april 17, 2012

tonight, i had a friend over for dinner for the very first edition of full bellies, full hearts. that's what i've decided to call these evenings when i have someone over to eat good food and spill our hearts to each other. i like the idea of making healthful food while sharing good company and opening up about what's really going on under the polite social veneer.

i left it up to the people i know (mostly readers of this blog and facebook friends) to let me know if they were interested in taking part in this kind of thing. so far, four people have responded saying they're interested in getting together to have some tasty food and talking about life. i guess i added the talking part. initially, it was supposed to just be about the food. but isn't this what happens over food? the stories come out, and friendships are formed or strengthened.

it was pretty awesome to have a long, gutsy conversation with someone i don't get to see all that often. we cooked and talked and laughed and caught up and shed some tears. it's been a pretty rough year for both of us, and we had a lot of stories to swap. amazingly mendful confessions tonight. lots of hugs and support and saying things straight-up, as they are. we didn't mince words tonight, and it was awesome. i think i'm going to like this series :)

as i was planning out what to make, i thought back fondly to the delicious cooking of a friend i haven't been all that close with in the last couple of years. she's an inspired, interesting chef and is passionate about cooking for people. more than anyone i know, in fact. she used to joke that food is her main way of sublimating love. i decided to use a recipe of hers tonight as a way of saying hello and bringing her into the room. she seemed like the best possible candidate to help get this thing rolling.

the food was DELICIOUS. it was a veggie bake with quinoa, kale, kalamata olives, roasted cauliflower, yellow and red peppers, button mushrooms, tofu and lots of lemon juice, sea salt and whole cumin seeds based on a recipe from my friend's cooking blog, kitchen dancing. attached to the recipe is a sweet post about gratitude if you're interested in reading it.

the next full bellies, full hearts should be within a couple weeks! keep your eye out and submit recipes here if you've got something delicious and healthful that you think i should make for a friend! thanks in advance, lovelies!