The Taste Test
Currently while slicing:
Eating: wild rice & quinoa stuffed tomatoes
Drinking: red blend
Entertained by: impending thunderstorms and tornado-y weather from outside the window
There’s something about going for long walks that just makes you feel less stressed and a bit healthier. In the summer, I would do this on weekends especially to visit my local farmer's market. I’d find dual pleasure in being able to catch some fresh air and also be able to have an abundance of delicious ingredients within walking distance from my doorstep. These were the days that it seemed the produce appeared in such vibrance from a sun that shined a little brighter and hovered at high-noon a little bit longer.
Hashtag no filter. :)
Neighbors that would spare you no eye contact would smile and nod to you on these days only even though their upper body was experiencing “arm day” from the bags upon bags filled with freshly cut flowers and produce. I think of these days as my walk-and-food adventure and mental-persuasion to get me to be more active outdoors (I hate going to the gym... and only until recently have I adopted into my identity that I am “someone who works out”).
During the colder months, my walk-and-food typically takes place at any grocery store (definitely helps get the FitBit steps in during the winter!). Today I walked into Jewel, ready with my earbuds in and shuffling through my “This Is My Jam” playlist on Spotify, I picked up a red basket and headed down the produce aisle tapping the beat to Willin’ by Little Feat on its plastic sides. Strolling to the beat, I grabbed some seedless cucumbers and lip-synced the chorus "I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari... Tehachapi to Tonapah...". Lucky for me the makings I needed for salad and stuffed tomatoes were on sale, and I continued on to find some balsamic dressing. "...Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made...". I usually make my own but was running a bit low on EVOO at the moment. You know that section of dressing right past the tofu/tofurkey that you wonder if you’ll ever buy that stuff?
"...Driven the back roads so I wouldn't get weighed..."
That’s where I stopped, and my song drifted into the muted background.
I did a double take. This is what I saw:
It’s not too far off from my last name, Tesmer. I blinked, laughed to myself, and stood there long enough that I didn’t notice that the song ended and blended into whatever followed it. Looking at this product brought me immediately back to when I was anywhere from 4-8 years old on summer vacations with my family in Tampa, Florida. My grandma and great aunt both had condos in separate buildings that resided on the shores of Madeira Beach, and we would spend two weeks from every summer there. My brother and sister are both fairly older than I am, and when we’d meet up at my great aunt’s place we would typically stray from one another and play with friends or cousins in our same age range. If the weather was forcing us to be inside for one reason or another - be it rain or exposure to too much sun, you would typically find me lurking around in her kitchen while the adults and older kids sat in the family room as it was rare that I had someone my age to play with.
I remember standing barefoot, sand drying between my toes, and in a pastel swim suit tilting my head back far enough to count the dried starfish and sand dollars placed within the ceiling light panels to pass the time. I'd move on to jars full of orange slice sugary, chewy, stick-your-teeth candy that lined her kitchen bar and sneak more than my daily-allowance restricted me to. There were cases upon cases of Old Milwaukee cans and a cabinet full of cooking oils, vinegars, and spices that I had to climb upon the counter-top to reach. This was where my playtime was. I’m sure at the time I can remember why I did what I did, but if I was stuck inside, I would rummage through her kitchen and I would create salad dressing... well, it was at least my version of it.
To my kid-self on a rainy day at Auntie Al’s, this was how I escaped boredom or went to when I was considered too young to participate in a game of wall ball with the older kids and too old to hang out in the playroom with the younger ones. From this potion chest full of mysterious ingredients, I would whip together many versions of dressing and insist that everyone try it regardless of whether or not the adults were actually eating. This is why I love my family. They filled the room with their bodies in seats of wicker chairs and the floral sofa sectional, catching up with those who they only see once a year, and one by one I came to each of them with a glass bowl of dressing my tiny hands gripped to with pride and frantically squealed, “Try my new salad dressing!”
This would happen over and over during each visit and spanned throughout the next years until I was old enough to take part in wall ball. At one point, I got my cousin Elizabeth to join in as a sous-chef! No matter how many times this went on for, my family would taste it and provide my eager ears with “mmm”’s and “yumm’s” and “delicious!”. I had no clue if they even fake-tried it - it didn’t matter! They played my game and didn’t dismiss my quirk. They encouraged me to make more. God knows what I really put them through in these taste test rounds, but the boldness on my end was never met with "stop". Could you imagine if it was...
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I texted my sister and asked her this:
Another reason why we are related - we both found devious joy in mixing ingredients together at Auntie Al's.
Oh... and my Tesmer-balsamic is so much better than the Tessemae's one.
