Love, Culinary Style

Essay written for a writing class on the subject of our choice

Cooking, some people despise it, some people bemoan it and some people even fear it.  In the Kusluch household however, we love it. 

 

Cooking brings us together and fills the house with wonderful smells that make us whoop and holler and run for the kitchen, or just the opposite, it fills the house with the scents of our most hated dishes that make us roll our eyes and run for the take-out pizza menu. 

 

At family get-togethers we often reminisce about our favorite treasured food memories.  We laughingly tease our mother about how often she tried to kill us when we were children and she in turn reminds us of all the near inedible dishes we so earnestly cooked for her over the years that she consumed with a smile on her face.

 

The battle lines are once again drawn on the worn and tattered rug, and warriors on both sides stand eager and ready for a culinary battle that The Iron Chefs in Kitchen Stadium only wish they could participate in.

 

We come out swinging with the “Chili of a Thousand Peppers, All of them Cayenne” and she lobs into play “Scrambled Egg Islands and Cold Toast Rafts adrift in Chocolate Milk Seas”.  We quickly strike back with “Chipped Ham and Deli Paper Barbecues” and she deftly counters with “Tomato Wedges smothered in French Dressing and a Can of Black Pepper”.  We swiftly let loose, “The Most Evil and Despised, Not So Spanish Rice”, and she calmly answers with "Burnt yet Frigid French Toast at 6am on a Saturday”.  

On and on we battle until both sides call uncle and collapse, smiles wide on our faces and laughter loud in our ears.  There are no winners, no losers, no injured battle weary soldiers.  Just a family drawn together by their long standing culinary rituals and love of good food.  It’s a tradition we hope to never lose. 

 

Whenever I cook the dishes of my childhood, they instantly transport me back in time to my childhood home in Sharpsburg, sitting on the living room floor, spaced evenly apart around the large circular coffee table with my brother and sisters, eating dinner and watching The Untouchables, my dad’s favorite TV show. 

 

I’ve carried this joy of creating food and memories now to my own home and to my husband James, who is the willing and eager recipient of my efforts.

With each cherished recipe I recreate for him, I add a little piece of me.  A little tidbit of the girl I once was and the woman I now am, and together she and I make our own culinary soldiers ready for future gastronomic battles.

Author's Note

Tell me what you think!

Reviews

[Brittni]

I am a member of a family that LOVE to cook and believes in the family being together in the kitchen and helping to prepare a meal. This peice brings me back to my childhood and being in the kitchen with my folks as we would cook. It's a clean,fun piece and very cute. I like it.

[Carolina Kel]

I like this piece. Very simple but fun. Good job.

[Samuel Dickens]

I enjoyed this a lot. In your house, as it was in mine, food plays an important role in family affairs, going far beyond the mere filling of stomachs. It was a fun read --thank you.