The Cottage Kitchen Rules

Okay, I'm not going to plagiarize, but while going through my fly-away collection of recipes (those scraps that you never rewrite on something to fit in a box or file, because you lose that patina: the moment you had to find paper, the grease spot that overtakes some of the letters...) I came across something I downloaded while surfing Morel mushroom recipes from an e-newsletter, posted in March 2003 written by Edie Clark, with whom - if I met Edie - I think I'd have a lot to talk about. Read on...

Cottage Kitchen Rules
1. Experiment with new things.
2. Find interesting ways to "spin" old things.
3. If it flops, don't make it again.
4. If it's great, draw a lot of little stars and write things like "super" all over the recipe card.
5. Invite a lot of people over to help, then put them to work chopping and dicing.
6. Tell them to bring wine.
7. Make sure someone like Jeanie brings dessert, if you're lucky enough to know someone like Jeanie.
8. Listen to Pavarotti. Opera "fine tunes" taste buds. If you don't believe me, try it.
9. If it tastes like dirt, don't eat it. Especially if it's expensive.
10. If it isn't fun, don't do it, except for the dirty dishes.
11. If it's pasta or rice or soup, drizzle a dash of white truffle oil on top. This will be delicious and it will make everyone wonder what that mysterious flavor is.
12. If you can't decide what to serve, boil some fettuccini and serve it with an Alfredo sauce and whatever's in season. Try mushrooms, ramps, fiddleheads, seafood, sausage, bacon, chicken, or meat.

I mean, don't you just feel like you want an invitation to Edie's? She understands my fly-away scraps of paper with recipes on them, I know she does. She had posted a great recipe for Morels with Madeira and Fettuccini. Besides that, if she's got so many people drinking, chopping and dicing to Pavarotti, she's got a bigger mess in her kitchen than I probably do...(at least not after last night's organizing). We're bonded without ever having met.

Better yet, I know we're already bonded over our little forest fungi. And I'm getting a bit antsy for Spring planting season and moreover, mushroom hunting. I bet Edie is, too. But this weekend (because there are no morels yet up here), I'm seeding my San Marzano tomatoes (now nearly 11th generation from my job in the Santa Fe greenhouses) and with that comes my daydreams of the Morel...those lovely, wrinkled, dirty little sprites. Can't help it.

My only challenge now is to find someone like Jeanie. Although I did have a KILLER flan (or should I say super) in the not too distant past...maybe I do have my Jeanie...