Not this girl.  And as I’m drinking in the colors and the ringing bells, I mentioned my daily kitchen dilemma…  that is- having these lovely, fresh ingredients and then getting to the kitchen and not wanting to massively fuck them up in some random cooking experiment.  They are so beautiful I often feel like I have to save them for something “worthy,” or take the safe road and cook known, simple recipes that I’m sure won’t jack them up.  

Because really, the most painful part of failed kitchen experiments is not the actual failing, but knowing I’ll never get those ingredients back again.  The perfectly huge beautiful strawberries, the ripe artichokes, the last of the mussels in season.  Wasted.  Add that on top of a whopping dose of YOU SUCK and it’s enough to make even the strongest of us start believing Manhattans actually taste good.  

And as I’m relaying this to my friend it makes me chuckle.. when I find myself suddenly wondering why we as humans squirrel these things away?  Why do we only use the good china and engraved chopsticks on holidays when they’re so beautiful?  Why do we buy shiny new electronic toys and then films and cases and layers and layers to keep them “looking new?”  Why do we only dress up when we have a reason?  

My stab at an answer would be because we fear loss, or more specifically, being responsible for that loss.  We’d rather see beautiful things slowly decay instead of use them for what they were intended, and use ’em good and thoroughly.  

I used everything I got at the market over the weekend.  Some of it was good, some of it was decent, some of it I wouldn’t feed to my dog.  But I used it, all of it.  

And I’d have to say, I got way more joy out of even the failed experiments than the back of my fridge did in storing my potential.  

And that was fucking cool.   

We’ll talk about “to taste” and inside out ravioli in a different post-