What’s Cooking in Kelli’s Kitchen

Lately, I have been thinking about grit. While the Oxford Dictionary defines grit as "courage and resolve; strength of character" the term has increased significantly within the educational and business sectors. Specifically, the folks at Michigan State University, among others, say that "a person with true grit has passion and perseverance. Goals are set and followed through. A person who works hard to follow through on commitments has true grit."

Way back in the 90s, I made a commitment to myself and to my loved ones that I was going to make my way through a college degree. In 1996, after graduating from Villa Park High School, I enrolled at Chapman University as a Peace Studies and Political Science double major. It didn’t take long before unanticipated obstacles started popping up. Eventually, those obstacles became overwhelming, and I stepped away from the path that I was on. Instead, I turned towards the ocean and spent many years sailing on tall ships and dive boats and crossed the Atlantic on a 46’ sailboat. I worked in coffee shops, ultimately becoming a manager at Starbucks and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. I sold boat parts and worked in purchasing at a marine hardware store. I went to culinary school and worked as a restaurant manager and as a chef. Ultimately, I found my way to Fallon where I cooked, distributed food, and helped small businesses get started. Then, a year ago in December, I enrolled in a bachelor’s program at Western Nevada College.

It took me almost thirty years, but I am less than a month away from finishing the bachelor’s degree that I started in 1996. And I am feeling gritty!

There are many ways that I can tie my story, back to the kitchen and cooking. But what I want to talk about is how I have intentionally put on hold many things that I love to do to accomplish this big goal. I haven’t allowed myself to do any leisure reading in the last 18 months, and it has been a challenge. I have boxes of Legos that are waiting to be built, including the largest Lego set created, the "Eiffel Tower." While I have certainly prepared countless dinners, I have not conducted my usual culinary experiments or jumped into fun kitchen projects. I haven’t even checked in on projects that I started before returning to school.

As I approach the culmination of my experience at WNC and accomplish this very long-term goal, I am starting to think about the things that I am going to do next. I’ve got some Legos to build, homemade bitters to check on, and there are a couple of jars of walnut liqueur to find and taste. I am looking forward to reading fiction, baking scones, fermenting peppers into hot sauce, taking three days to make an amazing cassoulet, and practicing my approach shots on the golf course. And I am looking forward to the feeling of satisfaction and completion that comes with satisfying a promise that I made to myself a very long time ago.

It is never too late to fulfill a promise, make progress toward a goal, or recommit to a dream. All it takes is grit–passion, and perseverance. 

Classic Scones (Baking these up for my family to eat before they watch me walk across the stage at the Churchill Arts Council on May 25th, 2023) By Mark Bittman

Ingredients:

• 2 c cake flour
• ½ t salt
• 2 t baking powder
• 3 T sugar
• 5 T cold butter cut into small cubes
• 1 egg
• ½ - ¾ c heavy cream, more for brushing

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Put the flour, salt, baking powder, and 2 T sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal.
2. Add the egg and just enough cream to form a slightly sticky dough. If it’s too sticky, add a little flour (but only a little), it should still stick a little to your hands.
3. Lightly flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Knead once or twice, then press it into a ¾-inch-thick circle and cut into 2" rounds with a biscuit cutter or a glass. Put the rounds on an ungreased baking sheet. Gently reshape the leftover dough and cut out more rounds. Brush the top of each scone with a bit of cream and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
4. Bake for 9-10 minutes, until the scones are golden brown. Serve with sweet jam and mascarpone cheese.