"Clean plates don't lie."
-- Chef Dan Barber
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| Gastrointestinal (G.I.) Joes 12-18-14 |
"My favorite animal is steak."
-- Fran Lebowitz
"... and after swallowing the liquid
I crunched the bones
and sucked the marrow ..."
-- William Henry Hudson, Green Mansions
Leo invited his friend Jose to go weightlifting with him yesterday, and asked if I'd cook dinner for them after their workout.
Fuck yeah, I'll cook. That's a no-brainer.
Whenever one of my guys starts a question with "Mom, will you cook (insert food here)?" the answer is yes.
The answer is always yes.
I love to cook. But I really love to cook when 1.) someone I care about asks me to, and 2.) I'm cooking for good eaters.
I asked Leo what he wanted me to make and he said "meat."
Other than "no dessert" and "minimal carbs," the boys left the menu up to me.
They're simple creatures with healthy appetites. What mom wouldn't want to cook for a crowd like that? Even if it's only a crowd of two?
So I grilled four big juicy ribeye steaks, roasted three fat caramelized yams and some lovely Roma tomatoes with olive oil and balsamic, steamed some broccoli, cooked a steaming pot of thick, spiced lentils, made a fresh jug of iced tea and, for "dessert," peeled and sectioned a bowl full of refreshing, palate-cleansing clementines.
When they got home from building up their manly muscles at the gym, they ate it.
All of it.
To put it in their lingo, they "smashed." They smashed everything except for about a cup of broccoli and the half a yam that I ate.
Jose just kept saying "All of this food is so good."
What a sweet boy.
When they were finished, their plates were clean enough to put back in the cupboard.
The dishes were empty.
The boys were full.
The cook was happy.
After their meal, the boys sprawled on the couch in the basement for a couple of hours and watched a weightlifting movie while they digested. When they finally came upstairs and Jose had to take off, they both said they were hungry again.
I was still full on my half a yam.
Jose said goodbye and thanked me again for the meal. Then he said some more magic words.
"You're a really good cook."
Aww.
Can I keep him?
