As soon as you get home from work, turn your oven on at 450 degrees! This will get you in the right mindset to cook yourself and/ or your family a lovely meal. And, as she thoughtfully added, you can always turn it off again if you decide to make pasta. The simple act of entering your kitchen and turning on your oven is the first step even when you dont have a clue what to make. This was just one bit of wisdom i heard while attending a book event for Lynne Rossetto Kasper and her producer Sally Swift. I have always been a huge fan of The Splendid Table and on countless occasions her show got me back to Portland on Sunday evenings after a visit north. I always arrived starving and wanting to make some magnificent meal of which i had none of the right ingredients. I have the fondest memories of her Truffle show. The way she told us to grate a fresh truffle over a bowl of buttered pasta still makes me salivate. As she said, This is like food porn! As my friend Jenna commented after Lynne told us to make a pastry shell with just a little white wine and add dollops of fresh chevre and your big NW berries, drizzle the top with honey you have dredged in rosemary, she needed a cigarette.
We are lovers of food! We are foodies not only because we love food and we love the processes of selecting the recipes and picking our ingredients and breaking out the bowls and pans and wooden spoons and spices and and and, we are passionate about our food most importantly because we can be. We have the luxury of good ingredients at our fingertips. Not everyone in this country of ours, or even our own city, has the opportunity to be so lucky.
i came away from her event with a bit of humility and gratitude, a gorgeous book full of irreplaceable bits of wisdom and recipes and a HUGE grin. The last thing i heard her say as i was walking out the door was, Don’t worry about a table cloth on this table, i am the type of person who will stand up and take it with me. AMEN SISTER!
She is coming back in August!!
