MY ACCOUNT

April 23

Hi mum,
 

I’ve been making my way through the box, mostly through the recipes, (though I also found an old journal of mine!) and I’d forgotten how many recipes we’d collected over the years. I also forgot how many unusual things we used to make, like Pink Salt Brittle, Avocado Pudding, Cream of Wheat Cookies…

 

I’ve been making each of the recipes as I find them, because I’ve forgotten what so many of them tasted like. And while some are clear winners (avocado pudding! – but too simple a recipe to publish), others are really not, so it’s clear that going through these recipes requires some diligent testing.

​

I now have two taste-testers in my kitchen - against my will, I might add. Every day since that evening a few weeks ago, Jenna has come knocking, most often in the late afternoon. I open the door and she flies in, gives me a quick peck on the cheek, and then she’s off to the kitchen to see what I’ve been making. She’ll nip a bite or lick or slurp of whatever I’ve got out on the counter, give her feedback, and start boiling water for tea.

​

It’s been an adjustment, getting used to her unabashedly outgoing personality and what feels like her near-constant presence. But I’ll admit that the feedback has actually been helpful.

​

She’s often here when Nora gets home from school, and Nora has now been following Jenna’s example by flying into the kitchen when she gets home, grabbing a sample of the day’s recipe tests, and giving each a score out of five. Jenna listens with a very serious expression and always agrees with Nora’s review, then she’ll share what her own feedback was, and then they discuss that.

​

And so they’ve told me that while the Sour Spicy Crispy Wings are delicious, they think this book should just have sweet recipes, to further highlight the use of salt. Jenna also thinks that I should include the Avocado Pudding recipe because, as she put it: “It’s creamy and decadent and fresh and doesn’t involve any actual cooking or require any real culinary skill, so it’s simple enough that even I could make it without screwing it up!” (But she still backed down when Nora challenged her to make it to prove that claim.)

​

So, we’ll see… there are still a ton of recipes to go through, and lots of information about salt to compile. Jenna and Nora insisted that I set a deadline to complete this project by, so that I don’t hold progress back for “perfection’s sake”. I think Nora suspects that I may grow weary or overwhelmed and end up backing out of the whole endeavor. She suggested I set the deadline for September, so that it’s done by the time she leaves and so she doesn’t miss out on any taste testing. Jenna thinks that may not be enough time, and that the stress of a short deadline might not only prevent me from completing the project, but that it will most certainly suck the fun out of it. I think that’s a valid point, so we’ve all agreed that the deadline will be the end of the year, which gives me eight months from now.

​

But, back to the recipes I’ve been trying out… I have been making some of the savory dishes too, because I do remember some of them being absolutely delectable. And obviously, we still need savory dishes to feed me and Nora, so I’m still going to explore the ones we’d collected, even if they don’t end up in the cookbook. The other day we had the Sour Spicy Crispy Wings, which were so incredibly crisp and crunchy, despite being oven baked, and I whipped up a simple butter parmesan spaghetti and some butter charred broccolini to go with it.

​

Yesterday I made a creamy onion soup with fried matchstick potatoes, and a crusty soda bread to go with it, slathered in fresh-churned butter, of course. The magic in this soup is that half the onions are caramelized, and then you just let that flavor shine through so that the soup doesn’t need a heavy seasoning. I love how caramelized onions taste both sweet and savory, and somehow still carry a bit of that spicy punch that onions have. Jenna was so immersed in the aroma of the soup bubbling on the stove when she walked in that she didn’t hear my warning to blow on the soup before she tried it. As a result, she burnt her mouth so badly she couldn’t taste anything! I packed a large dish of soup for her and Jerry to have when she could taste again.

​

I met Jerry yesterday; he got home in the evening after work, found that Jenna wasn’t there, and knew to find her at our place. He brought us a comically large bag of kettle corn.

​

Jerry is a handyman and has been helping the last week with setting up the carnival that comes into town every May. The popcorn stand was testing out their equipment yesterday for kettle corn and sent bags home with the construction crew, which Jerry brought over for us to enjoy. 

​

“For y’all to munch on… and so Jenna doesn’t eat you out of your home!” he teased, as Jenna poked him. “And maybe this will keep her jaw busy enough that she doesn’t talk your ears off!” Jerry laughed as Jenna continued to poke him.

​

They’re a sweet couple. They’re both in their late 40s and seem to be a perfect match for each other. Both are very easy going, quick to laugh, friendly and welcoming, and love to eat. Jerry’s work as a handyman and his experience with construction complement Jenna’s work as a realtor. Jenna once mentioned that they used to do restoration property purchases before, where they would buy a place that was a bit rundown, spend some time renovating and upgrading the place, and then put it back on the market. She said it got to be very tiresome though, so they stopped. She really does talk a lot! But I’m finding I enjoy listening to her stories.

​

She’s invited me and Nora to go to the carnival with her next week. She was telling me all about the different food vendors and artists and performers that’ll be there; I guess she doesn’t know that I’ve gone every year to see all the food trucks and stalls. I’ve actually taken Nora every year, but she always goes off with her friends, and after I’ve roamed around and sampled things, I either head home or to work.

​

I’ve told Jenna I’ll check with Nora, but I was already planning to go to the carnival to sample the new food trucks that’ll be there, and I can’t very well do that on my own now after her invitation. But at the same time, I’ve never done this before… hanging out with someone that wasn’t you or Nora. It’s different spending time with Jenna here when I’m cooking and working on recipes and occupied doing these tasks… but out there, I won’t have a task to keep me busy, preventing me from needing to carry the conversation, an excuse from being sociable. And I don’t know how to do that. What if I have nothing to say?

​

Maybe I can convince Nora to stay with us since it’s her last carnival with me before she leaves… Nora’s good at chattering.

​

I’m rambling again now. I’ll let you know what happens.

 

Love,

​

Beatrix