Fast Food, Fast Love

You are all probably wondering when I’m going to get back to sharing all those nice food porn pictures. The answer is about two weeks, give or take. School is taking up a lot of my time right now. I received an email from an acquaintance the other day about the subject of school, encouraging me to remember the difference between urgent and important. I think this is good to remember with all things, not just school.

It has occurred to me that food has become urgent but is no longer important. We are, indeed, a fast food nation. I don’t think that people remember what real food is.  We are also a nation that idolizes fast love. Those first three to six months of a new relationship is our ideal. We gorge on it. But in the end, when the thrill is gone, it leaves us hungry. We don’t take the time to nurture it or to explore creativity within it. We satisfy our urgency by looking for something pre-made and complete with any effort by us at all. Real love, like real food is important. In fact they have a lot in common:

Real Food	Real Love
Is not always convenient	Is not always convenient
Has nutrients that nourish your body	Has elements that nourish your soul
Takes time and patience	Take time and patience
Takes mindfulness	Takes mindfulness
Cannot be made by mechanized processing	Cannot be found through a methodical list of criteria
Vitalizes the individual, the economy and the environment	Vitalizes the individual, the community and the world
Is a creative act	Is a creative act
Contains fiber vital to our gastro-intestinal health	Helps us take the shitty stuff in life
Is a balance of tart, rich, salty, bitter and sweet; is sometimes tender and sometimes crisp	Is a balance of rich reward, salty tears, bitter emotions and sweetness; is sometimes tender and sometimes hard
Requires cultivation	Requires cultivation
Is essential to our survival	Is essential to our survival

This is the creative act of real food – breaking out of your pre-concieved notions about what something “is” or should be is important in both food and love. You don’t always need to abandon the tried and true in order to bring a bite of something unique to your table. Just like a committed relationship, you might think of a grilled cheese sandwich as boring, confining, lacking in that quality of anticipation of something new. Let me lead you to thinking outside the box, at least as far as the sandwich is concerned. Think chutney, think peppers and Cotija, think Paneer or gouda or blue cheese with figs. Think about veggies, spices, salmon and Morbier.

I’ll share with you some of my favorite food porn pictures, not of what a grilled cheese sandwich should be but of what it can be.

From Closet Cooking

From Closet Cooking

From Closet Cooking

For more help on cheeses go to http://www.cheese.com

Grilled Cheese Sandwich 1

• Goat Cheese
• Fresh Mozzarella Cheese
• Pesto
• Sun-dried tomatoes

Grilled Cheese Sandwich 2

• Bellavitano cheese
• Spicy mustard
• Red onions, sliced

Toast your sandwich in a pan with butter. I like to use flat bread because it crisps up very nicely on the outside.

Turkish Flat Bread (from foodcurrency.com)

180g strong flour
¾ teaspoon salt
20g fresh yeast (less if very active yeast)*
100ml lukewarm water

1. Sift flour and salt together in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
2. Dissolve yeast in the water then add to flour mixture and mix until a soft dough is formed.
3. Turn out on a lightly floured surface and knead for 4-5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
4. Place in a lightly oiled or floured bowl, cover with lightly oiled plastic film and leave to rest for about 30 minutes.
5. Divide in four and press or roll out to 10cm rounds. Heat a large flat-based pan over a medium heat.
6. Lightly oil the pan and cook bazlama for 4-5 minutes.
7. Turn over and cook for a further 3-4 minutes.
8. Serve warm.