In a recession, you gotta have stew…..

I have to say…there is so much going on, I’m having a hard time keeping up in these posts!

For the last 2 weeks it’s been about recession stew. Recession stew is a creation of mine that was inspired by the way my mama would take random left overs and hold overs in the fridge and make magical meals.

I’ve been cooking up my stew at various locales over the last couple of weeks; fed it to the beautiful young people at Mission High School a week and a half ago and most recently, at Fresh from the Oven, the monthly food party I’m throwing down along with my brother Darryl in the Tenderloin National Forest. That day was beautiful; it was the first warm day after a period of cold and wet bay area weather. I cooked up my recession stew along with some rice, Darryl baked pizzas donated generously from Arizmendi Bakery, DJ fflood was spinning righteous music, Michael Swaine had his sewing machine set up and was sewing for the people like he does the 15th of every month and the day was topped off by the official opening of Luka, the newest mural in the TL National Forest created by Chad Hasegawa. The beauty of this day was the intersection of beautiful folks. There were kids, folks from the neighborhood, good friends, family, art lovers, food lovers and folks who heard the music, smelled the food and were drawn in…

The stew stayed nice and warm on my trusty hot plate (that goes with me everywhere these days!) and folks just hung out! I love how a home cooked meal makes people relax, even if they are in an unfamiliar setting and don’t know anyone else. Tara brought an amazing vegan split pea soup and her daughter Eleanor made a slammin’ cake! Yuko showed up later in the afternoon with a platter of fresh fruit and edamame that was so beautiful folks were taking pictures right and left! Needless to say after the picture taking, that platter emptied out pretty quick!

Then this past Sunday I made Recession Stew for over 100

Recession Stew

folks at Too Much! the marathon performance event that Keith Hennessy and Julie Phelps produced over at Dance Mission. I cooked up the stew along with rice and Jamaican Coconut Cornbread. We set up table cloths on the floor in one of the dance studios and encouraged people to share plates which most people did. It was beautiful to look around the room and see people huddled together sharing a warm dish…this is part of my mission to make sure when people eat my food, they do not eat alone (see my previous post on this issue).

The point of all of this is simple. I call this dish Recession stew because like I learned from my mother, you can make magic with what ever you have..it doesn’t take much…it’s all in your intention…

There are more food parties to come…

Come get fed some magic…

Red beans and ricefully yours,

Amara