Dancing in the Kitchen: Cooking Class

I made this. Though my fingers at first resisted, I made squash blossoms stuffed with raisins and tomatoes and chicken and goodness. I made: avocado soup with a little too much salt;  a mole with green olives, almonds, tomatoes, pineapple, plantain, cinnamon, chiles, and raisins; tortillas (including plantain tortillas). I also made a cucumber water with jalapeno, lime, and just enough sugar, and to top off the feast: orange juice and mezcal sorbet.

Nervous as a chihuahua; I am practically a wreck in the kitchen. At one point, I dropped an apple on the floor. I splashed (a lot of) mole on the stove. I had to scrape my raw tortilla from the stove and press it again–and one more time–to, at last, make a single tortilla. But I returned to the cooking class at Casa Crespo again this summer to practice. And, it certainly was delicious practice under the precise instruction of the artist Oscar Carrizosa: http://casacrespo.com/es/chefs/oscar-carrizosa/

From Good Times

–Lucile Clifton

…My Mama has made bread

and Grampaw has come

and everybody is drunk

and dancing in the kitchen

oh these is good times

good times

good times…

• Paint a picture of prevailing good times despite allusions to life’s challenges. Consider simple joys, spontaneous happiness for small things.