Cooking, for me, is beyond the food and ingredients… it is about the experience.
I grew up in San Diego, California, peering into the pots, pans and ovens as my father would prepare elaborate feasts… for Jewish holidays, birthdays, anniversaries. My father didn’t need much of an excuse to invite people over to dine. My mother also has a knack for the kitchen. While my father focused on the staples and things he was good at, my mother was the experimental one. I would go to her house after spending a week with my father to find the most recent issue of Bon Appétit open to her next experiment. And us kids? We were her guinea pigs! Oh the pleasure! And where was I? Chomping at the heels of my mother to learn her tricks, and to get the first sample of her experimental recipes.
I soon followed suit in my early teens. At a young age, I acquired a proclivity to cook breakfast… eggs especially. At that age, I had a distant dream of opening my own breakfast spot called Spencer’s Juevos with omelettes smothered in gooey Kraft melted cheese. That quickly changed to breakfast burritos stuffed with avocado, black beans and salsa. Eventually, I would learn about salt, pepper, and the next dimension spices like cumin could bring to a dish. As I graduated high school and moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington, I learned cooking could be used as a means to an end. That end being impressing girls, obviously. My friends primarily reaped the benefits of my ambitious culinary endeavors in college, as I was far too chubby and far into the friend zone in college to woo any girl with my cooking. I didn’t mind. I enjoyed my time in the kitchen… some good tunes and other people paying for the ingredients, sign me up!
After graduating from UW, I moved to Washington D.C. to work in the U.S. Senate. My income was sparse and I was looking for supplemental cash. Luckily, my dear friend Trishna stumbled into a DC restaurant after a serious night of drinking and introduced herself to the manager, who also happened to be a University of Washington alumni and also happened to be looking for a new hostess and busser. She called me the next day and said “Hey Spence! I got you a side job at Ripple in Cleveland Park! Shoot this guy Danny an email and he’ll set everything up.”
Within two weeks I was sprinting from the Hart Senate office building after work to the closest phone booth to pull a Clark Kent and get ready for my night job. I was taking the red line from Union Station to the other side of DC to work a few nights a week at my first job in the food industry at a very up and coming restaurant in DC’s food scene. I absolutely loved it! It was complete mayhem, some of the people were bat shit crazy… from sexual advances to people taking shots in the back. It was nuts! But it was home, and I loved it!
After bussing tables for a few months, I would make my way to the back of the house where I would start running food up and down the stairs every night. That is around the same time Marjorie took over as executive chef at Ripple. We would establish a special relationship as she got her feet on the ground in her new position. She would put a dollop of carrot puree onto the plate, and transform the lifeless glob with the first swoop of her spoon into the beginning of her art in the kitchen. After setting the protein and side vegetables, I would follow with garnish and plate wipes. On nights we worked together, it was like I was her third and fourth arm, continuously on the same wave length. It was here I would learn the beauty of simplicity. It was here I would learn about the importance of fresh ingredients, and figuring out what tastes good with what. It was here I learned the power of a good dining experience.
My late father cooked to create a moment in time filled with joy, laughter, and love, with special people. As much as it may be a cliche, his saying was Carpe Diem, Seize the Day. He embodied it in every aspect of his life and encouraged others to appreciate each moment the same way he did. Join me as I attempt to create these moments with great friends, family, and strangers I will soon meet. Join me as I experiment with new recipes, and try and encapsulate my love for the moment and food in your spoon and fork, and supper.
Seize the Supper!
seizethesupper 