)“Tidy and Chop” would make a great name for a restaurant. That’s what I thought to myself today as my daughter and I stopped in for coffee and breakfast (for her) at an old local coffee shop near the University of Arizona. The coffee shop was cluttered. Not dirty but cluttered. It still makes you wonder about the state of the kitchen from where the food is born, though. I thought to myself, “this place isn’t very tidy.” After that I admired the place’s custom-made wood counter top. From there the phrase “tidy and chop” popped into my mind, and then I said to my daughter, “Wouldn’t Tidy and Chop be a good name for a restaurant?” She gave me a weird look and mumbled, “I guess….”
Many years ago I dreamed of owning a restaurant. I was a serious cook trained by masters. I was so serious that I auditioned for “Master Chef.” That is a story unto itself. My Nona-straight from Italy-taught me how to make homemade bread and hand-rolled and cut pasta when I was a kid. She used to have a room in her duplex whose sole purpose was to house drying pasta. My Nona was just like Strega Nona from the children’s book. She would make pasta, all different shapes and sizes, by the boat load and leave it to dry both flat and on racks in a spare bedroom. The room was always filled with pasta, a normal sight for me but a strange experience for my non-Italian friends. I don’t know if Nona was preparing for an armageddon or just always wanted to make sure she had pasta on hand for unexpected guests.
Nona’s daughter, my mom, taught me how to make the most delicious to-die-for red sauce. She also taught me how to make manicotti, lasagna, and ravioli all from scratch. We didn’t just buy the pasta and then fill it with our own take on a ricotta mixture. We made the pasta first, then moved on to ricotta and other cheeses and, of course, sauce. We were hardcore.
Everything was always out of this world delicious. Guests raved, “You can never get anything like this in a restaurant.” Before each pasta dish was the antipasto and following each pasta dish was some sort of roast and then a couple hours later everyone sat down to dessert. The wine flowed freely from jugs. We were all in a food coma.
)My inherited love of cooking and pairing wines with meals gave my husband and I the idea to grow a vineyard on our property. We labored for days preparing the land and then planting the vines that we ordered from out of state. We decided our homemade wine’s label would be “Tortuga de Paz.” We would give the wine as Christmas gifts and serve it to guests. It was all such a romanticized vision that played out in my head like a Norman Rockwell painting. Then one day the deer came and cleared the vineyard out. The Universe spoke.
All of this cooking, eating and drinking appeared to work for me back in those days. It seemed right. It was how I was raised and it was what we did. It was that cage called tradition. Then, things changed. It was a rather abrupt change, too. It wasn’t overnight, but it didn’t last years either. Yes, there was catalyst which I’ll write about another time, but all of that food and wine lost its appeal. Food as entertainment slowly waned.
Now, I eat simple, mostly raw, vegan foods. I eat mainly fruits, in fact. I got my twenty-one year old body back in the process, but more importantly I feel free. How I eat feels right. My energy soars. I still cook for my husband and kids, but even that has simplified. My husband is vegetarian and my kids still eat meat. I enjoy the creativity that goes into preparing meals, but I have come to the conclusion that the simpler the better.
The photos are of my “secret recipe” light-as-a feather manicotti and a dish of cookies I made. Most of the cookies are Italian cookies. I would never make that many cookies now! But, if I ever opened a restaurant I would definitely name it Tidy and Chop.
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Wow, what an amazing story and so well written. I love making everything from scratch. It would have been amazing if those grape vines worked out, to have your own from seed to bottle. In my family there is a lot of Chef's and I grew up with 2 of them at home. My Dad more traditional Spanish and Cuban cooking. My Uncle was a restaurant owner a few times and more commercial. When I was young I worked at a few places for quite some time before the Military. Then when I got out life took me in a different direction of jobs and professions to make profit and not so much for passion. I have fantasized a few times with opening a little place and was even looking at a location not long ago, but talked myself out of it. I think the fast paced minute to minute stress would kill me now even if it was successful. I rather have just the little investment in comparison of making youtube videos in our little studio kitchen in the back of our store, at my own pace, and choose the recipes I think will do well and just cook for the wife and I lol. She does the filming and editing, I do the cooking. Works out pretty well and no stress. 😌😌
Thank you for such a nice reply. I think when we grow up around cooks we absorb their passion. We learn things that we could never learn in a culinary school. For the Italians in my family food equaled love. No matter what time of day I visited my grandmother or one of my aunts, they "made" you eat. You could not refuse! One time when I was a teenager and visited my grandmother with my boyfriend, she made us hot pepper sandwiches. And, she gave us glasses of whiskey.....We were only sixteen or seventeen years old. I think she was drunk that day.
