Creativity...

Gourmet arepa 

There's nothing to eat. Or at least that's what you think as you stare into the abyss of your cupboard or your refrigerator. What you don't realize is that there are countless recipes waiting to happen, to emerge if you will, from the recesses of your mind using the things which are in your kitchen that you never before bothered to put together. That is what I have learned every time I've been tempted to say that there is nothing to eat. There is almost always something to eat, you just have to be creative.

Today was one of those creative days for me as far as lunch went. There was no bread in the house, no deli cuts, 1 slice of Swiss cheese and two slightly hungry mouths to feed- my Dad's and my own. I made a quick mental inventory of what we had in the cupboards and the fridge and a speedy lunch took form in my mind. Some onion, green pepper, mushrooms and green onion; that lone slice of Swiss cheese and some harina PAN (a common staple in every Venezuelan household) and I was ready to make a wonderful lunch out of few ingredients.

What did I make? Arepas with sauteed vegetables and Swiss cheese. Arepas are a delightful little corn "bread", something like a tortilla but more like a warm pita made of a cornmeal like dough that hail from my parents' native country of Venezuela. They were delicious and enough to hold us over until dinner which is almost ready as I write and was also a creative venture. So, you see, there is always something one can make unless your kitchen is just completely empty but most of us are very rarely in such a situation. Ransack your cupboards and become a thrifty gourmand!

As Julia Child would say, "Bon Apetit!"