An Unexpected Improvement

Saturday 7 October

The one thing I never expected out of my experience of living in Guinea was becoming a better cook. This lentil, potato, tomato soup I prepared tonight was awesome. Or maybe my taste buds have really been changing such that I can't differentiate between good and bad flavors.

In the US where we can buy any cuisine we want, we forget that we ourselves could prepare the tasty lentil soup that we were served in the Indian restaurant. I always use the excuse, I am just too busy. It is so much easier going to a restaurant. They do all the work.

In Guinea where all I have is time, time to shop, to shop, to simmer all the yummy flavors out of the fresh ingredients, and to clean, I discover the pleasures of preparing an awesome meal.

Cooking a meal is not a chores like it is in the US. Even if I had all the time in the world back in the US, it would not be the same. Life in the US is such a shore: driving to the super market protected in our rolling metal cans, walled away from the beauty of nature, the heat and the wind, to rush into the air conditioned store to barely make eye-contact with the strangers, to attack rush hour traffic only to arrive home exhausted preferring to pop in the frozen pizza to slaving over a hot stove. You don't even have to use a plate. Throw the cardboard in the trash and clean-up is done.

It is hard to find leisure time, to enjoy shopping, cooking, and cleaning. Cars have taken something away from us, the ability to pause and enjoy a minute. We think cars give us so much more time in our day, what a lie.

Comment:

This particular blog makes it sound like I never enjoyed cooking in the US. This is false. There were plenty of times when leisure time was given to cooking and cleaning, when time was spent enjoying a moment, a minute, a peaceful pleasure.

There were hot cocoas and beautifully sliced pieces of fruit. There were meatballs in a leafy green soup and salt-covered fish. There were barely stir-fried Chinese meals and huge Thanksgiving dinners. And who could forget the Gazpacho melange of raw veggies? Plus chocolate chip cookies and biscuits baked with my father. There were my first pork and ground beef spaghetti sauces. There were avocado bacon and turkey sandwiches, garlic mashed potatoes, and mac and cheese made from scratch. And what about broccoli and TVP chili's? There were my first pie crusts, turned into pecan delights.

Can you find the memory of you in a dish?

In the hustle and bustle of life in the US, it is important to relish a meal with a friend. Free up an afternoon, an evening. Clear your schedule of any stress or time constraints. Taste the pleasures of time I am finding in Guinea.