Cooking with Georgia O'Keeffe

June 28 - Anyone who knows me well knows that I love art, both admiring it and making it. Brenda and I have been known to drive all the way to NYC, just to see one certain exhibition at the Met. In fact, the notebook that I use for recipes has Matisse’s work right on the cover, a souvenir from a different exhibition. However, one of my favorite artists, and Brenda’s, connects with me on a deeper level. Georgia O’Keeffe (a much earlier generation Kappa Delta, like myself) celebrates not only the beautiful potential of art, but the potential of food as well. I obviously never met her, but I like to think that she used cooking as another way to express herself, something that I really am striving to do in making beautiful meals to share with my favorite people. I think even the simplest of meals can be stunning and the conversations had alongside them are an art form in their own right.

So, this week for an appetizer, Brenda and I decided to tackle one of the soups from a cookbook entitled “Dinner with Georgia O’Keeffe.” This book, one that Brenda and I both own (and may have been one of the best presents I’ve ever received), is art and food filled. It is both appetizing and beautiful. O’Keeffe’s colorful artworks appear to complement her recipes perfectly, and the snapshots of the nature surrounding her home bring the food photography to life. It only seemed fitting that as such big fans, we should try out at least one of her recipes.

Being hot out, a theme we haven’t been able to avoid the past few weeks, we went for a Chilled Cucumber and Yogurt Soup.

The preparation was simple: combine grated cucumbers (which ended up more like mashed), Greek yogurt, buttermilk, lemon juice, scallions, some seasoning and lots of dill. The texture and smell were both interesting to me when combined, but it still had to be chilled, so I moved it out of sight and mind by putting it in the fridge to set. We continued on to make dinner (you can read about that in the next post) but pulled the soup out of the fridge later, so it could be enjoyed pre-meal.

We filled our bowls very generously, channeling Georgia while trying to find the perfect placement for the garnishes. Then, we ate! And I was…satisfied? Or maybe underwhelmed? I really could not tell you even now if I liked this soup or not. Brenda watched me eat it for a bit before declaring, “You don’t like it at all.” But honestly, it was not bad, just not exciting to me. I think what threw me off the most was not only it being cold, but that it reminded me too much of all the Helluva-Good French Onion Dip I ate at my grandma’s house as a kid. Brenda and my mom seemed to enjoy it, and Bob decided that it would’ve been better in a much smaller serving. All in all, I still trust my girl Georgia and I won’t give up on her after one recipe. Stay tuned for our next Georgia O’Keeffe inspired meal, maybe for next time something safer will be the way to go (I’m looking at you whole wheat waffles).

Brenda's drawing of a Georgia O'Keeffe painting.

#cooking #food #recipe #GeorgiaOKeeffe #cherrytable