use real butter

Recipe: creamy peanut butter pie

Doomed, was I.

By the time my packing was done, I had to be awake in 45 minutes to head to the airport. I debated whether or not to sleep, because sometimes a short sleep like that can make you feel worse than no sleep at all. It can make you feel pukey in the wee hours of the morning when no one else is awake and when you really don’t want to be either.

A mere 6 hours earlier I was in Boulder shooting the Andrew Bird concert at Chautauqua Auditorium. His is the kind of mesmerizing and dynamic performance that can transport you away from the worries of the day, even if only for a little while. And it did just that.

[You can see the rest of the photo set on the photo blog.]

But there was a flight to catch and a promise to keep.

crushed (gluten-free) cookies

melting butter

On Tuesday, Jennie posted a recipe for Creamy Peanut Butter Pie. It was her Mikey’s favorite. She invited all of us to make and share this pie to celebrate her beloved today, the day of his memorial service.

mix together for the crust

press into the bottom of the pan

**Jump for more butter**

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” -Eden Ahbez

Life has a fast pace – sometimes running in that dizzying manner and it’s all you can do to keep up. You’re chugging along, barely able to juggle the million things on your plate when something sudden happens and you let everything – including the plate – fall to the ground. And then you find yourself looking at the mess at your feet and those things that don’t really matter just fade away. What you’re left with is what matters.

Sometimes that something is the loss of a loved one, taken before anyone was ready. Maybe it’s facing your own mortality. For some it takes that kind of catastrophic life event before they realize what is truly important in life. And there are others who always know what their priorities are and live by them.

Last fall at BlogHer Food, Jennie and I were each tucked in our own hotel beds whispering stories into the drowsy darkness about the important people in our lives – both here and no longer here. Jennie’s words made me laugh and they made me cry, but they also instilled within me a deep respect for this no-nonsense, independent, loving, funny, and intelligent woman. She knew what mattered most in her life.

The food blogging community is reeling right now, because Jennie’s dear husband, Mikey, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly earlier this week. People are in shock and overcome with sadness. Like everyone else, when I learned of the news I held my beloved close to me and wept for my friend, for her Mikey, for their little girls, and for everyone who wasn’t expecting to be without him.

I know folks feel helplessness and despair. I’d like to point to Jennie as a shining beacon in this fog of sorrow, loss, and fear that has settled over so many. The way she talked about Mikey, the way they lived and loved their days together as a family, the time they set aside just for one another – this is love. This is living life. They made the moments count. They did it right.

I can’t think of a better way to honor Mikey than to live life and make it count. Let’s all do it right.

Edit: We can start with this group effort on Friday. Make a Creamy Peanut Butter Pie for Mikey. For Jennie.

Last year after Food and Light 2010 ended, my exact words were, “I’m never doing this again.”

Less than six months later, I was emailing with Diane about schedules and who our fourth team member should be. Perhaps I’m addicted to running events, but I don’t think that’s the case. What I am addicted to is running events with a great team. That’s really important to me because if I’m putting everything I’ve got into a workshop, it makes all the difference when the rest of the team is doing the same. It’s exhilarating to work with people who have great attention to detail, have deep and broad knowledge and the skills to communicate it, care most about the students and their education, are wholly without ego, and are genuinely kind and caring individuals. This year’s Food and Light workshop was exhausting, but gratifyingly so because my team was pretty much the best you could ever hope for and then some.

dream team at frasca for dream dinner: todd, diane, and matt

Maybe I feel strongly about teaching because of my experiences in academia. The most popular professors were the ones who “entertained” students, but those were rarely the professors from whom we learned much. Jeremy (a professor himself, and a damn fine teacher) calls the entertainers “candy” because they make you feel good about yourself without actually having taught anything. We’re not about candy here, we’re about something heartier and healthier: true learning. True learning requires hard work, but hard work can be fun and more importantly it can be rewarding in a way that candy can never be. True learning is empowering and it gives a person the confidence to continue to learn and improve beyond the classroom or workshop.

A good instructor is a gift (as are good friends). Just look at these gifts!

matt presents on lighting

todd works one-on-one with an attendee

diane shows what she captured to a group

There’s the other half of the equation, and that is the student. The student cannot be a passive blob hoping to absorb knowledge and skills through sound and light alone. Regurgitation is not learning. Merely being present is not learning. We engaged our participants. We tried to make concepts accessible through tangible examples they could relate to. We crammed SO MUCH information into two days and yet most of our attendees drank it up and eagerly asked for more. This group was incredible. They asked questions when they didn’t understand. They opened themselves up in front of complete strangers to expose what they didn’t know and committed to growing as photographers, as artists, as people. That takes courage, dedication. Several have said they felt vulnerable and yet they were all so encouraging to one another. They worked hard, really hard. But they still found time to laugh, make friends, and enjoy themselves.

Most of all they were delightful, fun, and genuinely warm people.

everyone is paying attention to matt’s presentation

gathering around diane’s styling demo

manisha and diane tackle indian lentils and beans

**Jump for more butter**