by Kelly

cider vingear

plucks my nose hairs, pinches — ooh!

I’m cooking for hubby.

by Kelly

Few things are more Minnesotan than hotdish.

In fact, those of us who call the state home often take a perverse pride in hotdish culture. We praise hotdishes and wax nostalgic for them.

There is no better proof of this, perhaps, than Hotdish Haiku, a tiny little book filled with teeny little poems about the humble hotdish (and some hotdish recipes).

A whole host of authors, each with a Minnesota tie, contributed haiku to this collection. And the book was even put out by a homespun publisher, based — of course — in Minnesota.

If you’re not from Minnesota (or the Upper Midwest), you might be wondering right about now exactly what a hotdish is. Let me fill you in — a hotdish is a casserole.

It’s an entire meal in one dish. Usually rice, pasta or potatoes makes up the bottom layer. The starch (for that’s what rice, pasta and potatoes are) is mixed with a can of cream of mushroom soup, cream of chicken soup or cream of celery soup to add the moisture needed for it to cook.

Meat of nearly any kind comes next. I grew up with with hamburger hotdish, pork chop hotdish, chicken hotdish and turkey hotdish. Tuna hotdish is also popular.

The final layer could be comprised of any number of things. Shredded cheese is popular. So are tatter tots or bread crumbs or dry Lipton onion soup.

Generally speaking, hotdish isn’t something you’ll find people eating in the summer. It’s too dense and thick to be enjoyable when the humidity is high.

Instead, hotdish is something we break out once the leaves start to change. Come January, hotdishes hit an all-time peak in popularity. Hotdishes keep us warm and cozy (and cushioned with calories) once the temperature drops below zero. Hotdishes are also a staple of church potluck suppers.

So, now that we’re all on the same page about what a hotdish is, I feel I can move on to reviewing Hotdish Haiku.

According to the book’s introduction, hotdish and haiku share something in common.

When reading a haiku, for one brief moment, you stop and reflect on the nature of how the world works.

When digging into a hotdish, there is one brief moment, when the first bite reaches your mouth and the steamy aroma fills your nose and fogs your glasses, when you stop and sigh and reflect on the goodness at hand.

Both, claim the authors of Hotdish Haiku, encourage you to be in the moment.

As the winds have turned chilly here in Minnesota, I’ve noticed that I’ve been cooking up hotdishes in my kitchen. I’m averaging one a week right now and while Hubby usually claims to like them, I must admit that this Hotdish Haiku gave me pause:

Cans being opened

She always serves hotdish

Divorce will follow

– Pat Dennis

Hmmmm. Mayve I should cool it on the hotdish? But then again:

Ghost of old hotdish

Memories from a childhood

Glass dish with cover

–Sandra Thomas

Instead of putting a kabash on my current hotdish streak, I decided to start penning some Hotdish Haiku of my own. Here’s one I came up with after discussing the hotdish phenomenon with a friend over the phone:

Tater tot hotdish,

says my East Coast, Jewish friend,

What the f*** is that?

I’d love to hear some of your hotdish haiku! Let’s start a running list below!

by Kelly

onions, celery, broth

sustaining, satisfying

chicken noodle soup

by Alison

I teach him how to

measure, steep, garnish and serve

my favorite tea

April is National Poetry Month and we’re celebrating!

Each Monday this month, we’re throwing out a topic and inviting readers to share haiku on the subject.

This week’s topic: Kitchen

Add your haiku as a comment. Let’s see how many we can collect!

by Alison

I remember in art school a dear friend of mine once scolded me for doing too much cooking. She said I would never amount to being an artist if I spent my time making fresh tortillas, homemade pies and Pasta Putanesca, food that we had shared together one long hot summer over much conversation and laughter. Male philosophers such as Nietzsche and Foucault, on the other hand, were supposedly proper inspiration for a young artist.

Young art students aren’t the only ones to look down on the domestic as inspiration. The beautiful haiku above was categorized as a “kitchen-ku” by the poet’s male peers. I actually love the term but the intentions are not so innocent - it was meant to belittle the subject matter of female poets as less important.

I think I have always been a kitchen artist. As a young art student I spent my time painting chicken breasts on plates and intricate doilies. Now I write haiku about home and family: my daughter, my husband, my cats, my tea time and even the dreaded housework. I love writing this kitchen-ku. It carries the pulse of my life.

And yet… the feminist in me feels I am not telling the whole story without showing some understanding of my art school friend’s fears. Women are mocked both in and out of the kitchen. If we embrace the domestic we are ghettoized into a role that society feels comfortable with and yet belittles still. If we break out of the kitchen we are often castigated as Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin and Michelle Obama were during this past election.

So it’s no wonder that women today should have a love/hate relationship with the kitchen. Perhaps in the name of modernity and progress we can take an egalitarian approach.

Afternoon Tea Party by the wonderful "kitchen artist" Mary Cassatt

Male or female, working at home or working outside it, the home and our activities in it are important.

The home is where we can relax and be ourselves. It is a place where we can demonstrate love and also where we are often tested to just get along. It is where we nurture ourselves and each other in the simplest of ways: cooking, cleaning, eating, talking and listening.  And it is 2009 so men should not despair. Men can be great kitchen ku-ers, too!

I wish my art school friend had looked at our laughter, cooking, eating, growing herbs and doing dishes as inspiring to her life and her art as anything else. And I wish that society validated these experiences more. But my friend and I are older now and more confident in ourselves as women. Perhaps we no longer need society’s validation. And if we happen to have the chance again to spend a summer together preparing and sharing home cooked meals and wine - I imagine we would both be inspired.

Find Haiku Mind on Amazon:
Haiku Mind: 108 Poems to Cultivate Awareness and Open Your Heart

Home and Family haiku and kitchen-ku concept excerpted from Haiku Mind by Patricia Donegan, (c) 2008. Published by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston. www.Shambhala.com.