My First Food Zoom

What?! I couldn’t believe it. My friend, maybe better described as my sister from another mother, Rita F., wanted a team-building event and learned there wasn’t much of a budget for it where she worked.

As fortune would have it, I wanted to pilot my first “Food Zoom.” I didn’t have an idea other than I wanted to try it. Inspired by Rita’s interest, I created the theme in a couple of hot minutes on our fifteen minute call.

It would be pandemic, pantry-driven holiday party food, that would be easy for anyone of her team members to make. It would feature food as self-care as an overarching theme. I wanted to talk about the healthy properties of certain ingredients. When was the last time I got to talk about phenolic acid? After all, self-care might be the most important thing for a team leader to support in these COVID-19 affected times.

As I uttered the racing ideas pouring out of my pandemic-restricted, extroverting brainstorm, Rita said “yes, I want that for them!” The “them” was a team she loved and adored who were simply an incredibly high-performing, creative team.

I would share a recipe given to me by a friend from college (Katie B.) and would offer a taste and reminder of summer with brie, basil, and heirloom cherry and grape tomatoes. Rita’s team worked remotely long before the pandemic. I wondered whether some of them lived in places where the snow had already started to fall heavily.

It was amazing to connect with these ladies. Granted, there were some glitches in the transmission and the sound of the hood vent at times. I didn’t worry, because it just felt so good to share food virtually. I can’t recall the last time I heard the “Yum!” of strangers.

To know that they were nourishing themselves while still getting the most important things out of a team-building event—something done collectively that feels inspiring and fun, and maybe a stronger sense of knowing one another, (which comes from hanging out, even virtually, in each other’s kitchens), well, that’s satiating.

I’m grateful to all of them that they willingly participated in the proof-in-principle of a cross-country Food Zoom.

Here are the recipes:

• Crazy Great Kalamata Olive Tapenade (note that “vitamin” was supposed to be “vitamix” below)

• Sundried Tomato Delight Pesto

• Summer (in Winter) Brie, Basil, and Heirloom Cherry Tomato Pasta

Buon Appetito from Recipes with Rufina!