I cook for a lot of reasons. Taste is number one. But other associations matter too. Memories. Aspirations.
Last week I cooked a Puerto Rican -style pork pernil . I know that our delicious dinner didn’t help Puerto Ricans any more than Trump’s tossed paper towels, but, since I’ve never been to Puerto Rico, cooking and eating this food was the best I could do to make the island’s disaster real to me.
Tonight I am soaking midnight black beans from Rancho Gordo, and tomorrow I’ll make Free Mexican Airforce chili. Until I found this recipe in Steve Sando’s cookbook, I hadn’t heard of Peter Rowan or listened to this song. Rancho Gordo closed today and told all its employees to stay home. Much of the wine country is on fire. Just a couple of weeks ago we were at the junction of 101 and 12, where the Santa Rosa fire started. Selfishly, I’m glad that we toured Sonoma when we did, and that we spent a day driving through Napa.
Is there a lesson here? It’s tempting to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the threat to so many beautiful places. But I’m going to choose to be overwhelmed by the beauty that still exists, at home and on vacation. Join me?
I thought of you out there last night while watching a news show about the destruction. I’m glad you made your trip.