Introducing our new COOK contributor North Bay Patricia

I have been cooking in the kitchen and puttering in the garden for more years than I care to tell you about. (A lady has to have some secrets.) There was a time in my life when it seemed everyone I knew was getting graduate degrees. I had two small children and was married to a man whose job required that we move every two or three years, so my options were limited.

After some thought I decided I would specialize in food. Since I had to cook three meals a day, cooking would be my focus. In our two- or three-year stay in each state, I would start at the local library and read my way through all the cookbooks I could lay my hands on. Then I would apply this information in my "kitchen lab." Each new state offered new recipes, new techniques and new foods. Dinners were often surprising, and my children were exposed to many foods they might not have learned about otherwise. We all benefited.

When I returned to California, I offered my services to a regional agriculture magazine and, right time, right place, I got the food column. I began by interviewing the women who helped grow the food and then published their recipes. Inevitably it evolved that my interest in our food sources was heightened, and I began writing agriculture articles as well for that magazine and then several others. After I had spent 15 years there, the original magazine folded and I retired to write, sequentially, two newsletters.

I am now gardening, still cooking, still learning, and delighted to have been asked to contribute home cooking recipes to Yummy.

What does "yummy" mean to me? It is not just a word or a single taste; it is a feeling — that feeling you get when you want to snuggle down into a bowl of mashed potatoes drenched in butter. It is the feeling that overcomes you when you have a mouthful of just-made fudge, or the feeling you get when the grower hands you baskets of just-picked, truly ripe strawberries.

I remember once attending a Sunday gospel service in Harlem. The music was loud, the singing joyous, and the beat accompanied by hand clapping and foot stomping. The hats on the matrons were festive, and as they moved up and down the aisles, they left swirls of color. The scene was almost hypnotic it was so enthralling. Breaking through all this came the word yummy. In the church basement chicken was frying, and that marvelous aroma broke through all else — that was the feeling of yummy.

Cheers,
Patricia

From Patricia’s Recipe Box

Some recipes are novel and fun for the moment. Others get stuck in your recipe rotation and, because they always work and are always enjoyed, they are used over and over again. While I lived in Hawaii, my neighbor, Bev, shared this one with me. It was one of her family favorites as a child, and of Bev's husband and children; it has become a favorite of mine for many years as well.

Over the years it has been tweaked slightly to take advantage of new ingredients that have come on the market, but the basics are still there.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Generously season the chicken on all sides with salt, pepper and paprika. In a large skillet with a lid or a Dutch oven, heat the oil on low. Add garlic. Watch carefully, stirring often, until the garlic is barely golden. Do not let it brown. Remove the garlic and set aside.

Increase the heat and brown the chicken on both sides in the garlic-infused oil. As the chicken is browned, remove from the pan and place on a plate. After all the chicken is removed, add green and yellow pepper strips to the same skillet and saute over medium heat 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer the peppers to the plate and drain all the oil from the skillet.

Return the chicken to the pan and add the garlic. Lay all the pepper strips over the chicken and distribute the garbanzos over the top. Pour the vermouth over all. Cover and place in oven for 55 minutes.

When the chicken is done, remove from the pan and arrange on a serving platter, leaving the liquid in the pan. Sprinkle the olives over the chicken and then cover and keep warm. (If using the chives, add at the very end.) Turn the oven up to broil.

Slowly stir the chicken broth into the flour in a separate container. Add this to the liquid left in the cooking pan and stir to thicken the sauce over medium heat. Pour the thickened mixture over the chicken and run the entire dish under the broiler for 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chives, if using.

Serve with rice or flat noodles and enjoy.

You are welcome to follow me in my kitchen and garden at http://seasonsatmyhouse.blogspot.com

Home Recipes from GraceAnn Walden

When it comes to men, I’ve had an extremely interesting life (not that it’s over). When I lived in a gay hotel in the Castro, I met a follower of guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. You may remember he was a popular Indian guru with many followers here, in Europe and India. After he moved his group to Oregon, he and several members got into big trouble with the law.

My boyfriend Yoga Krishna was from Washington State. I think his real name was Charlie. We didn’t have much money, so we ate food that I made, listened to music, and enjoyed marathon sex. He wore orange shirts and a necklace of large beads, with a picture of Rajneesh in the center.

In a move to convert me, he brought me tapes of Rajneesh’s talks. We also did the dynamic meditation, which seemed to me to be primarily about hyperventilating. For my birthday, he gave me Zorba the Buddha: Rajneesh Cookbook by Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (author), Swami Premdharma (editor).

I don’t think the Bhagwan did much cooking. He was too busy giving his philosophical talks or driving one of his 93 Rolls-Royces, gifted by followers. But like all gurus, he had a kernel of truth to his beliefs.

Here are his Ten Commandments and also a recipe, which over the years I have tweaked a bit:

1.	Never obey anyone's command unless it is coming from within you also.
2.	There is no God other than life itself.
3.	Truth is within you; do not search for it elsewhere.
4.	Love is prayer.
5.	To become a nothingness is the door to truth. Nothingness itself is the means, the goal and attainment.
6.	Life is now and here.
7.	Live wakefully.
8.	Do not swim — float.
9.	Die each moment so that you can be new each moment.
10.	Do not search. That which is, is. Stop and see.

Mole from Rajneeshpuram
(Makes 6 cups)

2	red chili peppers, seeded and minced
10	cloves of garlic, minced
1/2	cup vegetable oil
3/4	cup peanut butter
3 1/2	tablespoons dark chili powder
1	quart chicken stock
3	tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1	teaspoon cinnamon
	Salt and pepper to taste
2	tablespoons peanuts, chopped

Fry chili peppers and garlic in oil. Whisk in peanut butter, chili powder, stock, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, and pepper. 

Bring to a simmer, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring. Remove from stove. Tastes better if it used a few hours later, after flavors meld.

When you serve the sauce over meat or vegetables, sprinkle chopped peanuts on top.

- GraceAnn