Cut scene to little Nathan Jr. sitting in the middle of the road. But Honey…

I was thinking about what got me into food. Other than survival. When I was a kid, food was a part of the people that I connected with. My biological Dad cooked a lot. I remember his burritos and his barbeque chicken. I also spent a lot of time with my maternal Grandmother. While the other grandkids chased Papa around the yard, I spent time with Nanny. Papa was always everyone’s favorite because he is the “fun” grandparent. My secret is that Nanny is the “fun” one, too. We always had a good time in the house. She taught me to play dominoes and card games and she showed me the pleasure of preparing food. Papa encouraged this behavior in me by making me a tiny apron. (He was going through a “I want to learn how to sew” phase. I get a lot of my curiosity from him.) Nanny and I baked a lot of cakes. For years, we would bake my Birthday cake together. German chocolate. This year, I baked her a German chocolate cake for her Birthday (Whilst wearing my tiny apron!) as my way of thanking her for inspiring me to cook.

For years now, food, for me, has been on the back burner. (Pun intended.) I have had other things going on. I think that living relatively alone was one of the main causes of my culinary abstinence. You can only cook meals, that require effort, for yourself  for so long before you just say “Screw it!” and open a can of Chef Boyardee.

What brought me back?

I would have to say that it was a book by, pause while I look up the author, Bill Buford called Heat. I won it at a Harlem Renaissance Festival that the University was throwing. Taco Planet and I went all Hobo Rich to hear my Comp II Professor read some of his poetry. I went to the w.c. to take a leak, I am fairly certain we were drunk, and when I returned everyone was staring at me and Taco Planet was at our table rifling through my jacket. He was hunting for my raffle ticket. Silly of him to think that it would be in my jacket pocket when I was wearing a vest. (Both laugh loudly and take swigs from hidden flasks.) Apparently, I had won the first door prize when I was using the little boys room.

I read it when I went to France to work on Le Duke’s chateau there. I am fairly certain that I even cooked dinner for the family one night because I was inspired by the book. That was a couple of years ago now. It has been building ever since. Other people might call me a foodie. Other people might also be on Facebook or use the term “blog”. Needless to say, I would not say that I am a foodie, but rather I like food. For chrissake, I took a Nutrition class for fun this semester.

Well, enough jabbering about food. I’ve got work to do. More soon. ~SC