City Excitement

Certain cities exude excitement. Business carried me to Raleigh today so my friend Judy and I met at the fabulous restaurant Sitti Restaurant on Wilmington & Hargett Streets for lunch. While driving into Downtown Raleigh, I pick up the energy of this beautiful, clean, artistic city life. People are walking along the streets and tables outside restaurants are filled, even in this 100^ plus heat. Inside Sitti where the cuisine is Lebanese cooked with fresh ingredients, they are packed with people of all ages, excitedly sharing meals and exchanging news and ideas. People are actually waiting for tables to free up so they can be seated!

Driving out of the city, I notice statuary I had not seen before; Gandi outside the Marbles Kids Museum among them. I spot fountains pouring out water profusely, which seem to cool down the temperature outside my air conditioned car. Old buildings, next to newer designed and built, seem to complement each other like multi-generational families, looking different but respecting each other.

It’s exciting to drive into the city but I head back to the country for peace, creativity, and tranquility. Still, it’s nice to know it is there and I can access it when I need a touch of city life.

Coming To An End

The end of compiling recipes and collecting ads for the Warrenton Woman’s Club Cookbook is near. It’s been a lot of work and very time consuming; even costly since I always feel compelled to buy a little something when I’m soliciting ads. And I JUST HAD to eat in the few restaurants I visited, again for recipes and ads. Work is so-o-o-o pleasant! Egads, I’d make a terrible salesperson, having my paycheck spent before I got back to the office.

So as I type the last few recipes still dribbling in, I’m nibbling the last recipe that I made on Sunday. I kid myself by saying that I’m taste-testing, when I’m really adding another delightful recipe to my own collection. With this new book coming out in October, I think I’ll be adding a whole lot of new recipes. This is a great idea because nearly every gathering I go to, is a potluck affair. And now I have new foods to present.

Food and Memories

I’m nearly finished with “Food and What Feeds Us” by A Weeks Worth of Women; edited by Jyoti Wind. I’ll be sorry to have it end but will refer to it often, I’m sure. I’ll also be trying some of the recipes listed, almost as a secondary thought. Memories, stories, and thoughts about foods were written by seven women over their lifetimes. These women grew up in various areas of the country, had very different backgrounds and experiences that influenced what they ate and how. I believe they all live in the Boulder, Colorado area now. Their stories open new doors to lives lived by others.

Photos of each of the women; Patricia Jordan, Annette Price, Terra Rafael, Mary Randall, Prema Rose, Jyoti Wind, and Jesse Wolfe are in the back of the book. I feel that I’ve come to know them by switching back and forth, matching the picture with the story. Brava to everyone of them.

Recipes & Remembrances Cookbook

Recipes & Remembrances is nearly complete. The finished cookbook will be quite different than other local cookbooks because we’ve invited our friends and families living throughout the country to contribute their favorite recipes, too. This includes those who are chefs and professionals.

We’ve also included an area for personal notes that will add to the pleasure of reading the cookbook even when you are using it for just cooking. After all, cooking itself is very personal.

There are also some recipes from our past history in the form of favorite recipes from the First Ladies of our Land. Since Martha Washington was our first “First Lady”, her recipe was the first entered. Others follow.

So I’m certain, our cookbook will become an heirloom, handed down from generation to generation like the genealogy of a family. That’s what we are, a family of cooks and recorders of our own history.