I Am Not A Cat Lady

I have limits. Many in fact. But not when it comes to the fridge and pantry. I’m like the food equivalent of the cat lady. You know: those women who have way too many cats? Well, I got too many cats in the fridge, if you will. Right now, this very moment, I have:
thick cut bacon, a few apple-chicken breakfast sausages, two chicken breasts, eggs, leftover Spanish shrimp (i.e. shrimp sautéed in garlic, onions, Spanish paprika, sliced onions—paste this in your browser http://www.metroactive.com/bohemian/06.14.06/dining-0624.html for my article on Spanish paprika and for the recipe), fresh tofu puffs, gobs of good cheese, a bunch of broccoli, a head of cauliflower, and assorted lettuces from the garden. And this doesn’t even take into account the condiments and liquids. The kicker is that, like the cat lady, I live alone. Why am I hoarding food? Well, I’m not. I am fortifying my creativity with its necessary tools. Each of these ingredients represents the opportunity to create. Yesterday I made an omelet of scallions, potato and those shrimp for breakfast; for dinner, a steak with a wild mushroom sauce over arugula from the garden. The night before, fresh tofu puffs braised in oyster sauce with broccoli. For lunch today, fresh crab and avocado over garden lettuces. (See, I didn’t mention the crab or the steak as being in the fridge because I ate them; so UNlike the cat lady, I thin my herd.) So part of the reason I have so much stuff is that I can’t actually eat more than a portion at one sitting. Of course, I always make more than one portion (let me mention—again—that I am part Chinese and feel the need to make enough to feed 6 or 8 well) and so always have loads of leftovers. Don’t worry, I do share (I made a maitake mushroom and chard lasagna and a vegan butternut squash soup garnished with toasted cumin squash seeds for friends the other night). But at the heart of all this is that I really like to cook. Supermarkets are to me what sheaves of Pantone colors are to designers: ah the possibilities! Cooking is transformational for the cook and the eater. In a larger sense, food is my longing and my fulfillment. It is my passport to other peoples & cultures. It is how I share and serve, how I connect to the earth. It is my meditation and my extravagance. (I wonder if that’s how cat ladies explain their compulsion?)