Carrots don't grow bullet shaped

By Annette Herrick

"Today we give away our capacity to do things with our hands and our bodies that make us feel human."

This quote came from a recent review about a movie that was showing here in Seattle, "How to Cook Your Life," about a Zen priest and chef, Edward Brown. He was concerned with our disconnection from the physical world, and said,

"In cooking, hands get to be hands, to do something."

This became ever more clear to me on the day of our first snow in 2007.

Do you remember the Saturday when we had our first snow? Well, I was out on a meet and greet 42-mile bike ride hosted by the Seattle Randeneurs, the largest bicycle club in the nation. The last eight of which were in the snow. I got home and was so tired my bones ached. My entire being ached. I felt like I could hardly move. Eventually I found myself in the kitchen; organic red potatoes, carrots, onions, and olive oil with rosemary and thyme all chopped up and baked at 350-degrees.

As I was going through the motions of this chopping process I became aware of my senses coming back to life. I was waking up.

Just a month prior most of my weekly produce was being thrown in the trash. Baby spinach bags in the trash! Chopped romaine; in the trash. Chicken breasts too. Every week containers of uneaten food went in the trash. I'd go to Trader Joe's and swear not this time. But every week I'd let it happen again. Until one Wednesday in November my husband, Dave brought home a peculiar bag of fresh organic produce from Jubilee Farms.

His co-worker gathered a group who was willing to split the cost of a large delivery. These deliveries have been one of the highlights in this dark and rainy winter. This fresh food has brought warmth and comfort and renewed my interest in creating with whatever's in the refrigerator.

And no recipes, just inspiration from the heart to the hands. I think Brown would be proud.

Some of our concoctions have been quite simple but brought on a renewed sense of well-being. Stir-fried beef with carrots, cabbage, onions, chard, and kale in a pineapple and bourbon sauce over brown rice. Easy, and so wholesome you feel warm all the way through your finger-tips.

So enthused by this phenomenon I went on a shopping spree to Thriftway.

I found scallops. And just as I was wondering how the heck I was going to cook the scallops, I saw a man selling his very first product, Extravagonzo, roasted garlic infused olive oil. I am a sucker for new businesses so I bought three bottles. Perfect! I made angel-hair pasta with baby bok choy and scallops with lemon and herbs!

With these deliveries have come vegetables that I have never seen before, certainly never bought before, and definitely never cooked before. We were given turnips and didn't know what to do with them so I chopped them, tossed them with olive oil, onions, rosemary, and thyme, baked them at 350-degrees, and hoped for the best.

Another time I tried to recreate the scallop pasta dish with prawns. Only I forgot to de-vein them! Dave ever so lovingly set his plate aside and confessed to me. I was mortified!

By sharing my creations and sometimes embarrassing moments in the kitchen I hope to encourage you, too, to open up your cupboards and wonder, to shop the aisles of your favorite grocery store just like you would Nordstrom! And remind you that carrots don't come out of the ground looking like bullets and potatoes aren't naturally in the form of a potato chip, they even come in colors like red and purple.

Annette Herrick is a West Seattle personal trainer and can be reached at www.fitnessforvitality.com.