by Anne-Marie Fryer Wiboltt

One of the most interesting things I learned as a painter was to understand how the magnificent colors are created from the interplay of light and darkness.  At night I watched the sky, pitch black with sparkles of stars shimmering in the distance. In the day I looked at the same dark sky through the light of the sun and what I saw was blue!

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In the evening I looked at the sunset, the concentrated light through layers of darkening atmosphere. The light intensified from bright yellow to orange and red as the sun got closer to the horizon and more layers of atmosphere, of darkness, came between the light and me as the observer. Right then I understood that all the magnificent, qualitative different colors I saw were created from the interplay of the light and darkness.

It is very similar with cooking. We as cooks continue to work with ethereal cosmic and earthly forces (the light and darkness) to make a multitude of magnificent, colorful and qualitatively different dishes and meals.

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Because we can continue the creative process in the kitchen that nature began we can enjoy and digest a variety of wonderful foods and dishes, which would otherwise not be accessible to us. We can completely transform the foods that we work with. The art of cooking teaches us for example how to change raw indigestible grains into wholesome breads, muffins, cakes, delicious pancakes, waffles, porridges, noodles, spaghetti and more.

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By preparing food in different ways, different qualities in the food come about. We can use various cutting styles and cooking methods to change the nutritional elements of the dishes and create a variety of tastes, fragrances and textures. Visually, qualitatively and nutritiously, the cooking artist can create a meal beautifully balanced between lightness and darkness. This is truly a living art.

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Everyday, right in the kitchen, we have an opportunity to approach the daily cooking artistically in an attitude of awe and reverence. How enriching and empowering to conscious co-create with nature in the kitchen!

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Boiled Crunchy Salad with Goddess Dressing

Blanching various fall garden vegetables makes a lovely and colorful, crunchy and digestible salad. The dressing is light, creamy and has a nutty flavor. It uses tahini, a paste made of freshly ground raw or roasted sesame seeds. Instead of tahini try 1/2 cup freshly made yogurt.

2 quarts water
1/4 pound collard greens
2 Chinese cabbage leaves
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 cup carrot flowers
1/2 cup bunch onions cut in 1 inch pieces

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Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil.

Blanch vegetables for 2-7 minutes, beginning with cauliflower, carrots, Chinese cabbage, collard greens and lastly, the bunch onions. Run cold water over vegetables to stop cooking, drain well.

Cut stems off collard leaves and discard. Cut Chinese cabbage and collard greens into thin diagonals. Mix all vegetables in a bowl.

Goddess Dressing

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup fresh ground tahini
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 teaspoon sea salt

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Combine olive oil, tahini and vinegar. Add water and mix. Season the dressing with maple syrup and salt. Pour dressing over the boiled salad and serve.

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