Living with the love of your life isn’t always rose pedals and romps through the meadow. I know hard to believe yes? Its true.
Days like this I often get up and would much rather rasp out in a grouchy voice, ‘Get your own food.’ But I didn’t. Instead, I stepped into that sanctum that is the kitchen and began looking through the refrigerator, pulling out recent recipe clippings and simply settling into that space that seems to sit beyond all things that aren’t just nourishment, alchemy and abundance.
It happens, moods go awry, feathers get ruffled, and all of a sudden being in service to someone, to the two of you and what you have created isn’t anywhere near as important as withdrawing. This is why its a practice, no?
So a breakfast, I made. A bowl of polenta, chopping onions, grating cheese…the rhythm pulled me and I was humbly reminded of the importance of ritual and simplicity. My prayer over this food was simply that two beings could come together face to face over good food and See each other. Nothing crazy, complicated or lofty. Just BE.
I really believe that this is one of the beautiful luxuries of being a single couple (no bebes). Each day you have a chance to reconnect, alone, face to face. Most couples don’t get this forever, as many end up having children, but its a time to really savor, each day you connect, it deepens the bond and the flow or relating. Well… hopefully, right?
::Corn Cakes::
1 cup corn meal
1/2 cup Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 large organic free range egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp melted and cooled butter
1 cup cooked or canned corn
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
1. Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Add whisked egg, buttermilk and butter and mix together with a spoon until its all blended.
3. Add the cheese, corn and onion. Mix.
4. Heat a large skillet on medium heat. I like spraying some canola oil over its surface, but you can pour a tsp of oil onto the skillet to coat it.
5. Ladle about 3/4 of a cup of the mixture onto the skillet. Don’t measure this, eye it. I think we rely much to much on exact numbers when it comes to cooking. The practice of estimation, and feeling your way through it helps cultivate you intuition in the kitchen and with food.
6. Cook in batches, about 3-4 minutes on one side, 1-2 minutes on the other.
Will make around 10, but maybe more! Serve with a generous dollop of sour cream over a bed of butter leaf lettuce. Also, not pictured here, but as I was taking both plates out to the dining room, a perfectly ripe avocado in my produce basket caught my eye. I immediately put the plates down, grabbed the avo, sliced half into one plate, the other half for the other, and it was perfection. The buttery smoothness of the avocado with the grainy corn cake was a match made in heaven.
Corn cakes sounds great. Yummy! Thanks for sharing.
I appreciate your ability to be totally raw and paint the real picture. Which is in my opinion is more enticing than the fairytale. The corn cakes? forget it!
The truth and reality are ALWAYS so much juicier then the fairytale! 😉
I love way you talk about food as a sort of practice as well as an opportunity for deeper connection. I have to say that as for a couple, also for a family that is true. I read a study that showed that kids in families that sit down and eat dinner together every night (no TV!) have a much lower rate of "trouble" (drug use, skipping school, etc.) I think it has to do with the same thing you point out so well here. That sharing a meal (especially one lovingly prepared!) provides a forum and a practice for communication. In our family even when one or all of us are lacking in good cheer, once we sit down to eat we have established a habit of talking, and so automatically check in with each other and can process the day.
Mara! Yes… I love the way you said, 'provides a forum and a practice for communication.' Its the ritual that seems to trigger a part of us into being open, sharing and connecting with one another. Its also one of the reasons I've always liked sitting across from the person or people I eat with. I can See them… watch them eat and talk face to face. There is something so important in that.
I know that grouchy feeling. I get it too with both husband and kiddo, but once you get a little quite and can reflect on what makes the world so special and the things in life that have meaning, it gets better. Cooking, like any art, is like a meditation that allows you to focus on something else, and allow you to think clearly :).
Thank you for sharing both that you too have these feelings and these corn cakes, that sound like a great breakfast or even light lunch. The avocado would be perfect too!
The corn cakes are beautiful.
You know, even with a Dudette in the house, we make sure that we have ways to reconnect, whether it's before she gets up, after she goes to bed or even when she's with us. It's a practice no matter who's in the house. I agree that when I'm disgruntled or my feathers are ruffled, the best way to leach that poison out of me is to do something to serve my family. It's one of those situations where if you smile enough, you'll eventually trick your face into believing it. Through serving my family, I'm reminded of the love and I forget the disagreement. Thank you for the reminder of that.