Saturday, March 29, 2008

Bizarre Foodie Dream

I had a dream early this morning that I was in the kitchen in my family's house in Guilford. I was preparing an elaborate feast borrowing elements from several Asian cuisines and I was looking for someone to feed. I thought my brother would be a likely candidate. (Although he is just shy of 5 years younger than me in reality, he was about 15 years younger in the dream.) When I went off to find him (it was a big house) my mother got tired of the mess in the kitchen and put everything away in the fridge. When I returned from my search, fruitless, everything was already cold. Upset, I started pulling things back out of the fridge - several salads, garnishes, various exotic leaves I was using as plates(!), meat - to reheat.

My brother suddenly showed up, as did several strangers, all clamoring for food. Before I know it, the kitchen has more than doubled in size, I have about twenty dishes that I am in the middle of preparing, and there are dozens of people waiting to eat. I am starting to grab strangers and assign them tasks.

"Please reheat this and place about a tablespoon's worth on each plate," I said as I put a casserole filled with the ginger-scented leaves of about 100 brussels sprouts into the hands of a strange woman.

"And you, top each spoonful of that with a little sauce," as I handed a bowl of sauce to another woman.

I wanted to plate everything, all umpty-three dishes, and then serve, but I notice that people were starting to serve themselves buffet-style, one of which was Martha Stewart. She was acting all imperious like it was her kitchen. I informed her that it was not a buffet, and she looked miffed. I then shouted above the din to make an announcement to all assembled: "People, this is not a buffet. If you've already filled your plate, please take it into the dining room and eat. Everyone else who's not here to help me please leave and you'll get plates eventually!" or something like that.

And then I woke up, annoyed. What the hell was that all about?

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