Word Count: 751

Living Vicariously Through

Food Consumption

 

One of my favorite things to tell anyone who’s been backed into a corner and has no choice but to listen to my rants and raves, is that if I spend more than five minutes inside a kitchen within a 365-day period, this tells you there’s something seriously out of alignment in the universe. I HATE COOKING. Did I mention that I don’t really enjoy most types of food preparation?

Then again, this five minute/365-day rule is not set in stone. It often takes me at least fifteen or twenty minutes to cut up all those vegetables to put in a salad, and punching those microwave buttons, then waiting for my entrée to get hot often keeps me trapped within the confines of my kitchen environment for at least ten whole minutes. Luckily, I’ve been able to actually avoid much in the way of food preparation in these circumstances, so in that respect I’ve been very lucky.

Amongst the highlights of this never-ending winter in Silverton has been these Tour de Forks/ethnic dinners that have taken place over the past few months. Every single one of them has kept me confined to the interior of a kitchen for at least three or four hours at a time. You’ll be happy to know none of these voluntary confinements has actually involved any physical act of cooking; just preparing entrees to be served, washing dishes, or cleaning up after the celebration has taken place.

As much as I hate food preparation, I TOTALLY LOVE EATING, but only if somebody else is doing it for my indulgent pleasure. Tour de Forks has allowed me to satisfy my Jones for doing this sort of thing. Looking at the overall picture, what a great way for locals to get together for food and conversation on a cold, winter’s night? Worth going out don’t you think?

That first Tour de Forks dinner way back in January didn’t seem like it was a very good idea. Attendance for our Chinese New Year extravaganza was lacking, and all that great food we prepared for the occasion seemed like a total waste (we end it up with lots of it…). Every Tour de Forks dinner since then has been more successful than the previous one.

Fat-Tuesday Cajun cuisine was great fun, partially because a lot of us really got into it. Since the theme was Fat Tuesday, we assembled all sorts of party-type decorations including balloons and streamers all over the place. Lots of people (including yours truly) dressed up in a wild assortment of costumes to celebrate the occasion. Was I psyched? Totally.

Italian food two weeks later was also a rousing success. The appetizer trays alone that we put together were totally worth it. Huge piles of olives, various meats, and all sorts of pickled vegetables for our patrons. That’s the great thing about these Tour de Forks dinners. A lot of us really get into it, and Italian night was a classic example of that.

Tour de Forks on 3/23/23 was an East Indian affair. Complete with a floor table for all those patrons wanting to get the total native experience. Was the food outstanding? I guess it was since we didn’t have much left when everything was said and done. Thankfully, I got some of that food before things disappeared. Washing all those dishes and cleaning up afterwards wasn’t so bad just because of that fact.

Last night was our French dinner, and since a lot of us aren’t going to be here in mid-April, we’re canceling the last Tour de Forks breakfast-theme dinner. A lot of us are planning to get out of Dodge because of all this snow & ice. Basically, a total mud fest that makes me wonder why I live here during the month of April.

One of the things I absolutely love to do is travel and experience different cultures. Whether it’s the two years I lived in Kenya, various travels in Europe and South America, or all the different mountains in various parts of the world I’ve been fortunate enough to trek through. I don’t do enough of it. Tour de Forks has allowed me to do this without leaving town.

Looking at the long-term picture, I’ll look back on winter 2022-23 as us having a prodigious amount of snow. I’ll also look back on that period of time as the start of Tour de Forks. Quite the memory don’t you think?