Grief & healing: Cooking lessons teach how to keep life simple
My husband, Baheej, enjoyed good meals, and was a very good cook — a skill he developed in his student days. He made delicious but very uncomplicated dishes.
I learned a lot about cooking from him. And every time I make one his favorites, I silently thank him and remember sharing it with him.
One favorite I still make for myself today is Baheej’s Nazareth omelette. It just requires two eggs, salt and pepper, a pinch of flour, a little dried or chopped mint. Fry quickly in olive oil over medium heat, turn once only, remove from the heat when cooked and lightly browned.
Serve on pita bread or toast over a layer of avocado. Delicious. He was ahead of his time — before the craze over avocado toast even started.
Of course, once I learned how, I took over a lot of our cooking, but he still did quite a bit of outdoor grilling. Baheej relied on very few kitchen utensils — basically a cast iron skillet, a nonstick skillet, a toaster, and a big pot to make rice on the stove top. A simple charcoal BBQ and small pot for boiling eggs. That’s about all he needed.
At first I knew almost nothing about cooking, but I learned. He was a good teacher.
After I learned to cook, I branched out to variety and equipment.
These days I rely on certain kitchen appliances that greatly simplify preparation of meals at home. Equipping yourself with these is a great help for people who don’t know how to cook or those who are tired of cooking. Or who just want some shortcuts to traditional methods.
The aids I have found, and use, are affordable and useful. They include:
• An airfryer
• A rice cooker
• A modern slow cooker with ceramic bowl.
• A vegetable steamer or cooker, which may already be an option on the rice or slow cooker. I also use a stainless steel stove top vegetable steamer.
The point is: As I learn again and again, our beloved partners and dear relatives teach us a lot over time regarding how to live a more enriched life. Not just when it comes to food, but in general about how to simplify and enjoy day-to-day living. I personally learned a huge amount about how to feel comfortable with day-to-day life — lessons from Baheej that still sustain me today.
• Susan Anderson-Khleif of Sleepy Hollow has a doctorate in family sociology from Harvard, taught at Wellesley College and is a retired Motorola executive. Contact her at sakhleif@aol.com.