It is officially summer, and while you can argue that I finished school a month ago, I say official because the summer solstice is here. That might be the extent of my astrological knowledge, since what I really know about the summer solstice is that it is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. While that might be true, we aren't really seeing it here in Florida, because it has been raining these past couple of days.
Summer means that the kids (and I do still consider myself a kid) are out of school and looking for something to do. While I don't typically struggle to keep myself busy, I know that my sisters are, so we sat down to make some of our own bingo cards. As someone who loves food, I couldn't resist including some food-related challenges on my card. With the summer solistic being today, there would not be a better day to share what those things are here on the blog.
Food Challenge 1: Try 8 New Recipes
This might sound easy, especially when you think about the fact that summer is about three months long. However, I will admit to being a creature of habit, so I do have a tendency to default to recipes I am comfortable with. The other challenge is that I do think of myself as a homemaker, so I do cook for other people who can sometimes be picky. It can be hard for the people-pleaser in me to feed them food that they might end up not enjoying.
That being said, if you have a recipe you love, you should share it with me in the comments below. I would probably be more inclined to try something that has a stellar review from someone else.
Food Challenge 2: Create a Family Cookbook
Maybe this is an old-fashioned idea, to have a Rolodex of recipes that you can flip through and find what you want, written by hand. I think the writer in me romanticizes the idea of it, but I also see the benefit of having something like that to pass along to my kids. Now, with my grandma having moved away, I really wish that I had some version of her recipes to keep for myself.
That being said, I remember hearing somewhere that the idea of recipes come from colonization (I'll reference this article from The Grounded Grub, and this article from Frieze magazine on the matter). So I won't put the pressue on myself to be too specific, just enough to give a general idea of what is necessary, which is how I operate in the kitchen anyway (unless I am baking, then that is another story).
I think this quote from the Frieze article will solidify what I am trying to get at here: "Recipes are a means of sharing knowledge: a way for someone who knows how to make something to inform someone who doesn’t. But a recipe also institutes rules by describing how something should and should not be made." This will be important to keep in mind while I write the cookbook. What it will come down to is whether or not I have the technique and skill to re-create my grandma's recipes, not because I missed a pinch of salt somewhere.
Food Challenge 3: Day of Positivity
While this isn't entirely about food, I do believe that food appreciation can be involved in my day of positivity. When I think about how this generation lives on the internet and how a good or bad review can make or break a restaurant, I believe it would be a very positive thing if I sat down and spent some time writing a positive review of businesses I enjoy.
I already spend time doing this on Atmosfy, but that is an app that might not be as popular as going on Yelp or writing out a Google review. So when I have my day of positivity, I will spend some time doing that. It would be a great way of alleviating the stress on the small business owners that I'm happy to support.
Do you have any food challenges you hope to complete this summer? Or do you have a recipe you love and wouldn't mind sharing with me? How do you bring some positivity into the world? I would love to hear all your thoughts on these things in the comments below.
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