Young Writers Society

A Nice Cup of Gazpacho

Tuesday, April 21, 2020
10:21 AM

Another memory. Of standing over another stove.
With another man of another house of another partof their complicated family. Cracking jokes whilechopping tomatoes and writing stand up routineswhile measuring out the spices. That's what they desired to have once their grandparents made the great migration of the butterflies. To have a nice cupof gazpacho with their favorite person in the world.
But that's a dream that will never come true unlessthey meet again on the heavenly shore. And that'sa big if - to say that they both ended up in heaven.

The Many Praises for Beets

Wednesday, April 22, 2020
5:34 PM

1. Have them boiled as a side dish.
2. Keep them fresh in vinegar with hard boiledeggs to make a beautiful pink-purple mix.
3. Or pickle them with onions to have with clam strips.
4. Or have them with cottage cheese and tinnedmandarin oranges.
5. Make a southern salad by mixing them witha vinaigrette and grapefruits and the sweetestonions on the planet.
6. Take the juices as a dye for your grandmother'sstarched wool yarn that was spun on the wheelin her television room.
7. Use the beet juices and the mashed beets to give flavor to the noodle you and your grandfatherare going to be rolling out the dough for in justa singular moment.
8. Just eat cook beets when sitting on the porch step.
9. Or peel them while sitting on the same porch,drinking a little bit of shine while your grand-parents rock and roll in their rock chairs.
10. And drink a little bit of beet whiskey when you're picking at your old guitar with your family to watchthe sun go down and the lightning bugs rise intothe heavens.

The Continuing Evils of Bananas

Thursday, April 23, 2020
8:30 AM

They're just bastards.

Salt on Cantaloupe

Friday, April 24, 2020
4:39 PM

There were four salt shakers in that kitchen.
One at each end of the table made for six.
The one that often seated ten or more. And the other two rested in the cooking side.
First, in the cabinet and the other beneath the hood of the stove, next to mrs. dash and otherspices. More Southern in the combination ofmelon with table spices is putting salt on cantaloupe and reveals who the farmer is.

Cinnamon Candied Apples

Saturday, April 25, 2020
10:00 PM

Like the other recipes tucked away in their neat,little, rusted metal box it's a dish that doesn'tsound quite right to the average consumer.
Any retraction on the health benefits of applesseems to contradict every reason for eating them.
And this dish falls in between eating an apple aday to keep the doctors away, and consuming flaky crusts topped with a scoop of vanilla on top.
This is another memory of sitting at a table, eatinga favorite meal with the ghosts of the past diningalong with them to eat macaroni and greens. Andat the very end they're going to eat these apples.

Hot Dogs Aren't All Bad

Sunday, April 26, 2020
5:34 PM

Or ya know. Maybe they actually are all bad.
And going to be the cause of death for me.

A Prayer to Stewed Tomatoes

Monday, April 27, 2020
5:49 PM

Sometimes prayers are as empty as the dinner table.
In each reality, there comes the realization that time isnot like a piece of denim that can be pierced over andover again. Instead, time is a gentle piece of silk thatcan easily be torn to shreds by a careless family.

Sometimes prayers turn bittersweet in the mouth ofwhoever is speaking their hopes to their vacant god.
In each memory, there is the point where it turns sour and they can't separate themselves from the pain that they are inflicting upon themselves.

Sometimes prayers are a bowl of stewed tomatoes sitting on the table in silence and waiting for the lonely person to dip into the charred, broken dish.
In the dish, there's a mixture of tomatoes, corn, andokra. And next to the dish sits the macaroni, the cheese, and balsamic soaked once bitter greens.

Pears In and On Dough

Tuesday, April 28, 2020
6:01 PM

A tightly packed tart shell (with toasted bean insert extracted).
Pieces of pears chopped up in simple, extremely sugary syrup.
Graham crackers layered in a flower covered glass casserole dish.
Layered with whipped cream and dashes of cinnamon and nutmeg.
Lemon juice squeezed over slices of pear on top of cottage cheese.
Shortbread, rolled out on a chopping block, wrapped around halves.