Menus, May 20, 2014

"But there is the need... from time to time—to enter that still room within us all where the past lives on as a part of the present, where the dead are alive again, the room where... we remember consciously to remember the lives we have lived." 

Frederick Buechner

Of course, when I walk into the still room that Buechner writes of so beautifully, I am quite likely to stand in the doorway thinking, 

"Now, why exactly did I come in here?"

which is why, for the past day or so, my finger has been decorated with this time-honored memory keeper:

"Remember not to forget...

oh, what was it again?

 And how did this string get on my finger?"

The thing that I was trying to remember to not forget was to prepare for this weekend. Which is, in the U.S. Memorial Day. And I felt a few watts short of a bright bulb about my ironic inability to remember to plan for a day of remembering, until I was reminded that sometimes, even God forgets. 

It's true! Right there in Genesis 8:1 "And God remembered Noah." Now, for remembering to happen, forgetting has to be a possibility, right? So that means that perhaps even God, who is by all accounts pretty brainy,

occasionally gets distracted. 

And maybe while Noah was floating about in the world's first indoor safari park, God was musing to the angels, thinking "Now what was it that we were doing before we beat the bad guys in that last epic universal cataclysm?...something, no...noah.... OH My Stars and Planets! Hold Everything!!!"

" I think I left the water running!"

We humans may forget what day it is, but when we remember, we have a party. And I don't really know why. Who knows exactly how or why or when we started to remember this: 

with this:

but we do. It's a thing that makes me sort of fond of humanity, the way that we memorialize the things we've lost by sharing the good things we've gained. I sort of like the way that sometimes, humans honor the dead by having a good time with the living. 

And since this is the holiday that for us in the States marks the beginning of true Summer, we celebrate by smokin' up the great outdoors with the first big barbecue of the season. Our new grill will be fired up not once but three times this week, with dinners that I'm hoping will set the pace for a Summer full of quick, easy, healthy eating.

Here's how we're starting the Summer:

Wednesday: Grilled Chicken and Vegetables

Fire up the grill and cook up a bunch (a flock?) of chicken. We'll be using chicken breast, instead of the whole chicken in the recipe, because tomorrow night's salad and Saturday's soup will need the leftovers. Don't like idea of holding onto leftover chicken for 3 day? Me neither. Let's dice up one of the cooked chicken breasts, put it in a zip bag and throw it in the freezer for Saturday, ok?

Thursday: Chicken Farro Salad

Last night's leftover chicken dives into a bowl with the fun new darling of the foodie world, farro. Trader Joe's had a package at a price that made experimentation easy. I'll cook up the whole package, and use half in tonight's salad, and half in tomorrow's.






Friday: Salmon and Rosemary Skewers and Farro salad

 Rosemary, so the ancients thought, was for remembrance. Look at this great idea! Using the woody branches of rosemary to serve as skewers for tender chunks of salmon and tomato. Terrific! Rosemary happens to be a garden plant that manages to stay alive in spite of my abysmal gardening skills, so it'll be easy to try this out. If you're not squeamish about a little, ummm, casual pruning of plants that are not your own, you may be able to find rosemary landscaping parks and commercial properties all around you. 


Saturday: Southwest Chicken Soup

My good friend Katherine, who steered me into some great dinners last week, sent me this recipe as well. If you're busy today getting things ready for tomorrow, this soup will stir up faster than you can order a pizza. And be better for you too. 








Sunday: Burgers, Potato Salad and Slaw

Wipe down the picnic table and light the mosquito candles picnic day is here. For some reason that I cannot understand, the foods that are traditional for these summer celebration picnics often star a quart or so of mayonnaise. It really is sort of weird- burgers, potato salads, deviled eggs, pasta salads, ranch dressing dips...all outdoors for hours on a summer day. We remember those who exposed themselves to death in battle by exposing ourselves to death by salmonella. It just doesn't seem to make much sense. Illogicalities of traditional menus aside, there's not much that can beat a good burger, and when I searched "Best burger recipe in the entire world", this was one result. We're going to pair that with the classic and deliciously reliable Alton Brown potato salad.
Party safe out there everyone. And by that I mean keep cold things cold and warm things warm. In other words, practice safe food. We wouldn't want the main memory of Memorial Day to be wretchedly retching in the local emergency room, would we?

In fact, I hope that by some collision of happy circumstance
or by some happy collusion 
of the people you love,
that all your memories of this holiday 
are whole and happy.
I hope that if you remember loss,
you also remember healing. 
That if you remember war
you also remember peace. 
And I hope that when you remember to remember
the life that you've lived
that what you remember

is love.