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The Present
Once again the holidays are upon us: the wonder, the
magic, the excitement, and yes, the stress. I’ve decided to address
the stress issue—which for many of us has to do with shopping and
overspending—head on. Like everything else in life, it’s a question
of balance. Less truly is more when we consider all the time, money
and aggravation we spend looking for gifts that aren’t needed or
wanted. What a waste! Pair-down your list. Shop for most items
on-line, creating the space—and releasing the stress—for finding
those special items elsewhere. Skip frantic trips to the mall. Go
to Main Streets or City Streets, decked out in their holiday
finery—when shopping is a part of a fun holiday outing—where the joy
of the discovery and the anticipation of giving is part of the gift
you give yourself.
Within all of us, especially at this time of year, is
a yearning for simpler times, when the joy was felt in the moment:
the warmth of a crackling fire; the smell of an apple pie baking in
the oven; the sight of the first snow; the embrace of someone you
love. All of these are moments that can be captured only in the
present. This reminds me of a famous anonymous quote, “Yesterday is
history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. That’s why they
call it the present.”
For me, some of my most memorable moments of
yesterday were spent in the kitchen preparing all of the special
holiday delicacies that would be shared with friends and neighbors
and grace my family’s holiday table. Christmas Eve—when we ate many
courses of fish—and Christmas Day meals would last for hours
accompanied by much laughter and story telling. Still, I loved the
hours spent in preparation for these meals the best. There was
always a feeling of excitement in the kitchen and the repetitiveness
of my simple tasks such as stuffing the mushrooms or icing the
cookies became almost a meditation for the love and security I felt
around me. I didn’t know it then, but I know now, that these
feelings went into the food I prepared and it was this loving secret
ingredient that made a defining difference.
Today my holiday preparations begin with spray
paint! Every year I collect leaves and berries, nuts, pinecones,
whatever I find in nature that has an interesting shape and spray
them in bronze silver, gold or copper. I then buy standard,
artificial green wreathes as well as dried foliage, and other
ornamentation and set to work, on my kitchen table creating what
soon look like beautiful works of art. For years I hung them in my
restaurant dining room. I’d always get several offers to buy them
for sometimes hundreds of dollars! (I spent mere pennies). I could
never part with them, though, because I’d save them for the next
year, when a simple sprucing up would be all they needed to make
them beautiful once again. I would however make them as gifts. One
year I hung several wreathes on my walls and asked each of my
siblings to pick one out for their family. It was such fun! To this
day, my daughter associates spray paint with the start of the
holidays.
With wreathes gracing my walls, windows and doors, my
kitchen returns, once again to the preparation of food. I realize
that what I continue to enjoy most about the Holidays is the time
spent preparing for them. It is the season that inspires me—not the
day, for it passes too quickly.
It is the preparation that once again brings me back
to simpler times of yesterday. And once again the love that goes
into the preparations, and the aromas coming out of my kitchen are
now felt by my children and new memories and traditions are formed.
So this holiday season give the gift that truly keeps on giving and
create memories in the present, in your own kitchen, for those you
love.
Happy Holidays!
Chef Silvia
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Archived Notes from the chef
Gratitude and Gravy | Differences | Communal Kitchen | Summer Food | Pleasure/Purpose | Dazzling Meal | Improvise This | The Missing Link | Dream On | Traditions | One Rainy Night | A Question of Time | Simple Life | Joy of Cooking | Store Wars | Healthy Kitchen | Baking Bread | Presentation | Changes | The Present | Summer Memories | On Moving | On Sept. 11 | Mindful Eating
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