Over the past two weeks it has become crystal clear to me that food and catering will always need to be my source of income and writing will need to be something that I continue to dabble in.
I never did understand what writer’s block referred to, but now I can see I have experienced it firsthand. I now have a newfound appreciation for Stephen King, Michael Crichton, John Feinstein and Mike Lupica—who follow up one best seller after another like the rest of us brush our teeth in the morning.
I have officially missed two deadlines for this article. It was originally going to be “Mothers, Grandmothers, Wives,” as it was to be published in the week preceding Mother’s Day. It is now the eve of Mother’s Day so I feel I should still keep with this theme.
My work with food is most certainly a passion. I love to cook, create dishes, experiment with food, and cook for crowds—both for pay and for friends. It is in my blood—from my two grandmothers, Jessie Ficorelli on my mother’s side, and Maggie Ambrose on my dad’s side.
The two were in many ways polar opposites.
My grandma Jessie was the Wikipedia example of a nurturing grandmother: gentle, jolly and soft.
Maggie much more represented tough love. She was rough around the edges, and though not born a “bubby,” she operated and ran a bar on Three Mile Harbor was a Bonacker through and through.
My grandma Jessie was always in the kitchen, cooking up homemade pastas, meatballs and fry breads. She made the most delicious Italian foods, with care and love. Even when she took the time to peel and core a yellow apple for you after you had already consumed way too much food, it was somehow the best apple you had ever eaten.
When not behind the bar of the Three Mile Harbor Inn, my grandma Maggie was also cooking, making sure her patrons had something in their stomachs so they could continue to spend at the bar. She also made sure she had some lobster salad, bluefish salad and cooked eel for when I would make a pit stop at the bar as a child.
If it was the winter, most likely something shot by Grandpa Joe (legally or illegally) would be cooked, whether it be venison, rabbit, or something else wild. Even when you thought perhaps you were eating chicken or “chop meat,” you were quickly reminded it wasn’t what you though when you chomped down on a lead or steel buckshot with your teeth.
The common thread between both was that they loved their grandchildren to death. And they also loved to create great dishes that made people feel warm inside, proving that love and care are the two most important ingredients in life and in cooking.
I am blessed to have grown up with two wonderful grandmothers. And, I would be unjust not to mention how blessed I am to have a wonderful mother, Christine, and wife, Clare, also.
Though their skills in the kitchen might not be on the level of my grandmothers, they both do include the two most ingredients in whatever they prepare or put on a plate: love and care. These are the two most important ingredients you can put in a recipe, whether making a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich or the most elaborate French dish.
Crust cut off a simple sandwich with love and care somehow makes that sandwich taste so much better than one when it is not applied. I am quickly reminded of this every time the Hamptons number one foody, (that’s me!) makes lunch for the kids rather then my wife and they come home to tell her “please mom don’t let dad make lunch again.” I guess I fail to add those two important ingredients when filling a lunch box.
This is still about the road to healthy, so let me conclude that when you apply love and passion to healthy cooking, what you put in the mouth will for sure taste oh so much better then a dish thrown hastily together just to fill the pang in your stomach. Include love and care in your smoothies, salads and soups.
Now I’m on day five of a week-long juice cleanse. Adam Kelinson of Organic Performance has helped me to refocus on my road to healthy after a few bumps and turns in the road. Now I need to hit another patch of straight freeway so I can get back on track for both my weight and health goals.
I must get off to bed now, since at the moment, sleep is the only thing that will prevent me from a bump of ice cream.
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