How is it going for you? Is summer heat blasting through your window, or do you live somewhere where the fog never seems to lift?
The illustration above is from my friend Maritess, who is not only creative but also thoughtful. Thank you, Maritess! I do imagine the bar exam as a duo of monsters, the larger being the exam itself.
I haven’t been cooking much lately. My freezer has provided me with good company, and the most exotic thing to grace my counter has been black tea with coconut milk and agave nectar (thanks for the tip, Serious Eats!).
But stepping away from the food blogs and stove-tending has forced me to focus on other aspects of food. Hunger, for example, and friendship. It seems always true that you appreciate something more when you have little of it.
When I was young, my mom would take painstaking care to make us kids lunch every day of the week. Chicken sandwiches with avocado and cheese, carefully wrapped in yellow butcher paper. Apples from See Canyon. Rice wrapped in seaweed as we squished our bodies into the car.
I try to continue that sense of love by cooking, but it's the gesture that matters most. Whatever you eat, I hope you are on the receiving end of some human connection. A scone passed across the coffee shop counter counts. So do frozen dumplings presented on a plate (my informal survey this past week reveals that many of my peers are eating frozen dumplings). Even a hand-drawn illustration can feel like food.
And when you receive it, I hope you pass it on.
