally from Algeria, and one time another American asked her, quite sincerely, if she could tell him about Muslim food. Malika thought he was an idiot. But she did talk a little bit about North African and Arabic food, which is what that guy must have meant.
