I realized today at about 3 o’clock this afternoon that Mark and I were going to have a dinner guest. Unfortunately – or as I later learned, fortunately – the “cupboard was bare.” I didn’t make time to go grocery shopping this weekend so we were left with residual eats from the past week. I found myself in the kitchen and a shot of adrenaline coursed through my veins. What are we going to eat? Once I got past the initial wondering of what I was going to do, I became excited that I would be “forced” into being creative.
If there was one thing (and actually there are many) that I learned from my mom, it was how to be creative with food. She could whip up an amazing meal from some bare-bones dry goods and slim-pickins vegetables in no time!
I felt the surge of creative juices running through me as I scanned the cabinets. I picked out some chana dal (dry yellow lentils) and basmati rice. I felt that I could do something with these, especially since my food comfort-zone is Indian cuisine. Of course, I needed vegetables, and all we had was some dried up Brussels sprouts (not very appealing), baby carrots (a maybe), fresh spinach (definitely), and half a head of broccoli (oh yes!). I could see the meal coming together like paint on a canvas.
I also noticed that we had 3 neglected yams on the windowsill. I took a couple of seconds to admire their unique personalities. Two of them were curvy and thick in the middle with curled, tapered ends and one of them was a bit more straight-laced and simple. OK, I thought, I could definitely do something with these guys.
I started with the dal. Made it from scratch by boiling the legumes for 30 minutes. Then I ravaged the cabinet for all my Indian spices. Found half an onion on its last day and chopped it, put it in the frying pan with some clarified butter (ghee), and speckled the onions with a showering of Indian spices.
I took a two second break and lit an incense stick…I was really in the Indian mood now. The spices’ aroma wafted through the kitchen and with the curls of incense smoke, they moved together through the kitchen, filling the space in a sacred way.
In a quick moment, I see myself in a colorful sari twirling around in the kitchen with incense wand in one hand and spices in the other. I run upstairs to start the music from the iTunes on Mark’s computer so that I can hear the mystical beats and delicate chiming from my latest musical favorite, Christopher of the Wolves (CD title: Transcendance!). Now the picture is complete! I run downstairs, thrusting myself into the cloud of cumin, curry, and cardamom…
The rice found its place in the confine of the rice cooker. Yams were cozy in the oven. I had some time before the next steps so I became inspired enough to make a gluten-free chocolate cake. I had a Bob’s Red Mill mix in the cupboard and one last egg in the refrigerator from Al, the neighborhood farmer. Luckily, I had enough coconut milk left from yesterday…perfect.
The culinary creativity was moving through me…I was floating in a spiced incense bliss…happy to create and serve a meal to a friend on the fly!
Although I didn’t get time to engage in my typical artistic afternoon of painting on the weekend, I manifested my creativity in spicy chana dal with delicate basmati rice with a heaping dash of yam sweetness. It’s interesting how easy it is to form “pegged” definitions of what creativity is. Creativity is any act of personal expression. So much of who we are can come through even the preparation of a meal. When we have to work with what we have, we span the reaches of what we are capable of. Creativity in the present moment – how fulfilling it can be – all within the art studio of the kitchen!
