Monday, September 29, 2008

Re encounters.

warning this maybe offensive to those that are not carnivores.


Please allow me a few minutes of your time to share a story with you...


Two weekends ago I went back home (no, not to Puerto Rico.) to my parents house in Spring Hill ( 45 mins south of Nashville.1 hr with traffic). Anyways, the moral of the story is that my mom and dad surprised me with grocery bags full with food! To me that is as close as I’ll ever get to winning the lottery. The contents of these bags were diverse as food goes. To illustrate, chips and salsa, pasta, olive oil, orange juice and ground beef to make hamburgers and last, but not least VEAL.

At first, I was turned off by the thought of it. Not because a baby cow had to stroll down the “walk of shame” into the slaughter house in order for me to consume the chunk of red meat that its body will soon become, but because the first time I ever tried veal, to be honest, it was not the most paramount experience I have ever had with meat. On the other hand, I am not one that is known for quitting.

I decided that I would give veal another try and this time it was me the one who would cook it. I love cooking. It is one of my passions. It relaxes me and I like cooking for other people. I take pride in the food I cook and I do it often so that I can perfect and sharpen my skills. With this confidence in mind I was determined to cook a REALLY good meal and the main dish would be VEAL!

RING! RING! My cell phone rung a few times before I was able to answer this past Sunday night I was watching the movie Cache while I cooked veal. It was a dear fried of mine with whom I had not been able to spend time with due to the busyness of life. This time neither of us had work and we had scheduled to hang out that night.

The voice on the other end says,
“Hey Jean, are you still wanting to hangout tonight?”
I replied,
“ I mean…yea. If you are up for it… I’m down.”

A few minutes later having in mind that my friend had just gotten off from work and most likely had not eaten dinner and would stop at a fast food for it

I phoned and said,
“ Have you had dinner yet?’
The reply was
“No”
I said,
“Great I’m making dinner. Want to join me?”
Casually,the response was,
“Ok.”

To spare you from all the details of the night my friend came over just in time for dinner. It smelled delicious! We sat at the dinner table after spending almost two hours cooking this meal that included white rice, beans ( both a staple in PRican cuisine) and veal. I added to it many different types of spices and seasonings that have been passed down from generations to generations in my native Puerto Rico and had the veal cook on a pan set to low-med fire on the stove and after awhile it was ready to be consumed!

Oh WOW!!! What a succulent meal it was! DELECTABLE, SCRUMPTIOUS! My mouth waters just writing about it! As we bit into the veal a complex mixture of flavors covered our taste buds. Garlic, cilantro, oregano, are just some of the few that I will reVEAL.

Due to this re encounter I had with veal and my openness to retry it once again I feel like I have expanded my horizons a bit as a carnivore. If you don’t like it the first time I encourage you to give it another try…or just let me cook it.
By the end of the night our bellies were full and my friend and revisited memories, laughed and forgot about the busyness that is trying to juggle art school, work, and all that comes with growing up.


Don’t get caught by it.
Ride the wave.


Yours truly,
Jean-Michael Vissepo

2 comments:

Jenna said...

wow Jean- Michael. Your story was great and the veal meal sounds wonderful. You should put ANOTHER warning before this entry though- "beware- don't read on an empty stomach!"

Shelby LaBomb said...

it was SO GOOD!
thanks again, Jean.
-laBomb