6/29 Weekly Creativity Challenge and New Prompt

Two steamed-up entries for your palate this week.  Miranda enjoyed a great night of cooking while Kelly salvaged a photographic moment.  Welcome back to the challenge, Miranda!  We’ve missed you!

Cambridge on a Sunday Evening

Tonight I cooked with a group of strangers.
At first we were stiff and unknowing, with each other and with the kitchen.
Then we settled at our cutting boards.
We peeled and chopped and diced.
We sauteed, roasted, and boiled.
We blended.
We dipped hot pans in ice baths.
Fresh lasagna noodles in fat yellowy ribbons through the pasta maker.
Oh, my new knife skills!
I love the apron, a fresh kitchen towel folded at my waist.
How have I cooked for so long without the proper uniform?
The mise en place enchants me;
the ramekins filled with color and order and potential.
There is, I see, a calm rhythm in food preparation done right,
not my usual frenetic scramble.
We plated and admired.
We ate and talked and became old friends.
And I walked away from the whole mess, not a dish to consider!
Ah, culinary luxury.
Tomorrow I will order an apron and claim my own kitchen anew.
Although next time, I won’t escape the dishes.

---

From me (Kelly): On our recent St. George Island vacation, we found a little path that led to a secluded bayside beach right at the end of our cross street.  When we first went out there, I noticed it was the ideal spot to catch a spectacular photo of the sun setting over the bridge from the mainland, so I planned to come back out there that evening to catch the sunset.  First night…cloudy and hazy from the heat.  Second night…hazy from the heat.  Third night…hazy from the heat.  But while I was waiting for a break in the haze, I looked down and saw how the setting sun was shining light on the gem of the area…the lowly oyster.  Ninety percent of the oysters consumed in the state of Florida, many of them steamed, come from the bay I was facing.  I’d say they deserve a photo op!

---

This week’s prompt: “The Fourth of July”
Use the prompt however you like – literally, or a tangential theme. All media are welcome. Please e-mail your entries to creativereality@live.com by midnight eastern time on Sunday, July 5, 2009. Writers should include their submission directly in the body text of their e-mail. Visual artists and photographers should attach an image of their work as a jpeg. Enter as often as you like; multiple submissions for a single prompt are welcome. There is no limit to how many times you can win the weekly challenge, either. (You do not have to be a contributor to this blog in order to enter. All are invited to participate.) All submissions are acknowledged when received; if you do not receive e-mail confirmation of receipt within 48 hours, please post a comment here. Remember, the point is to stimulate your output, not to create a masterpiece. Keep the bar low and see what happens. Dusting off work you created previously is OK too. For more info, read the original contest blog post.