Nephew, You Got the Kitchen Stankin: The 1St Book of Homed-Cooked Recipes & Other ''You Know What I'm Sayings''

By Karl Cunningham

Ok, so you never liked onions, but you need them for fl avor. Maybe
you’re not a big Jesus fan either, but, yeah, you’ll need Him too. For the
record, this book is not at all about Jesus or onions, but it has everything
to do with moments in time that inspired me to cook the way I do. I
hope you enjoy the real-life true stories accompanied with many of the
recipes many friends and family have enjoyed over the years.
Personally, I don’t know how many times I’ve been invited to cook a
meal at somebody’s house and they didn’t have an onion somewhere. If
you’re not an “onion” lover, you’ll need to add this little buddy in the
future to your grocery list, I assure you.
Nevertheless, fi nd a cozy nook, ladies and gentlemen, and settle down as
you read in the pages ahead to the little abstractions that make enjoying
food that much better. Then after perusing said obscenities, try a recipe
for yourself. The stories behind each motivated me to cook that way
and for some reason, it just tastes so good!
But this is not the end, my friends and fans. The 1st Book of “Stankin’”
is just a chapter with more to follow in my second book complete
with more stories and recipes that explore beef, lamb , pork, breakfast,
brunch and vegetables! But for now, always think of the aromas and
colors of your childhood and there begins the art of cooking with soul
and love. See you in Book 2!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781469128801

Karl Cunningham

“I Want My Food to Touch” (Back Cover with photo) Ok, so you never liked onions, but you need them for flavor. Maybe you’re not a big Jesus fan either, but, yeah, you’ll need Him too. For the record, this book is not at all about Jesus or onions, but it has everything to do with moments in time that inspired me to cook the way I do. I hope you enjoy the real-life true stories accompanied with many of the recipes many friends and family have enjoyed over the years. Personally, I don’t know how many times I’ve been invited to cook a meal at somebody’s house and they didn’t have an onion somewhere. If you’re not an “onion” lover, you’ll need to add this little buddy in the future to your grocery list, I assure you. Nevertheless, find a cozy nook, ladies and gentlemen, and settle down as you read in the pages ahead to the little abstractions that make enjoying food that much better. Then after perusing said obscenities, try a recipe for yourself. The stories behind each motivated me to cook that way and for some reason, it just tastes so good! But this is not the end, my friends and fans. The 1st Book of “Stankin’” is just a chapter with more to follow in my second book complete with more stories and recipes that explore beef, lamb , pork, breakfast, brunch and vegetables! But for now, always think of the aromas and colors of your childhood and there begins the art of cooking with soul and love. See you in Book 2! See Greezyplate on Facebook!

Book preview

Nephew,

You Got the

Kitchen

Stankin

The 1st Book of

Homed-Cooked Recipes

& Other

"You Know What I’m Sayings’’

KARL CUNNINGHAM

Copyright © 2011 by Karl Cunningham. 568118

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

ISBN:   Softcover    978-1-4653-8994-7

             EBook         978-1-4691-2880-1

Library of Congress Control Number:11919661

Rev. date: 10/15/2020

Dedicated to

My wife Lisa, kids,

1031, 1357, 1136,

1320, 601

& Uncle Roscoe and ‘nem

FOREWORD

A strange dream

Three friends and I were returning home in a car I was driving from the airport. I don’t know where we had just traveled; we were just trying to get home. The trip home meant taking a risky plunge off a skyscraper—about the height of the tallest building in the world. As I drove off the edge, I ordered a family size spinach pizza and a small sausage pizza to go. The kind lady taking my order could not believe I was ordering take-out while driving off a rooftop. I assured her this is something I do all the time; maybe not with three other friends, but nonetheless, all the time.

Our landing was a tad bumpy, but we all survived and went into the restaurant to get our pizza. There inside the small café was an older woman singing a jazzy gospel tune in French. The kind lady who took my pizza order an hour ago apologized for getting it wrong, so I sat down in the café to listen to more music. A woman strummed a guitar. Another sang. The smells of this small place were warm and inviting. My soul was inspired.

Like stories that end, but continue, this is where the 1st Book of cooking with soul and inspiration begins. A second chapter will follow as recipes just spew from my head. Consider this book as an appetizer . . .

INTRODUCTION

Vol. 1

People, for years, have asked me where did you learn to cook? I just shrug my shoulders and say I never really formally learned—I just sort of picked it up along the way. I’ve also heard that a certain person who cooks and enjoys food is somewhat an entertainer of sorts. They’re musicians, writers or artists or lovers of nature and the outdoors.

For some, cooking is a chore. Others, a sick passion based on memories, nostalgia and colors and scents that evoke cooking. It’s a re-creation of a moment or feeling and sharing that emotion with a whole bunch of people. Certainly, not sick in the way you have a mental problem, but sick in the sense that it is an addiction. For sure, there are down days where I just don’t feel like cooking, but it’s rare. And even on those days I don’t feel like cooking, I still, well, end up cooking something.

Since eating is necessity, it’s difficult for the cook to go on strike or have a down day, especially with hungry family members in the house. And of course you can opt for take-out or affordable dining somewhere and I have. Who doesn’t like eating out? Of course, that can get expensive, so back to the kitchen you go. It is where you feel intimate or where you feel bound, always looking at it from different angles and wondering how much more functional you can make it for you—that is, if you are a true cook. True cooks function. They adapt. They plan. They feng shui and they just deal with it whether they are at home or trying to make it happen in somebody’s else’s kitchen.

I can remember our first kitchen was centralized and sort of had like a bay area with comfortable passing room. It could get crowded when we entertained, but it was also quite breezy when you were in it alone. Yet, the kitchen of our current home is a galley kitchen. It’s relatively narrow with alternative ingresses and egresses, which is to say people can walk through it or go around another way, never disturbing the activity of the kitchen. However, alternative paths are rarely ever used and the kitchen becomes and is a major causeway. Like a toll road, if you want to get somewhere else in the house, you have to come through here to get wherever there is.

It’s a narrow canyon of steep cabinets with the river of ceramic tile as its tributary, flowing to all parts of the house. The fish that swim here are always hungry and feed here often, bumping into one another occasionally, sometimes saying excuse me and sometimes never uttering a word. It’s the catch basin of incoming mail, this and that and outgoing lunches and snacks. An ice dispenser in the refrigerator chunks out crushed ice like a vending machine coughs out soda in a busy cafeteria.

The microwave reads Millions Served Here while the kitchen counters ebb and flow—their sandy, gritty dishes and cups showing up, but always eroding away with the tide over time. My kitchen is just busy and even when it’s supposed to be closed, it’s still open. It’s where things and matters are discussed and where food meets family. It’s where we rate the day’s edible offerings, where hungry people vote yea or nay or say