Team Building

Grocery stores were a bit foreign to me.  Yes, I have been in them, know their basic layouts in any one you walk into and understand their purpose.  When you are as single as I was for as long as I was, grocery stores closely resemble WaWa's, Casey's or a deluxe 7/11.  My eating habits and lifestyle have evolved, thankfully.

One of my favorite things about living in this part of my home state is the AMAZING Farmer's Market we have in The Fay (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fayetteville-Arkansas-Farmers-Market/372790109508?ref=ts&fref=ts) and Ozark Natural Foods (http://www.ozarknaturalfoods.com/) which is an organic/whole food lovers dream.  Now I fully admit the farmers market here is nothing compared to Soulard  (http://www.soulardmarket.com/) but nothing I've witnessed before or since even compares to the awesomeness of Soulard Farmer's Market.

I had only been to the farmers market here one time before J and I met.  When he agreed to go with me one Saturday morning I was ecstatic.  Call me crazy, but eating a whole food diet that is locally grown and as chemically free as possible is one of my biggest priorities in life.  I'm not perfect and it's been a process.  It was important to me that my life partner at least understood my goal and attempt to help me obtain it.  He was on board and that was pretty awesome.

He discovered how much better fresh and I mean fresh fruits and vegetables taste.  Was even more surprised how much we could be buy and how long I could make fresh from the farm produce last.  I fully admit I brag about my abilities to store and keep vegetables for weeks.  But some of that is because I buy it about 2 days after it's picked from the ground/vine/tree/whatever.

I discovered how much I loved cooking and preparing meals.  He had given up meat for a year.  Now mind you this was about 2 months before we met, so he still had 10 more months to go.  But I was cool with that, I'm not a big meat eater myself so it worked.  And it forced me to get creative.  Now, I can eat a salad for 2 meals a day and be completely happy and only need variation once in awhile.  I am a creature of habit when it comes to food.  But he could not be satisfied with that.

As he moved in over the next couple of months and we started to build our team, we found some weakness and strengths in the kitchen.  I'm great at salads and making lots of things with bell peppers, the bell peppers however gave him heartburn.  Previously in my life, this would have been a deal breaker.  But this man who came into my life had made me want to expand my skills.  To work harder, to be more of team player.  So to the Interwebs I went looking for new recipes.  The one thing we had in common food was was that we both loved Mexican food and I can't express how much I mean by love.

However, even Mexican food requires some meat.  But thankfully, he did still eat fish so a lot of shrimp and fish taco's would be consumed.  My first real meal that I cooked for him was salmon, in my apartment.  That was love.  I don't eat fish.  Basically because I can't cook it and I really don't like the smell.  Enter J into my life and all that changes.  I cooked fish, asparagus and made a beautiful salad...of course.  And I didn't mind the smell or the cleanup!

Cooking the fish did become more his task as the relationship continued or the rare time I would get a bit of ground beef for my taco's, that is his too.  I'm great at the side dishes and menu building and ensuring that we eat as healthy as possible while it still being full of taste.  And that's the things about whole foods, they have an amazing taste when you take their strengths and marry them with something that might be missing that sweetness you are craving or that spice you need.

If you accept the strength of the pairing piece  you can strengthen weaknesses.  I had to let go of some of the control in the kitchen.  Much of my control was in fear.  I feared splattering cooking grease.  I feared not cooking things long enough so I ate basic foods.  I never allowed myself the joy of cooking and providing a meal for someone I love.  Those were my weaknesses.  His strengths in the kitchen allowed me to expand our menus, spend time together creating memories with the laughter at errors, like burnt cookies.

It was in food and the kitchen that we started to build our team.  Finding rhythms, moving to a song that only plays in our heads.  We bump into each other on occasions  getting off beat.  Sometimes it can cause an entire meal to go down in a flame of fire.  And that's okay, because errors happen and the next time we'll do better.  Because what ever weakness one of displayed will be picked up by the strength of the other.  An awesome pairing if I say so  myself.  Peace and love!