Who loves to cook? Oh lord, I absolutely LOVE cooking. Even when we plan a vacation, I make sure the kitchen in the house we rent is well appointed and ready for me to cook as many meals as my fellow vacationers will allow. I plan the menu months in advance. I bring the items that may not be available – grill pan, citrus zester, professional knives – and my goal is to nourish and entertain. It’s kind of my calling. It wasn’t always that way, though.
I went to culinary school in my forties and discovered that we really do eat with our eyes and nose as much as our taste buds. Before that I cooked the way my mom and dad cooked—hearty Italian food made with lots of love, calories, fats, and carbs. However, it was a Native American medicine man who taught me the true power of feeding and nourishing people’s bellies and souls. What he did was transcend cooking into a heavenly art, something simple yet gratifying that can’t be conveyed through recipes or culinary techniques. It’s all about the prayer, and how the work is the prayer. Let me write that again … The work IS the prayer. I believe that this is especially true in the kitchen.
The first time I encountered a Kitchen Witch it wasn’t the cute hanging figure that was so popular in the seventies. Remember those? I received three of them for my bridal shower. They were darling, but the real kitchen witch is my mother. She’s not a mean or nasty witch, warts at all, but a cooking wizard white witch who instinctively understood what I’d learn later at a Native American’s knee. Mom’s hands are holy. They kneaded mountains of dough, loading her magic into the bread with each tender touch. Those fingers chop and slice, layer and bake, decorate and graciously hand over each tidbit of perfection. Whether it was Italian chicken wedding soup from heaven, or tender, luscious orange cookies, everyone tasting her cooking knows it comes from a place bigger than her heart. It comes from her soul.
I’ve met Kitchen Angels several times in my life. They are those amazing people who unblinkingly volunteer to cook at church events, prepare sandwiches at the local Meals on Wheels, carry food from paid functions to help the Food Bank, and generously trudge through the snow to take an ailing neighbor a pot of soup. These are the real Kitchen Angels, working tirelessly to feed and nourish those who need it most.
Not all of us can be a kitchen wizard white witch like my mom … but we all have the time and capacity to be Kitchen Angels. Check your cupboards. There must be at least ten cans of veggies or other dry good products that can help some organization struggling to feed the hungry in your neighborhood. Bless all you human angels who help out, and thank the heavens for the celestial beings that watch over us all.
Welcome to ANGEL MOMENTS. My ideas will be here but I really want to hear your thoughts on angels, how they influence your life, and how you experience this amazing blessing.
Eighteen-year-old orphan Gracie wants a normal life, but a shocking set of unexpected wings and a deadly war change everything.
THE ORPHANS, book one of The Lost Race trilogy. Coming November 2018!
Angel Moments 