Creating by Choice

It is Sunday and I guess we are bracing for another Sunday storm.  I don't know; the storms have come fast and furious this winter in Maine.  We take what comes. We have no choice.  No control.  Instead I spend time in my kitchen preparing a curried carrot apple soup to serve during the upcoming week.  Likely a yeasty bread will later emerge from the oven.  The kitchen is where I have some control in an otherwise out of control life.

Tonight's supper will be shredded chicken and veggies served on corn tortillas.  It has been a long time since I have made home-made corn tortillas.  While visiting Costa Rica, I watched the Ticas deftly flatten the dough with their hands.  I tried making it by hand once, just once.  It didn't work. Maybe it was because I was on US soil, so instead now I use a press.  Carrying a high degree of positivity, I expect the tortillas to be luscious and well received by my family. This  intensive process is a labor of love.

The winter has been harsh with much more snow dumped here during the month of February than we usually get for an entire season.  Some folk are distraught.  Some are cranky.  Other Mainers turn to the comfort of food.  That's me.  Here I control everything-choosing the recipes, the ingredients and what I put in my mouth and the mouths of those I love.

I chop, saute and puree.  Alone.  Solitarily by choice.  I create with great joy and love.