Make New Friends, But Keep the Old
by Robby Richardson
Robert Fulgham wrote a bestselling book in 1989 entitled All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. It taught that the basic concepts we learn in kindergarten (share everything, play fair, don’t hit people, etc.) will carry us far in our adult lives.
I don’t remember a lot of specifics of what I learned in kindergarten or early school days, but I do remember a song I learned early in my scholastic career … just don’t ask me to sing it!?!
“Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold.”
“What in the world does that have to do with cooking?,” you may ask. Good question … let me see if I can make the application.
This year my wife and I have been trying to cook together on a regular basis. We have Fridays off (at least in a normal week, if there is such a thing), so Friday dinner has been our time to try new culinary adventures. I greatly enjoy the new way of spending time with my wife, and most of the meals have turned out delightfully. We’ve made some “new friends” in our culinary repertoire.
But as I set down to write this blog entry, I realized that there are some “old friends” that I have been neglecting. Probably my favorite meal of all time is homemade vegetable beef soup with cornbread. I have been known to make a big pot and eat it for four or five days straight (sometimes even for breakfast). I think it would be my proverbial “last meal” if I ever had to name one … but I haven’t made it in two years!?!
I love trying new recipes and new ways of cooking. However, I still need to remember to savor and celebrate my “old favorites.” When I neglect to do so, I am missing out on so very much.
One of my responsibilities here at Kneaded Kitchens is to write a weekly recipe email. No commentary, no editorial fluff … just two or three recipes every week emailed to our subscribers. (You can subscribe below).
In writing these emails, I have pulled out recipe boxes and notebooks that we haven’t used in years. In the process, I am remembering a lot of “old friends” that I haven’t seen in years.
I am going to make a list of ten or so “all time favorites” and then make sure that we revisit them on a regular basis. We’ll still spend our Fridays trying new recipes and making new culinary adventures together... but I don’t ever want to go years without visiting with my old friends again.
How about you? Are there culinary “old friends” that you have been neglecting? I’d love for you to send me some of your all-time favorite recipes. They may be new friends for me to pursue. And who knows, they may end up in that weekly recipe email!
