Today she’s going to do it. She’s really going to do it. She is going to cook a meal worthy of food magazines.
Mary has been thinking about it all night. Sleep pales to the excitement of a red steaming pot pouring out savory aromas, and her poor mouth waters. She may as well get up, even if it is only 5 AM. Nothing else matters today but cooking this cioppino right, and it will be right, because the recipe is foolproof, and for once Mary is organized. This time there will be no race against time - she is prepared to concentrate and focus on her mission, cooking just one thing beautifully.
She congratulates herself for purchasing the prawns, calamari, clams, mussels, and salmon yesterday after checking to make sure she had all the ingredients on hand for the sauce – tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, onions, garlic, merlot, and celery. Nor does she kid herself about her abilities. Yes, lobster would be great in the sauce, but she doesn’t have the will to kill one or the funds to buy one. Not to worry – to appease the Cooking God for her sin of omission, Mary carefully wraps up spices of rosemary, oregano, and thyme in linen white cheesecloth, and ties the bouquet garni with a string, a present for him to bless her.
Things are looking good and for once they are feeling right. Nothing is black, nothing is stuck, nothing smells but the suggestion of the ocean and Italy. This is her day, she will remember it, the day she simmered red bubbling fish stew to perfection.
If only there were someone to share it with.
She looks up from the table at a box of oatmeal. Old Mister Quaker smiles down at her from his lofty green cabinet. She smiles back from inside herself.
How could she be so ungrateful? Mary is not alone - the Cooking God has been with her all day! She thinks back on the last time she made cioppino, and misplaced the salmon under the couch as she nervously cleaned for her mother’s visit. The salmon didn’t turn up until the odor came out.
Yes, the cioppino is delicious. Mary has done something right. She pulls out the bouquet garni, and lifts it up in benediction towards the green cabinet. Her mission complete, she dreams about tomorrow, which will start with a nice bowl of oatmeal.
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You really capture the sense of cooking as a semi-magical and mysterious art in this. I love the notion of the Cooking God, the little talismans (like doing the garni perfectly) dreamed up by the nervous cook. And in a short piece, you made me really care about how the cioppino was going to turn out. (I was very relieved!) Really nice job!
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