MONDAYS ARE FREE EXERCISES 236-240

[The Stage is on Fire] is a page-turner in which, much like life, there are no easy answers and yet each step of the journey yields insight and hope. This work of heart must not be missed!

Melanie Faith

Creative Writing Teacher, Essayist & Poet.

Katie Steedly’s first-person piece [The Unspeakable Gift] is a riveting retelling of her participation in a National Institutes of Health study that aided her quest to come to grips with her life of living with a rare genetic disorder. Her writing is superb.

The Society of Professional Journalists

In recognition of receiving the Dateline Award for the Washingtonian Magazine essay, The Unspeakable Gift.

I thank you … It is the authenticity of your “class notes”; and it is the delicacy and skill with which you present the nuances of classroom life and the actuality of your students’ and fellow teachers’ lives.

Maxine Greene

Philosopher and Education Scholar

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MONDAYS ARE FREE EXERCISES 236-240

Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato. Finger Food. Visiting. Turkey Soup.

EXERCISE 236: SMACK

all the noise

Eat a meal making as much noise as you can. Describe yourself eating that meal and all the noise you make. (This is inspired by my wife, who is an unapologetically, symphonically comparable noisy-eater.)

This meal is about juice and salt and anticipation. It gets caught in your teeth and happens best in the summer. Squishy bread with Wonder. Toasted. Because. Tomatoes so ripe a knife is not needed. A salt shake. A mayo dollop. An iceberg leaf. Bacon’s crunch. The unmistakable smell. Corn’s cob like a Silver Queen. Watermelon’s quench relieves a thirst that haunts all year long. Cheese in the macaroni. Vinegar (and more bacon) in the warm potato salad. Cherries in the pie. Sugar in the tea. The perfect time of it all. This meal sounds like the sunshine, the sip, the slow.

EXERCISE 237: GIVE A STAR OR THREE

you wish existed

Write a rave review for a restaurant you wish existed.

Finger Food — newly opened on Buford Highway — brings international deliciousness to your finger tips. That is the point. Tacos. Pizzas. Wings. A menu with just enough choice to taste the world. Superstar Chef David Chang has done his homework to perfect globally amazing recipes. Everyone can find something at Finger Food. I am a pescatarian. I found a grilled mahi taco with a classic cilantro-lime cabbage slaw. Friends ordered a pizza that could have been served in Florence and Korean wings impeccably spiced and crisped. A meal at Finger Food will make messy fingers worth every inch of stickiness.

EXERCISE 238: WHAT’S ON THE TABLE?

the departure

Describe a meal (real or imagined) prepared for the departure of someone (real) you love.

This is a celebration dinner for N as she prepares to take a year and travel the world. The meal would be a combination of foods from all the destinations she has on her itinerary. An appetizer that nods to Tokyo and Shanghai. A main course of Thai delicacies. An Indian dessert completes the meal. These are all dishes from places shedecides she wants to go.

The meal would be a bon voyage, traveling mercies, heart-held-hope, prayer-for-the-not yet gathering of friends and family. The meal would be a repudiation of doubt and fear and anxiety. The meal would be a beginning, a decision, a start. I would be so proud of N for working hard to make the trip possible and truly grateful that she is following her traveler’s heart. Her life would forever change on her journey. I would love to see and hear about her amazement and adventure and dreams. Her world would expand beyond her imagination.

EXERCISE 239: WHAT’S ON THE TABLE THIS TIME?

the arrival

Describe a meal (real or imagined) prepared for the arrival of someone (real) you love.

I love it when people visit. I grew up in a family that visited people. On Sundays. During Summer Vacations. The occasional dinner parties shared with friends and family. We always knew our neighbors. We cast our family net wide. We hosted. We attended. We visited. I grew into a person who treasures visiting others and love it when people visit. Visiting is love in action. Visiting is sacred.

When friends visit, we serve dishes we have learned to make well over the years. G makes pork tenderloin sliders from his brother’s recipe. I make a mushroom risotto made with rich cheeses and white wine that I have perfected over time. Together we make the creamiest, butteriest, smoothest, deliciousest mashed potatoes that combine the greatest hits of mashed potato recipes. I was officially in charge of mashed potatoes at family gatherings growing up, so the fact G and I make them together for friends and family in our home today makes deep sense to me.

EXERCISE 240: PASS IT DOWN

it’s time

You are old and living in a city far, far away from the loved one on the phone with you now. They are asking you for the 100th time to share that recipe you’ve kept a tight lip about since they were a kid. It’s time. What is it?/ Keep the instructions minimal if that is your style (or if you’re still a bit pouty about letting the recipe go). Should you feel chatty like a cooking blog, weave in the anecdotes about your pets and your first time preparing the dish and the substitutions that work and the substitutions that absolutely DO NOT work and so on and so forth.

Dear M./ I am so glad you enjoyed the turkey soup. It was worth every minute of time spent preparing the turkey. (I can share our turkey recipe, too. If you would like.) It is Granny’s turkey soup. We had not made it for years until last year when I had Mom dig the recipe out of the drawer. The process starts with baking a turkey. After the turkey has been baked and enjoyed, refrigerate the leftover meat and bone. When ready to begin making the soup, bring water to a boil in a big Dutch Oven. Gently place turkey bone in boiling water. Boil turkey bone long enough that meat falls off bone. Drain and allow meat to cool before separating meat from bone. While meat is cooling, cut equal amounts carrots, sweet onions and celery. In a separate pot — add vegetables to a large can of crushed tomatoes, spices, turkey meat, and enough water to create a soup-like consistency. Bring soup to a slow boil for at least an hour. Enjoy.

Thank you for reading MONDAYS ARE FREE. These exercises are explorations of poetry and language and joy. Subscribe to the Wide-Awakeness Project to share this journey.