Why I love him.....

Recently, we have had a little shake-up at the Mack House. I am pleased to say that our marriage still stands solid. I wrote this a few weeks ago in my Creative Writing class, and Dave needs a reminder as to why I am still by his side. So, bear with me as I stroke his ego a little bit.







The smell of roasting garlic was something new to me. Growing up, my mom used powdered garlic, and she used it sparingly. So, the papery cloves of garlic in the cupboard were just one more thing that changed. Once peeled and pressed, the cloves were usually roasted in the pan with olive oil to start almost every meal. They had a distinct, spicy smell- almost indescribable. It was a new scent for me, in this time of new scents-his deodorant, his shirts, his sour morning breath; all these aromas that came with sharing a home with a man. But, the garlic was the one that I liked the most. It filled our home every night. I would come home from work, and he would be starting on dinner. The scent of roasted garlic would fill the stair case up to our second story apartment and I would know that I was home.
The taste of the fresh garlic would explode in my mouth, filling it with excitement. How could I have lived so long and not experience the intense flavor of this wondrous little thing? The first time he made a roast, covered in minced garlic I knew that he was the man for me. His love of cooking, the passion he showed in preparing our nightly dinners –this was a man that knew how to live. He would spend hours in the tiny kitchen, chopping and stirring, teasing my senses. He didn’t always know how the dish would turn out after he tweaked the recipe; a little thyme, less pepper. He would hold the wooden spoon to my lips, a sample of the feast to come. With him, nothing is simple, nothing is predictable. Because of this, life with him is an adventure. With him, its new foods, old foods in different ways; new love and old love with the romance of a chef of life.