A Birthday Request
It's November and that means my annual cycle of introspection has begun. I turn 40 in less than a week and looking around there's a lot of change in the air. I'd hoped to go to Belize, see the Mayan ruins and dive or snorkel on the reefs, take a floating tour through jungle cave complexes. Maybe I'll do that for 45 instead. This year is a close to home year. We put in a patio, bought a grill and some furniture to put on it, built those raised beds I've wanted for years. It was a good substitute. I enjoyed the heck out of that patio this summer.
It's also been a strange time for my social group. The couple who were the bedrock of our "chosen family" since Kate was small broke up this year and without them as a central touch point, other peripheral relationships have fallen away. Friends have continued to spin off in other directions, taking jobs in new cities or countries, skipping conventions or other "gamer socials" in favor of time with family. I understand it, I support their decisions... they're the right ones. I still miss them. It's been a year of establishing strange, new equilibriums.
One thing that hasn't changed, though I haven't been blogging about it as much this year, is the joy I get from food and cooking. My heart is full of food memories, my head is full of inspirations to make and (high on my success in the new garden beds) grow. I may not have any family jewels to pass on to Kate but I have a treasure trove of tastes and smells and memories in food form, sweet and spicy, simple and decadent, special.
So, here we are. My birthday request: for my birthday I'd like a recipe from you. Yes, you. You may not ever comment, may never have admitted that you even read this blog. You and I may not agree on much of anything, may not have spoken in years, may not ever have met outside of the internet... that doesn't matter. In fact, it's precisely the POINT of my request: I may have specific memories of Stan!'s deviled eggs or Linda's crockpot lasagna, the year Catherine and I made that glorious mustard-pickle (the recipe for which I've since lost (SOB)) or the time Christine introduces me to my first bagna cauda but I want to make sure I have a memory of YOU, too.
On Sunday I'm having a birthday brunch. Several friends will be there to celebrate with me. Many more, if not most, of the other people I know, interact with, and enjoy will not be there. You game industry friends, far-flung relatives, former co-workers, and people who lurk, hit this blog looking for recipes, send me feedback, or tell me at conventions or parties how much they like something they've found on my blog and made for themselves...you won't be there and that makes my world seem so much smaller than it really is.
Please send me a recipe. You can send me an e-mail at nikchick@aol.com, or message me through Livejournal, or Facebook, or Nikchick.com. Maybe it's a recipe that makes you think of me. Maybe it's a recipe that will make me think of you. Something simple, something complex, something you love! I'm going to compile my birthday recipes and get them bound into a book for myself, a keepsake of my time with food and people to this point, something I can use over the next 40 years. That's what I want for my birthday!
It's also been a strange time for my social group. The couple who were the bedrock of our "chosen family" since Kate was small broke up this year and without them as a central touch point, other peripheral relationships have fallen away. Friends have continued to spin off in other directions, taking jobs in new cities or countries, skipping conventions or other "gamer socials" in favor of time with family. I understand it, I support their decisions... they're the right ones. I still miss them. It's been a year of establishing strange, new equilibriums.
One thing that hasn't changed, though I haven't been blogging about it as much this year, is the joy I get from food and cooking. My heart is full of food memories, my head is full of inspirations to make and (high on my success in the new garden beds) grow. I may not have any family jewels to pass on to Kate but I have a treasure trove of tastes and smells and memories in food form, sweet and spicy, simple and decadent, special.
So, here we are. My birthday request: for my birthday I'd like a recipe from you. Yes, you. You may not ever comment, may never have admitted that you even read this blog. You and I may not agree on much of anything, may not have spoken in years, may not ever have met outside of the internet... that doesn't matter. In fact, it's precisely the POINT of my request: I may have specific memories of Stan!'s deviled eggs or Linda's crockpot lasagna, the year Catherine and I made that glorious mustard-pickle (the recipe for which I've since lost (SOB)) or the time Christine introduces me to my first bagna cauda but I want to make sure I have a memory of YOU, too.
On Sunday I'm having a birthday brunch. Several friends will be there to celebrate with me. Many more, if not most, of the other people I know, interact with, and enjoy will not be there. You game industry friends, far-flung relatives, former co-workers, and people who lurk, hit this blog looking for recipes, send me feedback, or tell me at conventions or parties how much they like something they've found on my blog and made for themselves...you won't be there and that makes my world seem so much smaller than it really is.
Please send me a recipe. You can send me an e-mail at nikchick@aol.com, or message me through Livejournal, or Facebook, or Nikchick.com. Maybe it's a recipe that makes you think of me. Maybe it's a recipe that will make me think of you. Something simple, something complex, something you love! I'm going to compile my birthday recipes and get them bound into a book for myself, a keepsake of my time with food and people to this point, something I can use over the next 40 years. That's what I want for my birthday!
Labels: birthday
