14 Nov Inside the Fridge: Lisa Lewis

ITF welcomes Lisa Lewis! From the Nebraskan prairies to the Egyptian pyramids, Lisa’s childhood was anything but conventional, due to her father’s studies and work. Lisa has lived in several different countries, although it was Grand Forks, ND where she received her graduate and undergraduate degrees in English at the University of North Dakota, and began teaching as a lecturer in the English Department and Honors Program. She co-wrote a series of four books on art and music for young readers, none of which her own four children have read completely. Despite currently living on Lake Champlain among the Adirondack Mountains in Plattsburgh, New York, where she teaches part-time at the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, and where she often brings brownies and cookies to class, she considers Grand Forks, North Dakota her home. It is the place where she raised her children, and where many of her most fond memories of making a home and living well reside.

ITF: Where do you shop?

LL:  Price-Chopper, a local grocery store; the North Country Food Co-op downtown; and the summer and fall farmer’s markets.

ITF: Do you love food shopping or dread it?

LL: I love shopping at markets for seasonal produce because I love the smell of fresh tomatoes and peaches, the weight of eggplant and cabbage in my hands, and the beautiful, saturated color of all those fruits and vegetables.

ITF: What is the single most important thing on your mind when you are shopping for food?

LL: When I shop for food, I’m looking for something very attractive and fresh and reasonably priced.

ITF: How many do you shop for? Ages?

LL: Currently, when I shop, I shop for two people, my husband (age 68) and myself (age 55).

ITF: What is your weekly food budget?

LL: My food budget fluctuates greatly, depending upon whether or not I’m cooking. If I’m cooking at home, then I feel like eating. Sometimes I don’t feel like eating, so my husband often cooks for himself.  He’s the one that grocery shops almost every day because he’s a strict three meals per day person. I much prefer my own cooking.

ITF: How do you plan your meals? Create a spreadsheet, or fly-by-the-seat-of-your pants?

LL: I am definitely a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants planner. I find inspiration to prepare a certain meal when I’m reading The New York Times or magazines, like Bon Appetit.

ITF: What is the most coveted food in the house right now, for each member of the household?

LL: Honeycrisp apples, grown locally.

ITF: Do you believe in leftovers?

LL: I absolutely believe in leftovers. We all know so many soups and sauces and marinated meats are much tastier the next day.

ITF: What brands do you swear by?

LL: I love Grey Poupon Dijon mustard for its inimitable sharp Dijon mustard taste, and Huy Fong Foods Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, with the red rooster on the bottle. A little sriracha adds a piquant burst of flavor to so many things, like chicken soup.  The equivalent bottled hot sauce used ubiquitously down south is Crystal. I took a cooking class in New Orleans two years ago, and the chef used Crystal in almost every dish she shared with us.  I also love drinking Voss spring water. The water tastes so much clearer and finer than other bottled waters.

ITF: What cooking kitchen appliance do you live for?

LL: I really love my immersion blender for pureeing soups. How I wish I had one years ago!

ITF: When you hear the word “homemade,” what is the first thing that comes to mind?

LL: “Homemade” makes me think of a noticeably crooked hemline on a dress or skirt. It seems to me to be a bit of an oxymoron to use the term “homemade” when one is talking about cooking.  But I understand its use. We use so many convenience foods today. However, if you say, “I’m making lasagna,” would you qualify it by saying “I’m making homemade lasagna” so that it’s not confused with the frozen Stouffer’s lasagna? I guess some of us would.

ITF: What foods are important when recalling food memories?

LL: Food memories important to me are the heavy oatmeal bread my mother made and would toast for tea after school and serve with her fresh tomato marmalade.  The many bowls of condiments my mother served with curry—chopped hard-cooked egg, green onions, chutney, peanuts. My mother’s eggroll. My father’s borscht, made at the end of summer when the beets were ready. He took such pleasure making it, and we’d eat it with a great dollop of sour cream on top. My father was also a great pasta fanatic when my sister and I were young teens, so whenever he came home at the end of the day and knew my mother had made clam sauce and spaghetti, he was very happy.

ITF: What are your go-to food/nutrition/culinary/cooking websites, book or cookbooks?

LL: I love going to epicurious.com to look for recipes. I also love The New York Times food and dining section, and I love reading cookbooks. I love buying cookbooks simply to read them. Junior League cookbooks, the Best of Gourmet cookbooks, Julee Russo and Sheila Lukins (from The Silver Palate, among others), Ina Garten (The Barefoot Contessa), The Joy of Cooking.

ITF: If one person could cook for you tonight, who would it be?

LL: I would be very entertained to have a resurrected Julia Child cook for me, or Anthony Bourdain.

ITF: What words of wisdom or advice do you have for other folks, who are doing their best every day to fill their fridge?

LL: Processed food is expensive, and it becomes addictive because it’s easy to eat out of the package. But preparing a hearty soup can take less than thirty minutes, and your lentils, or split peas, or navy beans are very inexpensive dried  and purchased at a food co-op. Chop and dice your vegetables, and may have enough soup for several meals. I love making hearty soups and eating them with a crusty loaf of bread.

ITF: Anything else?

LL: Things I always have in the fridge? Unsalted butter, lemons and walnuts, pecans or almonds.

Thank you Lisa!

Please email Leah@robinplotkin.com if you’re interested in contributing to Inside the Fridge.