We Have a Connection, Home is Where the Heart Should Be

Cashew Lettuce Wraps

I followed this recipe, but used ground turkey for this Asian oral sensation. Lots of Umami happening in these edible cups with the ginger, soy, Hoisin, garlic combo.  The toast on the cashews, then biting into fresh green onions and the crisp iceberg is so satisfying and bright. 

I'm a retail lifer it turns out.  I've seen many a company, sold many things from eye glasses to music to home furnishings.  I grew up in a factory town where giant companies were king.  A person could build a life when they signed on to Magnavox or Sunbeam Bread, General Electric or International Harvester.  Things have changed in many ways.  I work for a larger retailer and it is solid, we are even going to make a bonus this year for the first time in 10 years.  However, unlike before when you worked for a faceless company, now there is more of a connection, a unified goal.  These institutions are going down, stability is no-longer guaranteed.  When I sell a kitchen, I feel like it does matter, not just to some top executive collecting a fat paycheck somewhere but to the whole of the staff.  When I see a major retailer closing, its a scar from this lashing we all just took in the pandemic.  And I remember being a child when the aforementioned factories shut down in my town and the headlines were full of suicides and tragic stories.  People lost their homes and kids I went to school with, their families split up.  PCP became a dominant drug in town. So, this is a new relationship because before when money was pouring in, it was hard to see how important these big machines are to our economic health overall.  I had forgotten how whole towns can be affected in so many dreadful ways.  The long-haul supply issue has lasted up to two years and has been a major weigh down of our infrastructure where I work.  As it begins to subside, I see how great our foundations were built.  All of these connected designers, manufactures, delivery drivers, shipping companies, packaging methods, etc work to bring us to these end results, which is a family cooking dinner in their brand new affordable, relatively green, organized kitchen and in turn, I get to make these lettuce cups on a hot summer day in my over-priced non-renovated Brooklyn apartment that I wouldn't trade for anything.  

For breakfast a griddle taco finished in the oven to let the eggs puff up and shell to get nice and toasted, topped with pico de gallo.