Walking in the forest today I noticed how the season had changed and how different from last year it was. I was taking the last walk for the year in the Harthwald before leaving for Italy.   I was struck by how few mushrooms there are this year, when last year it was full. The forest is also different in some subtle and not so subtle ways.  The leaves are not as full in the tree canopy and the underbrush is heavier. Even the blackberry vines which are usually very thick and heavy are very light (so I got off with only a few scratches today). What I observed in nature is what I observe often in cooking, that one must adapt to a given situation. So for instance, today the mushrooms I expected were not the ones growing because they adapted to the forest being different due to rainfall, the amount of sun during the year and the undergrowth. Just like in cooking, often times you don’t have exactly what you need even after you make plans and prep, you may need to adapt. This is what I find very interesting about cooking in general that you have to improvise and have to adapt just like nature. More often because of nature (no mushrooms for dinner last night.)

Today when I got home I was late because of traffic jam and needed to put dinner on the table by 8 o’clock. I ended up with a half an hour. What I originally planned on doing was a stew with some leftovers from the freezer and some fresh mushrooms. I didn’t have enough time (or all of the ingredients) so I used what was available in the refrigerator.  I had some leftover pasta and some vegetables from previous night. With a bit of tomatoes from the garden I was able to have a decent pasta sauce using what was available. As in nature, adaptability is often the key in cooking.

Even though you end up planning and having the ingredients available, sometimes you have to adapt what you plan to do. Just like nature throws you some curves, sometimes you must end up having a Plan B to be able to achieve what you need to do.

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