Good nutrition and bad

Narsai David was a one time restauranteer somewhere in the city of Berkeley once long, long ago. These days he produces things like mustard and chocolate sauce and has a small food segement on KCBS AM radio.Yesterday I learned that the kiwi fruit is the fruit most densely packed with nutrients. Damn, makes me wish I liked kiwi fruit better.

Tonight's dinner was brought to you by Zacky Farms Chicken, the Campbell's Soup company and Alexander Hamilton. There was a time when I was a devoted student of culinary arts. I made everything by hand. I baked my own bread, made my own pasta sauces, cooked my own sauces and stews. Everything I ate came from whole, natural ingredients. I got pretty good in the kitchen. Food was never fast but always tasty. There was joy in my cooking. Sadly, my partner at the time couldn't be bothered with my creations, and I shudder to think of the vast quantities of food and love that were carried out to the compost bin, often in a blueish green state. I have never cooked as much as I did then. With no one to appreciate my efforts, elaborate cooking seems like a phenomenal waste of time. I have devolved to merely heating things up.

With still no functioning kitchen, I walked out of Bed Bath & whatever with a huge toaster oven under my arm, and a fat receipt cluched in my sweaty little fist. Back home, after an interminable stop for groceries, I found myself assembling the ingredients of a "Supper Bake" kit. Parboiled rice, black beans, red sauce, chicken bits, more sauce, strange powdery crumb topping the color of tumeric and adobe dust cook together to form something of a casserole. The flavors aren't strong, nothing to offend, nothing to compare to home cooking.

This food is fuel, not love.