I'm with you on the restaurant thing. That is tough work, and I once read that most restaurants fail within five-year's time. It's hard to find reliable help in that business, too. It sounds like you have the perfect set up. I need to check out your youtube channel. Your posts here always look awesome. Have a great night, and thank you, again.
I agree. Even though the love for creating food was alaways part of who I was, having people that shared the same passion at home and encouraged it was a huge part of the experience. Thats too funny about the sandwiches and whiskey. Sounds like my Mom's dad lol. My family all comes from the Canary Islands and they are the same way with food and drinks lol. Its part of their culture to have wine with like every meal. Since Nutrition, Health and Longevity has always been a huge part of my life and something that I loved studying and learning about, I find a lot of joy in combining the two in the kitchen with food. My never ending quest has been finding the perfect diet for myself and my family. I think that after many years I am very very close to sorting out all the wheat from the chaff and putting together something that works both functionally and health wise. I just need to figure out some final things on going more keto style or taking a chance with carbs. I have always gained weight with carbs, but there has always been animal fats there also. So I am undecided on going Keto/Vegetarian or just high carb/low fat Vegan I am conflicted because there is research that says that animal fat causes insulin resistance by clogging the insulin receptors. If that is the case it would be more beneficial to go high carb low fat vegan. But its just the total opposite of what I have always believed would be best for weight loss, so I need more research to jump on that. I know that moderate fat and low carb has worked great for me always. So thats why I feel more comfortable with starting with Vegetarian keto style diet getting most of my fats from plant sources and some from natural butter, eggs and cheese.
I know this for sure: The fact that you take the time to cook with fresh ingredients, and to put your creativity and positive energy behind what you do means that you are creating health and teaching your family and others a valuable skill. So few people truly cook or even take the time to make a fresh salad or chop fruits these days. I'm amazed at what I see. And, people are paying with their health and their kids' health. Your YouTube channel can show people how easy it is to put together a healthful dish.
Keto will definitely help people shed pounds, but it does not work long term. I follow Dr. Morse's way of eating. He has a YouTube channel. That guy is a wealth of knowledge. It was a progression for me though. I lost my weight on a keto type diet years ago. Then after time that way of eating killed my adrenal function. Luckily I was led to exactly what I needed to know. Ask and the Universe listens! Fresh organic fruits and vegetables are vital to our health. There's a lot of BS out there about fruits especially.
Can you believe my Italian grandmother was giving me wine diluted with gingerale when I was only 3 years old? Back then they had a different way of thinking and their intentions were good for sure. If anyone had given my kids alcohol when they were toddlers I would have been pissed! Things change.
Keep up the great work you're doing!
I am amazed how people live with out knowing how to cook. We may eat out once a month in our house for a special event, but that is about it. Everything we eat is freshly made with fresh ingredients either from our garden or the produce market, what ever is in season and organic as much as possible. I think Keto is great to get started for people to get going and motivated for the quick weight loss, and I actually have seen people thriving on it for many years. That is why I am convinced that genetics play a key role in what our diet should be like. For me keto made me lose weight initially and I felt great as far as my appetite went and energy was stable, but I looked really odd physically. I lost the weight but a lot of it was initial water then plateau and never got really lean from it. If you ever want to see an example of some one thriving on Keto. Look up steph the Keto Person on Youtube. She has not had a carb in over 9 years and is 57 years old, you would swear she is in her early 30's. Of course she is also extremely strict and you can tell has great genetics.
Interesting. I'll have to check her out. She hasn't even had a fruit or veggie carb?
Nothing. She does not touch carbs. Walks around with a 6 pack and does now work out a lot either. But she is incredibly strict with her diet. Everything is organic and uses no caffeine of any kind.
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STOPwow awesome post...secret recipes for us..vist my blog read my post and upvote :)
keep intouch for honest friendship ;)
Thank you. I will visit your blog.
If your decided to have a restaurant i will go and try it out, and support your opening date!
Thank you. : )
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STOPInteresting
I will follow you to see your future posts! I give you a vote!
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