The Inviting Life by Laura Calder

Author:Laura Calder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Appetite by Random House
Published: 2017-11-07T05:00:00+00:00

The Goods

I remember from my single days one striking moment that made me realize how much I was craving a home. I was at my brother’s house where his wife was making chocolate chip cookies for the kids. In the middle of mixing, she reached for the chocolate chips only to realize she’d run out. Then she opened another cupboard. “Oh, I haven’t, actually. I’ve got another stash over here.” My gut lurched with longing and with envy for my brother. Home is where you never run out of chocolate chips! Sob! Home is where the cupboards are always full of potential! Home is where there are people to make cookies for!

Keeping a pantry stocked is essential to keeping a kitchen lively and a home feeling like a safe haven. Whether you’re the type of person who shops once a week or once a day, keeping up with what comes in and what gets gobbled up is all part of the home-cooking role. With it comes the hardest thing about home cooking; not the sizzling, simmering, and all that, but the shopping. Let’s not whitewash this: it can be a soulless drag sometimes.

All those years in Europe spoiled me: the markets of France, Italy, and Spain, the bakeries of Germany, the staggering food halls of London department stores. The displays in such places are so artistic and sensuous, they make the eyes pop right out of your head: shimmering sardines, braids of smoked garlic, preserved lemons, bulbous artichokes, olives as bright as jade…If you weren’t in the mood to cook before you went to the market, you’d be just raging to get back to the kitchen as soon as you were halfway down the first alley.

That’s not the life I’m living at the present time. In my current habitat, most vendors don’t bother with excellent ingredients and artistic display to the same degree (although many butchers are fairly good). The norm here is leeks the size of baseball bats; fish massacred into willy-nilly pieces; potatoes and onions arranged with all the appetizing appeal of a pile of rocks in a quarry…I’d love to ask a genie to replace this utilitarian approach with one more respectful and understanding of quality and beauty—and of home cooks.

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