Editor’s Note: Sept. 2014
Posted on August 30, 2014 by bob in EdNote
I blame it on The Capri. After all, who cooks 13 meals in five hours during one afternoon? Moreover, why? The second answer’s the easier one.
As I write this in late August, we’re anticipating the birth of Grandchild #2. We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl (yay for fun surprises!) and or even when the little tyke plans to show up. What we do know is Papou and Yiayia want plenty of time to properly introduce ourselves to Little C, to assist in caring for Big Sis, and, most of all, to support the new mom and dad as they make the sometimes rocky transition from a family of three to four. Hectic, but exciting days. Which brings me back to Question #1.
Do grandmothers have a “nesting” instinct, like many new mothers? Is that the cause of my recent kitchen frenzy? My daughter-in-law first suggested the connection.
One entire afternoon was spent creating savory chicken pies, homemade spaghetti sauces, tender pot roasts with richly stewed root vegetables, as well as a long simmering camp stew, all attesting to a fast and furious, albeit productive, behavior that’s not my usual style.
Before the birth of our first child, I labored in the kitchen like there was no tomorrow, as if our son would come out of the womb asking for a steak dinner – though at 10 pounds, six ounces he almost did. Thirty years later and now an expectant grandmother for the second time, am I exhibiting similar behavior? Enter The Capri.
Days before my manic culinary throw-down, Bob and I had gone there to see Chef, an independent comedy about a restaurant chef who loses his professional job but regains his inspiration and family after starting a food truck business. With options like Sin City, The Expendables, and Guardians of the Galaxy playing at the commercial theaters, it was a relatively predictable choice. Montgomery is lucky to have a movie house like The Capri, where unexpected film treasures routinely surprise and entertain its patrons.
Cooking is an art form, and the movie inventively depicted the connection between creativity and culinary skill. After we left The Capri Bob and I enthusiastically talked about food, cooking and technique. Looking back I realize the movie fed my soul, inspiring me to feed others through several happily spent hours over the kitchen stove on one recent Saturday. Individually packaged, the resulting (now frozen) meals will support our own young nesters as they work to welcome baby #2 home.
Be sure to read writer Tom Ensey’s engaging feature about the The Capri Community Film Society (page 20) for a detailed history of Montgomery’s art house treasure, The Capri, and the story of how it’s survived progress, porn and picketers. If you grew up here, it will rekindle memories of the theater’s past. If you’re a transplant, you’ll learn how a resolute group of local citizens had the foresight and determination to create a cinematic gem for our city.
Hope your Labor Day is restful, and full of delicious barbecue. Have a great September!
(To contact Sandra, write primeeditor@gmail.com.)
Sandra Polizos, Editor
