Fruity

I remember sitting in my fourth grade classroom being lectured on nutrition. Very vividly I see my teacher going through the importance of drinking milk for calcium and eating bread for … I'm not quite sure what she was saying about the bread. My stomach was beginning to growl at the idea of a tall glass of milk and a few pieces of wheat bread- I was lost in hunger!

All of a sudden, cheese puffs and fruit roll ups took a backseat to the most appealing snack I could think of. Was it the sudden awareness that some foods were better for me than others? Seemed far fetched but regardless of the reason, I got home that day and instead of my usual snack of cheese it's and pickles I had three slices of plain wheat bread dipped into a tall glass of whole milk. Simple never tasted so perfect. 

The same mind game that took place in my fourth grade classroom is the same thing I'm about to try and do to you. Feel free to put on your aluminum helmet if brain manipulation is something that scares you.

Consider for a moment though the amount of effort we put into cooking. Like a toddler playing with paints, we can start with 5 beautiful colors, yet when we mix them together we end up making a puke brown. That's often me in the kitchen- I'll do my best to buy the right ingredients, but inevitably I end up with a finished product that doesn't reflect the effort that went into it.

However, even if you are a great cook I'd be willing to bet that you're a great critic as well. Without a doubt you will always find the cook sit down at the table and say something along the lines of “Does it need a little more salt?”

There's something to that color illustration; something perfectly simple. When is the last time you sat down and ate a good strawberry? And I don't mean the berries in your pre packaged yogurt you have in your fridge. I'm talking about fresh, ripe, hand picked fruit that comes with a wet nap and a lawn chair. 

I was headed down to the peninsula the other day and I stopped there in high island at the little fruit stand on the south side of town. You know, the one you always tell your spouse “we need to stop there sometime!” 

I picked out a couple of fresh mango, tomatoes and avocado to enjoy and let me tell you they were worth the stop. Now, for all I know that produce is shipped in on crates and the small fruit stand with the gulf view is simply a mirage of a simpler supply. But even if that's true the enjoyment of that freshly sliced tomato on the deck was something that I could never cook up. 

Eat more fresh produce, would you? Take pride in learning to cut a mango, make a mess carving a watermelon, slice a lemon for your tea and for Pete’s sake always get the cherry on top. What a gift it is to have such an abundance of flavors in their rawest form. 

Life is hard enough. Give yourself a break from the cooking criticism and enjoy the meal that was prepared for you.

Perhaps a cosmic accident produced such taste bud splendor, but it makes me laugh when I think that the creator is a better cook than me. 

Simple never tasted so perfect.