Cooking – A Very Simple, Beautiful, and Creative Pleasure

If one eats to live, the enjoyment of cooking may be somewhat muted. But if one lives to eat, as I do, it’s a happy, well-traveled road that ceases to end.

I’ve been cooking dinners for 60-plus years — for myself, my family, my extended ski family in Vermont, and for my dogs.

I’ve cooked in toaster ovens, electric and gas stoves, regular ovens, and fire pits. I cooked a capon in a Franklin stove located in my 150 Econoline van. I cooked on top of a Franklin stove in my tag team partner’s unfinished home in Vermont. I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for 13 people outside in my gazebo, and, finally, I cooked as the settlers did many years ago, in a fireplace. All with cast iron!

As in writing my book, I learned so much about myself in the process. I don’t like to plan meals several days in advance. When I wake up in the morning, my taste buds tell me what to eat for dinner. Dead time during the day allows me to plan how to cook it, what spices to use, and what time to sit down and enjoy the meal.

I like my meals to stay hot while I eat, so I eat off cast iron plates and pans, which stay hot through dinner. Cast iron pots are easy to clean so they save time. You can cook with them on the stove, and they can also go in the oven. A cast iron Dutch oven can be used as a crock pot if you cook at 170–200 degrees in the oven. (I love one-pot meals!) Cast iron cooks food quickly because it gets hotter than other cookware. All of that hooked me on cooking with cast iron as an every-day experience.

As an added pleasure, I love sipping bottles of Molson Golden Ale as I cook, part of my 70-year evening habit of drinking beer. If I get carried away by drinking too much, what I cook tastes more delicious. However, the first bite of food stops me — no drinking as, or after, I eat.

I learned that I don’t want to spend every day all day in the kitchen. Along came Rachel Ray with the concept of 30-minute meals. Hal-le-lu-jah! For two years, every weekday, for two hours, I scribbled the recipes from her TV show in a notebook. To this day, I have that stack of recipes and her books.

Guess what? Her concepts are solid. Now I don’t need recipes. Show me what’s in the pantry and refrigerator, and I’ll make it work. On my 89th birthday, I received so many terrific cards, tear-jerking notes, and homemade cookies and cakes. I also received a jar of red sauce from Italy and ball-shaped pasta. I will incorporate these ingredients into something.

I like complete and well-balanced meals. Pasta and sauces are a good start. What else do I have? I search the freezer, and, lo and behold, I find three sirloin hamburger patties. I see a frozen bag of zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots. I notice across the room one lonely onion. I check the refrigerator and find grated Romano cheese. In the pantry I have seasonings.

I sauté the lonely onion and cut the meat into marble-size pieces. Then I add Montreal Steak seasoning to the me at and Vegetable Magic seasoning to the vegetables. I add the sauce from Italy and unconventionally cook the pasta on top of it all instead of cooking it separately. I let the whole meal simmer and occasionally stir it to make sure the pasta doesn’t stick to the bottom of the cast iron pot. Bingo! What a terrific improvised meal.

I don’t time meals. My eyes tell me when my food is done. Thanks to Rachel Ray, I’ve become very creative. I was so thankful that one day I went to her book signing and took a $100 bottle of wine to give her. Never got to see her, so I took Mary Ellen out to dinner and drank the entire bottle myself.

One of these days, perhaps I’ll get another chance to show her my appreciation. In the meantime,  the lessons I learned from her have improved my skills and shortened my kitchen time. Add cooking to my well-known affinity for swimming, golf, teaching tennis, and everything else that I continue to do.