Every two weeks, in fact. It’s so fun to decide which guests to invite next, and what to cook next! This is just the kind of cooking I love most, the kind that gives me the most joy: cooking for others, without time pressure because I have all day to relax before starting, making something a little fancier than everyday cooking; and usually the kitchen is pretty clean by that point in the weekend so it’s more fun to be in there. I like doing it only every other weekend because I need some time off in between! A two-week interval gives me time to look forward to the next one before it gets here.

I am so grateful to have energy for the kind of cooking I love most, and to be largely free of the other kind of cooking: in a rush after work, tired and hungry and cranky in a messy kitchen. I must go give my boyfriend a blowjob immediately. 5 years ago

Recipe from electronic musician Moby’s “Teany book.” Pictured is my sweetie savoring a bite. I would say it definitely lives up to its reputation as a dish of bliss!

Blood Orange Tea Vinaigrette
1 C white wine vinegar
1 T loose blood orange tea (or other herbal orange tea)
1 t salt
1 t garlic, finely chopped
1 T sugar
1 T dijon mustard
1 C olive oil (I used less)

Salad
2 avocados
1 mango
12-oz can beets
1/4 C crushed walnuts
lettuce

Mix loose tea with wine vinegar in small pot. Bring to boil, uncovered. Turn off heat and allow to cool. Strain tea pieces out. Mix 1/4 cup blood orange vinegar with other ingredients (except olive oil). Whisk until blended. While continuing to whisk, drizzle in olive oil until completely blended.

Peel avocados and mango. Cut avocados, mango and beet into bite-sized cubes. Mix in walnuts and vinaigrette, stirring gently. Serve over lettuce. 6 years ago

Our first guest arrived before we were ready, and had limited time to stay. She was in from out of town and had a tight timeline for return travel. Sweetie started making pancakes from scratch, but we couldn’t find the baking powder, so in the end guest #1 got toaster waffles. That left some room for improvement, but we had two more guests on the way! Our second guest arrived just as the first was leaving, bringing mushrooms and scallions for the curried tofu vegetable scrambler I made. This came from the “How It All Vegan” cookbook and was so easy and fast and delicious that it is certain to become a new staple on our breakfast table. After guest #2 left, my sweetie mused, “I’m still hungry…” and began making wild rice pancakes from a recipe he made up as he went along. Incredible! He was wise enough to write it down as he went so we can make it again.

Luckily we had a few hours of breathing room before guest number three arrived. I made another one of my favorites, total vegan comfort food: savory squash pie. Guest number three is a small person, but she can pack away the squash pie! Between the three of us we ate it all in one sitting!

I love feeding people delicious meals made from scratch! 7 years ago

To me, “well” means that what I am feeding others does three things:

• Provides sensual delight and pleasure
• Nourishes; developes and supports health
• Seves, in some way, as the medium for benign human contact, the concrete expression of love.

I recently made a dinner for 12 of a gorgeous green salad with fresh orange, avocado, scallion, and homemade fresh dill dresing; oven-baked polenta with cheese; a ragout of black-eyes peas with five kinds of mushrooms, fire-roasted tomatoes, mushroom stock, a little chile, onions, celery, and red wine (excellent over the polenta); roasted carrots; satuteed zucchini & string peans; pears poached in red wine and cranberry juice; gingerbread.

This certainly hit all three points, and I think I mad at least as much enjoyment making and serving it, even planning and shopping for it, even setting the table attractively, as did my guests.

The recipe for the ragout and polenta came from my favorite cookbook, which I seem to keep mentioning here, PASSIONATE VEGETARIAN.

It is just a delight to feed people well (and to feel how fortunate one is to have access good ingredients, and know how to cook, and have friends or family to feed). In a world of trouble, this one of the few things one can do which truly does nothing but good and is truly universal in its satisfactions (both as giver and receiver).

I think it is at once among the most spirirual and physical practices in which a person can participate. 7 years ago