Creative cooking

To live a creative life,
we must lose our fear of being wrong.
-Joseph Chilton Pearce

It's true - creative living requires courage. Courage to listen to what you really want, and courage to act on what you hear. Sometimes, practicing risk-taking in small ways can help psych you up for a bigger leap of faith. Hence, the power of cooking.

Yes, cooking. How many DC residents are paralyzed by the thought of preparing a simple meal? "I'm not a cook," you might say. "Hooey," I might retort. As with all creative endeavors, the first step is to pay attention: what do you like to eat? If you like tomatoes, browse tomato recipes online - epicurious.com is a personal favorite, but a simple Google search can do the trick.

And don't be afraid to experiment. Take stock of what's in your fridge, and think about what would taste good together; for example, the other week my husband was making pork chops (his first time, so he was using good old Fannie Farmer for guidance), and I wanted a vegetable of some sort. We had a bunch of fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market, but not much else. I improvised, mixing in chopped up onions and peaches. The result was a sweet salsa-like side dish with a bit of a bite, which tasted delicious when paired with the pork chops.

Kim O'Donnel's weekly live online discussion, "What's Cooking?", is a great way to get your creative juices flowing when it comes to food. Kim celebrates what's in season, and suggests ways to work off of one or two ingredients to build a meal. For example, in today's discussion:

Rockville, Md.: Please help. I never know what to do with chicken. I have some boneless skinless chicken thighs defrosted for dinner tonight and am out of ideas of what to do with them. The simpler the better.

Kim O'Donnel: Make a sauce: A pinch of sugar or small amount of honey, a little soy sauce, some chopped fresh ginger, garlic, chile, squeeze of a lime. If you have fish sauce around, a few glugs of that. Marinate for 30 minutes without lime, then squeeze lime before cooking. Grill on skewers or without. You could also roast in oven at 350. Rice, local tomatoes or cukes. You're in business.

You might be thinking, "yeah, but I'd never think of that." Or, "I'd never have those ingredients on hand." Well, in the beginning, you can use people like Kim as your guide - imitation is the greatest form of flattery, so follow her suggestions, but keep an ear out for the voice inside you that says, "what about adding [insert ingredient here]?"

Worst case, you have a meal that doesn't taste so great. You'll live!

Best case, you get the wonderful feeling of being nourished by a meal you prepared...and inspired to try something else outside your comfort zone.

Some resources to help you get inspired:

• Savor local farmers markets. My favorite is the Mount Pleasant farmers market on Saturday mornings (9-1, May-November).
  
  
• The "What's Cooking" archive and blog
  


• The Mindful Cook - a wonderful book about "finding awareness, simplicity and freedom in the kitchen."

What in DC inspires you to cook? Favorite resources? Don't be shy!

UPDATED 9.22.06
A Creative DC reader posted this tip:

"I use an organic produce delivery service, like washingtonsgreengrocer.com or doortodoororganics.com. It has saved me from going to the store and buying the same stuff every week. I have to be creative and figure out what to do with what shows up."