Arugula Is My Valentine

Valentine’s Day makes me want to start a cooking blog, like right now. Even though I have only recently learned essential cooking techniques like brining chicken and putting arugula on everything, I still feel compelled to invite you to the party in my mouth! (Which I totally do not mean in the way you are thinking right now. Remove mind from gutter, then proceed.)

I already have the blog categories worked out:
~ Vegetables I don’t hate to the very core of my soul
~ Mythical children’s book concoctions (Ever tried Pineapple Butterscotch Ding-Dang-Doo? Or broccoli stew for breakfast, ew?)*
~ Unnatural disasters, part 1: When cakes join the Dark Side**
~ Unnatural disasters, part 2: When microwaves catch the flu***
~ Dirt, upholstery, canned lasagna, and other inedible objects enjoyed by baby girls
~ The proper humiliation of perfectly innocent beverages****
~ Calm down; that chicken’s already dead

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Growing up, I didn’t really learn much about cooking… at least not anything I want to remember. (Though if you want a recipe for Super Butter–which includes 3 parts organic grass and 0 parts butter–I can hook you up. Also in my repertoire: birdseed bread, sautéed grasshoppers, and chocolate meringue pie in which both the chocolate and the meringue are replaced by kidney beans. Feel free to gag with me.) In college, I mostly ate canned soup and chewing gum just because I could, and during our first year of marriage, I subjected my poor husband to plenty of microwaved chicken nugget suppers.

Fortunately, I’ve learned a few things since then. Some days, cooking feels like a chore, sure, but most days, it’s a creative outlet–a tasty form of art. Penne al dente melting with fresh mozzarella, grilled zucchini, and cured sausage… Leafy lettuce heaped with rotisserie chicken, yellow pepper strips, pine nuts, kalamata olives, and homemade garlic croutons… Chunks of baguette layered with slivers of prosciutto, hard-boiled egg, and ripe tomato… Strawberries wrapped in creamy white chocolate frosting, dipped in toasted coconut… Food that sings opera and food that plays jazz, food that raps and whistles and sings multiple languages. Food that, just… mmmm.

This isn’t actually a post to brag about my cooking skills because, honestly, they’re nothing extraordinary. It’s more a way of wishing Happy Valentine’s Day to taste buds and tummies everywhere. It’s also to remind you–if your chocolate mousse seems to be lacking that certain gourmet essence, try some arugula on top. It can’t fail.