When I was a child, my favorite meals were often ones eaten away from the regular dinner table, whether this meant on trays near the Christmas tree or outside in our screened patio. Even now when I go home, I demand a few meals away from the confines of the dining room; it gives a simple meal such a celebratory quality. My birthday dinner has always been outside, as it is in June, and most often I demand that we have hamburgers or sweet potatoes. So for my perfect meal I decided to prepare avocado burgers, sweet potato fries and a simple salad.
I was a little worried about how my preparation of the meat would go, since most of my cooking experiences were with hamburgers on the grill. I was also nervous about making sweet potato fries from scratch, and doing all of this in the “comfort” of the Harmon Hall kitchen. A call to my mother and a Google search later, I was feeling a bit more confident about my meal choices. My most reassuring thought was that this was the ideal night to host the perfect meal because I had just received my acceptance to study abroad in Australia for six months. Even if I lost a finger or burnt the food, it would still be perfect to me.
As I went to Meijer to pick up the ingredients for my dinner, my mind was focused on preparing a meal that was substantial but not heavy. My family has always followed the mantra, “everything in moderation” and so for this meal I didn’t make it my priority to buy everything in an organic form. I did snag a box of Earthbound’s well known Spring Mix and organic vinaigrette dressing, simply because I knew that the pairing would be simple and delicious. Luckily, my roommate is an avocado expert and was able to pick one that was just ripe to top the burgers. I can only assume that the Meijer meat I purchased came from a factory farm but it was lean and cheap enough so I purchased it. Lastly, I grabbed a bottle of natural Simply Lemonade to complete the atmosphere of a summer picnic that I was trying to recreate.
I planned to begin preparations at 5p.m. on Friday in order to serve my guests at 6p.m. I started the process by cutting and peeling my sweet potatoes. This was probably the most terrifying part of my cooking experience, the one time where I could have lost a finger, or five. Uncooked sweet potatoes are surprisingly woody and hard inside, with my little upper body strength I had a bit of trouble splitting them into fry shaped pieces. What I ended up with were a bunch of similarly sized trapezoidal, rectangular, and circular pieces of sweet potato. My execution rating on a cooking show would have been very low. Following the online recipe I had pulled up on my I-Phone, I put the potato bits into a bowl and tossed them with olive oil, paprika, salt, pepper and sugar. Then I laid them out on a pan and stuck them in the oven.
At this point, both of my guests arrived and pulled chairs into the kitchen in order to make sure I was doing things correctly. They apparently had very low confidence in my cooking abilities. Intimate gatherings are always the most meaningful to me, occasions where you can discuss non-superficial things. With this in mind, I kept my party down to only two guests, my old roommate, Raven, and my best friend, Katherine. Katherine is leaving for spring term study abroad so I was very aware of the few opportunities I had left to see her. Raven and I don’t see each other very often now that we no longer live together, so I was excited to catch up with her as well. These are two people here at Kalamazoo College who I think know me best, and it was vital that they both be at the meal in order for it to be perfect. Katherine and Raven had met each other a few times but I was interested to see how they would interact with each other in such a personal setting.
As Katherine and Raven settled into their chairs, I mixed garlic, onion, salt and pepper into the ground chuck and shaped them into patties. Then I threw the patties into two small heated pans and let them sizzle. As I was cooking the burgers, my friends helped by setting the table and cutting the avocado. By 5:45 I was ready to settle into my armchair at the table when Raven reminded me of the fries I had stuck in the oven almost thirty minutes ago. Rushing to the oven, I pulled them out and to my surprise they were not yet burnt, in fact, they were perfectly cooked!
We sat down to eat in the lounge and decked out our burgers with avocado, ketchup and mustard. The burgers were juicy and hot, but the whole-wheat buns were much too big. The sweet potato fries were soft with a sweet taste, not too much of any one spice. The avocado and salad were fresh and provided a nice compliment to all of the starch. It was raining outside, but the room was cozy with a fireplace going at one end. It wasn’t the same as the summer picnics I yearned for, but the feeling of contentment and relaxation was there. Raven and Katherine bantered back and forth; taking turns teasing me about boys and all the awkward situations I might find myself in during my time on study abroad. It felt pretty close to perfect. The three of us talked for well over an hour and then, after the table was cleared, we said our goodbyes.
This meal was something I needed after the toughness of the quarter and the difficult situations going on in my life. It reminded me that I do have a real connection with people here and that it’s important to take an hour or two to enjoy the company of friends, even with tenth week looming ahead. I think that even if I had received a rejection letter for study abroad this meal could have consoled me, but with the future opening up in front of the three of us it meant a lot more. I am so happy to have been able to share this learning experience with two of my closest friends. Spending time with them, no matter what the occasion, will always be perfect.
Excellent revision, Cassie!
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