sporlight

February 11, 2022 Sharon Jacobson

Spotlight

My dearest friends know I love watching cooking shows. I love them for a number of reasons but one is because for me cooking is deeply spiritual. I often find parallels between the spiritual lessons I have learned on my journey and cooking. For example, in some of the cooking competitions I can generally tell who is going to win by how humble they are in their relationship with the ingredients, the other cheftestants and the judges. Those who are egotistical rarely win and those who are humble usually do.

What I have come to realize this week is that there are times we need to let others be in the spotlight and shine. In all my years of teaching, I have always tried to help my students present and show off their talents. I have always preferred to be there to support them and gain their confidence. It is one of the reasons that I would have been horrible as a department chair, I just do not like being front and center. I prefer to help others shine and be in the spotlight.

The same is true for cooking. I have developed this pension for Pan-Asian noodle dishes. It is my new comfort food. Udon or Soba noodles with a simple sauce and a variety of stir-fried vegetables. This week I have been on a mushroom kick and stir frying a wide diversity of mushroom and some green onions and a sprinkling of sesame seeds. On the one hand this is a noodle dish, but the noodles are like me hiding in the background and letting the vegetables shine through

I am the same way with my Pampered Chef business. I want my team and my hosts to shine. I see myself more as a conductor helping others have these amazing performances. I prefer to do what I do best but let the light shine on those I love and want to encourage. At the same time, I am ever mindful that I am in the spotlight in the orchestra for which I am a performing member. I am grateful for those who help me shine, but I am most comfortable in helping others shine.

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W is for Waffles

March 28, 2019 Sharon Jacobson

One of my wife’s favorite foods is a waffle. Until recently, one of the wisest investments we made was in the waffle iron we bought. It is one of those waffle makers that takes all the guesswork out of making waffles. The only challenge was the first batch getting them to the proper level of crispness for my boo. That accomplished, which for her was between a 4 and a 5, the rest was a cakewalk. You plug it in and it beeps when it is properly heated. Put in the batter and close the lid and it beeps when your waffle is done. Perfectly prepared waffles every time. The main problem I have is that sometimes I put a bit too much batter in and then it overflows and I have to clean up the overflow once her waffle is done. Life, like a waffle does not always go smoothly or seem to come out perfectly.

Watching my wife drool and moan as she dreamingly devoured two buttermilk waffles smothered in melted butter and syrup, she asked me if I was going to have one. No. don’t get me wrong, waffles can be awesome. And every once in a while, I can have a waffle the way she likes them, but most times, if I am going to have a waffle, I have to do something to it. Like one day, I added blueberries and ricotta cheese to my waffle batter. Oh my, those were so good. Especially when I would come to this little pocket of ricotta cheese and then a blueberry. It was almost like eating a cross between a blintz and a waffle.

But my favorite way to eat a waffle is with some shredded cheddar cheese and some salsa mixed into the batter. So it is kind of like this quesadilla waffle. Sometimes I will hold the salsa, just add some taco meat, cheese, diced jalapenos, onions, and tomatoes to the batter, and then put salsa on top, kind of like the syrup. There really is no right way to eat a waffle.

S is for Spaghetti

March 2, 2019 Sharon Jacobson

This week has been crazy and I have been struggling to pick a product that begin with an S. Then I found myself craving spaghetti and meatballs, vegan for us of course. I have always loved eating spaghetti ever since I was a child. Well actually it was Spaghettio’s until I discovered real spaghetti with amazing sauce, but that is another story. My wife, however, enjoys when I make spaghetti with homemade Pomodorro Sauce and vegan meatballs. There is something comforting for people about spaghetti and meatballs.

The thing about spaghetti I have found most interesting is that there is more to its history then I knew. When I think spaghetti, I think Italian and my guess is that most people do. However, it seems that the development of pasta, spaghetti in particular, has its roots in Chinese and Arabic cooking. Maybe that is why I enjoy lo mein so much. It reminds me of eating spaghetti, but without the sauce, which I never liked growing up, until I learned how it should be made, and with the vegetables, which I enjoy. Or why some of my favorite Middle Eastern dishes use some sort of pasta as a main ingredient, like lentils and pasta or a myriad of kugels. While we may associate spaghetti with Italian cuisine today, it has its roots in earlier civilizations and times.

One of the things I like about spaghetti is what its appearance on the plate teaches me about life. If you look at a plate of spaghetti, nothing is laid out in a clear distinct linear pattern. Rather, the noodles are interwoven, interacting with each other, and overlapping each other. The movement of one noodle affects the position of others. This plate of noodles reminds me so much of life. We are all like noodles, interwoven and intermingling on a plate. We may not always even realize we are somehow connected until a certain string of spaghetti is moved and we discover something shifting in our own lives.

Bring It~

July 1, 2015 Sharon Jacobson

When you look at this image and this quote, they both provide the same advice. Whatever you are doing in life, bring it! Bring enthusiasm, bring your soul, and bring your passion to the dish or to whatever you do. A recipe is nothing more than a recipe. It is what you bring to it, how you prepare, and the love you infuse into it that brings it to life.

Z is for Ziti

May 14, 2014 Sharon Jacobson

Whoo hoo! I am so excited that I have made it through the alphabet one more time. I am sure my fellow blogger Julia Fox is going to miss seeing me post each week, but I am not sure I am ready to do it a third time, well at least not yet. Blogging my way through the alphabet food wise has been fun and I have learned about some interesting dishes and foods along the way. Today, I am going to end with one of my favorite foods Ziti. Baked ziti, for me, is so comforting. It is not because it is something I grew up with fond childhood memories of, as my mom was not a good pasta cooker. Well, her pasta was fine, it was the sauce that was memorable and not in a good way.

Ziti like elbow macaroni and any pasta with a whole in the middle catches my attention because it provides a tunnel for all the sauce to travel in and through. When I get a tray of baked ziti with the sauce, sausage, and cheeses melted throughout, it just makes my mouth water

Orange you glad, I didn’t say banana

April 21, 2011 Sharon Jacobson

One of the lessons I have learned in the kitchen is that there are no mistakes. Some of the most amazing dishes I have learned to make have come because I “made a mistake.” While someone else might say it was a mistake, I have come to realize everything I do is a part of the journey to a greater level of awareness, understanding, and creativity. The day that I accidentally bought curry paste thinking it might be a good substitute for the curry leaves I could not find anywhere, opened up a whole myriad of opportunities for me. Once I realized they were not substitutable, I began thinking about ways I could use this jar of paste because I certainly did not want to throw it away. I guess one could look at this situation and say I was seeking solutions to a problem. However, I saw it as a gift, which was going to allow me to experience a wealth of possibilities.

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