Cooking Imitating Life or Life Imitating Cooking?

Dear Pappou,

I’ve heard a saying that seems to describe my life. “Life happens while you plan.” You make sure you check everything on the list of whatever it is for which you’re planning. You might even look over it a couple times thinking you’ve get everything covered. Then, all of a sudden, a hurdle, monkey wrench, or whatever you want to call it comes barreling your way veering you off the path that you intended to follow. If you’re not careful, you can let it really get to you. Translation: If you take your eyes off of God, you can send yourself careening very far away from the safety of His Will and His great love for you.

While making the last couple of dishes, I discovered that cooking is very much like life. As a lighter example, this last dish I made, psarosoupa, I had the recipe with me but let myself get distracted while in the grocery store and forgot to buy a couple of the ingredients. Keeping away from chocolate has been a huge struggle for me. Seriously. I used to eat some every day. The serotonin boost helps immensely, yet the fat and sugar seem to override that benefit. I let myself get distracted by whether or not to just buy a little or totally avoid the candy aisle. As I’m eyeballing that section, I caught myself suddenly having to dodge people around me because I wasn’t watching where I was going. However, it was in vain because I ended up zigzagging right near a stand showcasing the latest candy bars. Ugh!

When I began to make the fish soup, it hit me that I didn’t have all that I needed. Once again, I began to Google for ingredient substitutions once again. I began to berate myself for not focusing harder on my errands. I realized that I have already learned of some of these substitutions. I needed to learn to trust myself and not worry about being perfect. Follow God’s lead. It’s like my fairly new prayer rule that I’d been following. I felt like I had to be perfect at prayer, rather than focusing on praying from the heart, even when reading from a prayer book. Over time, I’ve become more comfortable with it and it has started to flow more so from my heart. Anyway, shouldn’t I be thankful I have food from which I can choose to create a meal? No, I should not be pouting that it won’t be the most delectable thing on Earth; isn’t that egotistical thinking anyway?

So I began to chop, dice, measure, and pour my way around the recipe. I was getting excited of the prospects of how I could make this originally traditional recipe with my own Greek twist on it. What the heck! No celery? Don’t panic! Just continue straight over to the pantry to add more potatoes! No celery leaves? Don’t dodge! Just continue straight over to the refrigerator and add that half zucchini that was starting to go bad anyway! Why not add that new lobster bouillon you bought?! Well, I bought it before knowing I’m not supposed to eat it but a little won’t hurt right? By the way, I even “survived” cutting the slimy fish! LOL!

It looks a lot like the lamb and orzo stew, but it did come out pretty well if I do say so myself. It surely came out better than the last batch of baguettes! Goodness, am I failing at that! But I’ll keep plugging along because I’m determined to get it right. At least more edible! LOL! Speaking of, Mrs. M. is going to teach me next week how to properly make prosphoron (improve upon those skills) Maybe somehow that will help translate to the baguettes. Καληνύχτα! Σ’αγαπώ πάρα πολύ!

Love,

Gia 🙏💕☦️🕊