Healthy Inspiration from a Howling in the Night

I live in an urbanized inner-ring suburb, but am lucky enough to be in a tract of land between 2 creeks. Creeks make wonderful local migration routes for wild animals: if the waterway is not in culvert, the immediate land is often not developed commercially and the animals have a constant water supply, so creatures can make their homes nearby these creeks and travel from points south all the way up to Lake Erie. Indeed, I often see deer, fox, groundhog, and more on my daily walks.

But my favorite sighting is usually a rare one for me. I love coyotes. I usually see one or a pair of them once a year, but they are (rightfully) wary of humans and usually find a way to keep themselves hidden. I haven't had a clear view of a coyote is over 9 months, but last night, at two separate times, I could hear them yipping and howling somewhere in the green space about 1/16th of a mile from my house. Ah! The howling of a wild dog! There is no more beautiful music to my ears. Even as the temperatures have plummeted into the forties at nightfall, I still flung open all the windows to better hear them calling in the night.

I cringe at the fear-based attitude of the timid who get hysterical with worry and claim we are all going to be overrun with unpredictable predators. This under-informed crowd is sure that their teenagers will be mauled while taking out the trash if we don't hire sharpshooters to cull the packs of wild canids threatening the American Way.

Bah. The coyotes won't eat you. They will avoid you. It's fine if you'd like to bring your overweight and elderly cat inside at night, but you will most certainly not have to fight off rabid packs of coyotes with firearms and blowtorches. These dog-like creatures just want to pounce on some rodents, track some deer, keep watch over the woods. And we should all feel privileged that we might have the opportunity to witness the pure poetry of their long legs running. We should all feel comforted that in spite of our failed housing tracts, drive-up strip malls, and hissing highways, that the health and power of the natural order somehow prevails.

This natural order extends to all things. So as we worry over childhood obesity and growing concerns about our national health, we can still allow ourselves the quiet reassurance that nature wants us all to be fit and strong and to succeed in our place within the natural world. So, some of us will succeed in good health despite cultural odds stacked against us. Nature wants each of us, coyote or Costco shopper, to thrive in the habitat set before us.

And I will eat well toward that end.

Thanks, Awesome Grovewood Kitchen!

Friday night's dinner, at the cozy and consistently satisfying Grovewood Tavern, was an accidental mish-mosh. But oh, what a mish-mosh it was, and I will be using it as a point of inspiration for hundreds of meals to come. I owe their patient chefs a heartfelt thanks for letting me invent my own dinner.

In my mind, I had already selected an entree when the waitress came to give us the specials. The protein courses didn't really capture my imagination, but 2 of the sides, paired with 2 different entrees, did make my ears prick up a little (OK, a lot). My heart was still committed to the luscious portobello mushroom cap I had already been thinking about, but oh! Those 2 sides sounded like they were put on the menu just for me. (Incidentally, the 2 sides were butternut risotto and garlicky Swiss chard). So I asked them if they could just toss a grilled portobello on top of those 2 sides. The waitress, in fact, stopped a chef on his way back to the prep kitchen to restock a quarter-pan to ask if we could do this. I was all apologies, letting him know if it's a real pain to break their routine, he did NOT have to oblige me. I've worked in restaurants and I understand any resistance to indulge my selfish flavor-driven fantasy.

You see, contrary to what you read in diet books or the latest high-falutin' culinary rag you may subscribe to, most chefs are NOT happy to oblige you when you order off the menu. They say that they are happy to work with you just so they can maintain good PR, but the truth is, if you order off the menu, the line cooks hate your guts. You completely ruin their flow and routine. In a worst case scenario, a poor sport on the line could do something the health board would not approve of. In a best case scenario, your meal will not be made with any degree of focus or carefulness. Ultimately, you'll get what you ordered, but it just won't be that good.

You can argue that that worldview is wrongheaded, that you, the almighty patron, are essentially underwriting their wages and they should reach for the moon just for you, every single time, because they owe you that much. I will not say you are wrong, but I will advise you of a fact you already may be aware of: that reality does not always match the way it should be. Not even close.

But I approached that cook with an attitude of deference, and I could see that Friday's business might be a little sluggish (meaning the kitchen wasn't already swamped), so I figured I'd roll the dice.

Well, I won that toss of the dice. My goodness, that was the best dinner out I've had in a very long time. I will remember it for a long time. As I mentioned, I will duplicate it any chance I get (In fact, I'm doing a variation of it tonight, for mi esposo)

And I remain grateful to a really great establishment that didn't blow a gasket when I wanted to play with ideas and create my own self-indulgent creation. Four Stars! Bravo! Two thumbs up! Etc! Etc!