Menus, June 5, 2013

It is the beginning of wisdom when you recognize that the 

best you can do is choose which rules you want to live by

Wallace Stegner 

On Friday, I'm going to break a rule. 

You needn't worry, I'll not be doing any harm, and it's not my intention to break any actual laws- my intention is only to be away from the kitchen until dinner time on Friday night. 

Now, if it were anything other than 90 degrees outside, I'd have asked the crockpot to have dinner ready and waiting the moment I step in the door and set down my shopping bags.

 But it's summer.

And crockpots are for cool weather cooking. (Cook, cool and crockpot all start with the same letter. It's no coincidence.) Crock pots are not for summer. Grills are for summer. Everyone knows this. 

But then I thought about that. Then I thought, "Hey! wait a second..." and asked myself my three favorite questions:

"Who made that rule?"
"Why? "
"What happens if I break it?"

Because it's not really even a rule, is it?
It's only a solidified habit. 
It's an just opinion that became a norm that was left alone in a dusty closet and fed after midnight
until....

it became a rule. 

It's the sort of rule that ought to be broken- or at least given a good shaking every once in awhile. It's the sort of rule that ought to be held up to to the ridicule of your friends, who probably never even considered whether there was a right or a wrong season in which to cook with a crockpot. 

Later, I may take some time to wonder about about other rules- you know- the ones that tell you

What you ought to eat,

What you ought to wear,

how loud you ought to laugh

And who you ought to be friends with.

 For now, I'm going to shake things up for dinner.
Wednesday:  Fish in Parchment

I use parchment paper often, and only to line baking trays and cake pans. Time to break out of that rut, don't you agree? Look at this easy, versatile, fun way to put some fish into the week! It'll be like turning dinner into a present wrapped in paper!  I'll be using whatever veggies and fish are on sale.







Thursday: Greek rice and chickpea salad

I wonder why cold pasta carbs in a salad are yummy, and cold potato carbs in a salad are yummy, and cold rice carbs in a salad seem weird. Hmm. At any rate, a rule that puts a limit on how creative one can be with carbs is a rule that ought to be tested. This salad has it all- protein, spinach, rice- so we might make this a one dish salad sort of dinner.



Friday: Crock pot ribs and cauliflower salad

The idea that started this week of kitchen rebellion- I'll get the ribs ready and the salad made the night before, and start the slow cooker in the morning. The idea of a slow cooker meal in June! It feels so wonderfully out of place! Oh- I'll be making extra meat for tacos tomorrow night.


Saturday: Pulled Pork Tacos

Take a break from rule breaking. Well, unless in your kitchen tacos are by definition filled with seasoned ground beef. If that's the case, earn your rebel badge with these.  Last night's leftover pork will get tucked in with some of the avocados that are on sale here this week, and the amazing homemade restaurant-style salsa that we discovered last weekend.

Sunday: Summer Corn Chowder

Who made the rule that hot soups are not for summer? No one, that's who! Gazpacho, my friends, is not the only summer soup. Corn is tasty, plentiful and cheap right now, so I'm taking advantage of it. We may pair this with a sandwich or a green salad or we may let it stand on its own. Here's a funny thing- I've made plenty of corn chowders, but always in winter- when corn isn't even in season. Sigh. I have  much to learn and unlearn.  

Learning and unlearning, holding up sets of age-old rules for examination and tipping the heaviest ones over.

These are tasks for younger people than I.

And yet.

I remain curious enough to question a few small rules .

And I hope you do too.

I hope this week, once or twice,

You practice some act of benign anarchy.

and set yourself a little free from customs that are cast in cement.

And maybe once or twice wonder

(As I in my most unruly moments wonder)

"What if the only rule that really matters

is love?"