Cooking up a soundtrack

Daily, I see students wired into their smart phones or MP3 players as they wander campus or sit cross-legged on tiled hallway floors with books or notes open in their laps. Earbuds or headphones providing, I suppose, a soundtrack for their lives. I wonder if ITunes can anticipate when the scary or chase scene music should start?

While I have a passion for various musical genres, I’ve never been one needing songs for company. Oh sure, while in high school, I installed an eight-track player, a Radio Shack power booster, and co-axle 6 x 9 speakers into my 1976 Pinto wagon (I also tore out all the carpeting and installed Astroturf – go figure) and would click through the channels to hear “that one song.” And through the years, I’ve attended live performances featuring a broad range of artists including James Levine, B.B. King, Doc Watson, Mick Jagger, Taj Mahal, Dave Brubeck and many others.

None of these artists, however, excite and inspire me like all-stars such as Pepin, Prudhomme, Batali, Lagasse, Colicchio, and Bourdain. No, these names aren’t part of a World Cup team; they are chefs who have – especially with the rise of competitive cooking shows – become celebrities in their own right. I’ve had the good fortune to eat in most of their restaurants and have pretended to execute meals for which their recipes are known. The aromas and flavors arising from their culinary mastery are symphonies deserving standing ovations.

Memphis-style ribs shared with students

My curious palate comes honestly. The dinners of my youth were adventurous and there wasn’t a “chicken nugget” option for my brother and me. What Mom cooked, we ate. I did have the good fortune to have a mother whose cooking was well celebrated throughout our small town. She would be a judge for the Monroe Evening News cooking contest, she taught cooking at our school, and after countless requests from friends to have her help cook or supply dishes for family gatherings, she co-founded a catering business. I still have the copy of the Kids in the Kitchen Cookbook that was in a Christmas stocking and recall, on sick days home from grade school, dozing on the couch with Julia Child or Graham Kerr (the “Galloping Gourmet”) on the tube.

As we progressed through high school, Mom’s business grew to a point where she and her partner were the house caterers for Monroe’s largest event venue. It wasn’t unusual for them to feed over 500 people through the course of a weekend – I think their largest single evening party was for over 700 guests. My brother and I were expected to dedicate at least one weekend evening to the cause and soon our friends joined us – all wearing navy blue pants and white shirts. With limited entertainment options, it seemed like the same six or seven bands would rotate through the string of weddings and we’d argue as to which had the best rendition of Proud Mary. We’d work hard; it was fun.

Gathering at the farm to celebrate friends' 50th wedding anniversary

Subsequent years of travel introduced me to various international cuisines and regional specialties; hunting added entirely new cooking challenges. A summer of classes at the Memphis Culinary Academy gave me additional courage in the kitchen. Most importantly, cooking leads to entertaining old and new friends and evenings filled with shared stories and warm memories. A favorite expression: “there is nothing better than a driveway full of cars and a house full of laughter.”

Not that the meals are always stellar. Notable failures include stuffing a turkey with uncooked dinner rolls hoping they’d turn into dressing, shrimp Creole so over-spiced that it drove us from the kitchen, and, most recently, the exploding roast beef. I’m sure there were many other less than spectacular meals from my stove, but my guests didn’t complain – maybe the wine helped!

Bacon sizzling, stemware clinking, mixers on high, blenders whirring, coffee percolating, corks popping, knives chopping, forks dancing on china, friends laughing – maybe I do have a soundtrack to my life after all?