Lunch Box Chronicles: Day One Hundred Forty Nine (The Go To Girl)

The Go To Girl

Sometimes the "go to girl" has to become the "gotta go girl"

Being the anchor, the fall back, the one on whom everyone relies comes with great rewards,

but also creates such a clamor that sometimes,

the voices, the calls, the requests must be muted.

Without the muting, all incoming signals become a deafening chaotic cacophony,

one that needs to be turned off,

even if only from one sunset to the next.

What good is the “go to girl” if

she hears only mumbles and sees only blurs.

And from the coveted one-day of silence and darkness emerges clarity in which

the “go to girl” returns for all but one day of the earth’s rotation around the sun, and

the “gotta go girl” slips away for her 364 day nap.

The “go to girl” has returned, refreshed, stronger, with a smile on her face and warmth in her heart, ready to be the “go to”

until it is time to “gotta go.”

This Go-to-Girl may need more than the just one day allotted in this attempt-to-be-poetic piece, but when she does "gotta go", she has left simple recipes for those whom rely on the next day's meal. Here is a simple "gotta go" recipe.

One Spelt Right Pizza Dough, fully thawed and risen. Gently work dough into a well oiled (with EVOO) stainless steel baking sheet (preferably with edges), cover with sauteed onions, garlic, and mushrooms (and whatever you have in the fridge). Top with fresh mozzarella and goat cheese and olives. Bake at 450 for 15-22 minutes, depending upon how brown and crispy you like the crust. Feed your loved ones, give them simple recipes, tell them you care, and then slip away just for a moment in time, so that you can return, refreshed, with a smile on your face, and ready to feed once again.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Seventy-Four (Flayir bil-Flayfli - The Universal Language of Food)

I am so attached to food and eating and feeding anyone who crosses my path.   Food is the one link to my ancestoral past.  Imagine escaping your home, leaving all behind, and having family members scatter.  The images are lost, there are no papers, just memories.  But, when the memories fade, the languages are forgotten, and the generation who braved the escape is gone, those born into new generations have lost the links.  We are orphans longing for that connection.  But out of the gardens and bowls and ovens arise certain textures, aromas, and tastes that are like the spirits of our grandparents.  They linger; they evoke emotion and bring about comfort.

So it is.  My grandparents immigrated to the US around 1912 from the Middle East, leaving all behind, venturing into a new land.   Their children were taught to be "American" and to look whiter and dress cleaner, to lose the accent, and forget the language.   Their grandchildren so blended in the New World that there was barely a vestige of the past, except, that is for the flavors.

And, it is with these flavors, and the careful hand making of food that I channel my grandparents, thanking them for making the hard journey, for leaving their families, and for holding out hope for generations to come.   And, it is with these flavors that I feel so at home, so grounded and so connected to that lost world that I may never see and the language I will never learn.  And, it is with these flavors that I will pass on family history with tastes that no one will forget.

And, here I offer one of my situ's favorite recipes - yes, I know that I have posted this before, but good history should repeat itself.

And thanks to my cousin Donna who I saw at the Shogry Family reunion, I have found out the Arabic Name for these!!! Flayir bil-Flayfli

Two Spelt Right Pizza Doughs, fully thawed, double in size (we'll give you a picture this time)
Two cups walnuts (measure and then chop finely)
Two medium red peppers
One onion finely chopped
Juice from two whole lemons
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
Mix all ingredients (except dough) in medium bowl
Cut 12-16 even dough balls (from two doughs)
Stretch or roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick (more or less) rounds, place on oiled baking sheet
Place about 2 TBL of pepper, walnut mixture on rounds
Bake at 40-450 for 15-20 minutes or until dough is golden brown.

These are great hot or cold for breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner, or after dinner. Yum, yum, and yum. Always a two thumbs up.

Lunch Box Chronicles: Day Fifty-Two (Olivia's Mezze of Perfection)

Ever since giving birth to Emma 18 years ago, I have had a nagging sense that neither kid nor career received the kind of attention either deserved.  Having Emma 2 weeks after graduating from law school and 6 weeks before the bar exam might have been a contributing factor to the pull.  Do you think? The balancing act began.   Now, it is 18 years later, and Emma is on her way to college, but her 8 year old clone, Olivia, reminds me that the balancing act continues.   After going AWOL from my law career about a year ago (not sure this is permanent), I experience as much or perhaps more balancing with the building of the Spelt Right business as I did practicing law, but somehow, the "business" is so much more palpable (or should I say palatable) and inclusive of the kids, especially at dinner time.   "Hey, kids, who is doing the Lunch Box Chronicle tonight?  Mom, needs help, and you all have to help at the bakery tomorrow."   Perhaps, a form of homeschooling in its own right.  A usually bored Olivia perks up, "I know, I will do a mezze plate!!"  She scrambled to the fridge and started digging in.  A half an hour later, a work of art emerged.

Here is her poem (aka recipe), entitled "THE MEZZE OF PERFECTION!" and a photo of the work of art. "If you like mezze plates, listen to me.  It has crackers, focaccia, olives, peaches and oranges too!! It's a plate with tons of yummy food! Yum. Yum. Whoo Hoo!"

Thank you, Olivia!  Vote from mom?  Two Thumbs up.