“Preparing food and feeding people brings nourishment not only to our bodies, but to our spirits. Feeding people is a way of loving them, in the same way that feeding ourselves is a way of honoring our own createdness and fragility”. -Shauna Niequist
Recently, I picked up Shauna Nieqist’s book Bread and Wine, a collection of love stories about connecting to others over food. As you might imagine, it hit home with me. All the cooking I do is for one purpose: to bring people together at my table. I consider it one of the most important things I do.
Cooking, especially when it is done for others, does have some positive psychological effects. Knowing the positive effects may just get more people into the kitchen to cook. Doing something, anything for others, always makes you feel better about yourself. It is a form of altruism, which makes people feel happy and connected to others.
If you are cooking for someone, it definitely brings a sense of closeness in expressing your love and care for them. You may remember watching your grandmother, mother, or father preparing a dinner for you. This was an act of love that you may realize now, but at the time you did not know how much self-giving was attached to. it. We all understand that the greatest payment you can receive for your efforts is seeing the people at your table enjoy your food. Once the main course is served at my Thanksgiving table, I listen for the silence of people eating. And it is there every year. This silence fills my heart greatly, because I know the people at my table are feeling happy, grateful, and loved.
The next time you sit at someone’s table, be thankful for what has been prepared for you with love and care, and know that somebody loves you, and thought about you with every stir of the spoon, every dash of salt and pepper, and every measured spice. Respond to them with love, and even better with words and deeds.
This dessert will definitely show the recipients that you love them. Usually I write my own descriptions, but I think Smitten Kitchen says it best. This is “a pound of hulled and halved strawberries in a cake that can barely handle it. The strawberries take over. The batter buckles around the receding berries, which dimple like a country quilt. The edges of the cake become faintly crisp. And your apartment will smell like a strawberry patch.” Nuff said.
This recipe is courtesy of Martha Stewart and will serve 8 to 10 people who will feel the love in every bite.
Ingredients for Strawberry Cake:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pie plate
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 pound strawberries, hulled and halved
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Butter a 10-inch pie plate.
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl.
Put butter and 1 cup sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk, and vanilla.
Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.
Transfer batter to buttered pie plate.
Arrange strawberries on top of batter, cut sides down and as close together as possible. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.
Bake until cake is golden brown and firm to the touch, about 1 hour.
Let cool in pie plate on a wire rack.
Cut into wedges.
It’s that simple!
