The recipe for great family food memories, healing old and new wounds, building relationship bridges, and celebrations of all things great and small is to gather for a family feast. Generous portions of love and care are fundamental to each dish. No holiday or birthday necessary; this is a planned potluck fit for royalty. Entitlement to bragging rights, priceless!
The feast menu should revolve around a specific culinary theme for the sake of each dish typically complementing the others. Seasonal foods are always at the peak of freshness and inspire cooks to new heights. I have been known to "surf and turf" a family and friends crowd with marinated steaks on the grill, while seafood resided in the nearby smoker. I definitely advise using flavored oils and vinegars as a base for building signature marinades. Use capers, olives, shallots, garlic, fresh herbs, aromatic seeds, cooking wines and spirits, etc., to start the dance of flavors. Never use a heavy hand or indulge in oversaturating the raw product. Marinades are acidic by design and are engineered to jumpstart the tenderizing process. The feast can be a fish fry, chili cook-off, tea party, buffet, etc. There are no rules, just raw imagination and passion. Cook extra special treats for your family. Tantalize them with traditional cornbread, pan-roasted vegetables, roasted meats, and fried delicacies. Freely add as much laughter, family folklore, jokes, and tall tales as you like in all phases of feast preparations. Decorate the surroundings with whatever candles, string lights flowers, ornamentals, and vases available. Handmade fruit butters and marmalades in Mason jars add an extra joy to baked goods. Wonderful heritage recipes describing casseroles and stewpots can usually be found amongst the matriarchs of the family. The same goes for generational top-secret family sauces built for everything from pasta to barbeque. Making homemade candies is also guaranteed to impress, and is delightful to find in decorative tins and pretty candy dishes around the house. Family recipies are fabulous to include on decorative cards inside edible presents or as place markers at the table set attractively for the occasion For an extra touch of love, add a family photograph along with the recipe. Feed your family and watch the strength flow from one to another. Put your heart into cooking each spoonful, with a purpose to show pride in bringing a feast together. Breaking bread together is power and prosperity..
My sister-by-choice Glo makes the best punch bowl iced tea punch in the world for our family gatherings. It is just as eye-pleasing as it is delicious. We have often cooked in her beautiful kitchen amidst her collection of eclectic spices and gorgeous African dolls looking on as we concoct and collaborate. I wouldn't trade my fun on the stove and scrounging through markets with her for all the money in the world. I have a lifelong, binding, food memory with each woman in my sister circle. These family and friend sisters have taught me how to heal, how to survive, how to forgive, how to celebrate, and how to achieve grace as our hands worked in concert to serve nourishment to our dearest loved ones. Weddings, funeral repasts, births, job promotions, holiday open house, reunions, personal conquests, and so many graduations. Trading prized, harvested specimens from garded to garden to share. Love in any form makes me want to cook. Pain makes me want to cook, as a release. Surprises motivate me to cook. New adventures push me to cook intricate dishes. Taking pride in being extraordinary as a chef rather than" coloring inside the lines" makes me ache to seek the flame and feel the heat. Join me if you dare... I invite you to taste life..
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