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<h2><strong>INTIMATE COMMUNION THROUGH FOOD</strong></h2>
<p><br>
<a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-1">Part 1</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-2">Part 2</a> <a href="https://steemit.com/love/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-3">Part 3</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-4">Part 4</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-5">Part 5</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-6">Part 6</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-7">Part 7</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-8">Part 8</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-9">Part 9</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-10">Part 10</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-birthday-intermission">Birthday Intermission</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-11">Part 11</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-12">Part 12</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-13">Part 13</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-14">Part 14</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-15">Part 15</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-16">Part 16</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-17">Part 17</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-18">Part 18</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-19">Part 19</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-20">Part 20</a> <a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-intermission-no-2">Intermission No. 2 </a><a href="r">Part 21 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-22">Part 22 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-23">Part 23 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-24">Part 24 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-25">Part 25 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-26">Part 26 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-27">Part 27 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-28">Part 28 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-29">Part 29 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-30">Part 30 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-intermission-no-3">Intermission No. 3 </a><a href="https://busy.org/@everlove/challenging-love-to-be-unconditional-part-31">Part 31</a></p>
<p><strong><br>
</strong>Quinn and I both had very discerning palates, <br>
and both already with lots of experience in the culinary realms. </p>
<p><br>
His mom was indeed a master chef and had an extremely powerful way with food, so Quinn came by his developed taste buds naturally through his childhood, and on into adulthood being very savvy in the kitchen himself.</p>
<p><strong><br>
</strong>My family did not have a culinary expert, but provided healthy and plentiful meals. We ate food from our own garden, chickens and pigs, and got fresh deer, pastured cows and raw cows milk from our neighbors. We made most all of our everyday meals from scratch, including our bread (sometimes 60 loaves at a time) and cinnamon rolls, ice cream (or snow cream), pastas, sauces and more. All of my siblings are plenty capable in the kitchen too, each of us with our own style, though incorporating our childhood propensity toward combining whatever is available in the kitchen. My was-band was also an amazing chef, so together we fed our children, their friends and all of our guests top-notch meals.</p>
<p><br>
<img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/162715_1740475439061_5739895_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=41ec09aab9151b1c1e01918efb6601f3&oe=5D0CC2AA" width="720" height="480"/></p>
<p><em>Sauteed veggies to go on top of the greens and sweet potato hash browns, then....sour cream and pecans, spicy sauce and a sprinkle of Himalayan salt!</em></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Quinn and I both loved our food realities, which became a staple in the early years of our relationship. We began our together time with his homemade sourdough bread in many forms fresh from the oven with lots of butter! When he moved in he brought his sourdough starter which needed to be stirred and fed regularly to remain active. Because our house was cold without the central heat blaring, we even took our sourdough “baby” to bed with us so it would stay warm and alive.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18460_1263824769714_7468965_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=05146ae1ffd228d1dec3e0befc329ce7&oe=5CED0231" width="403" height="604"/></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/33719_1608034168112_2537632_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=cdad8c343fca20a1c91d25f054862abc&oe=5D134EBF" width="720" height="480"/></p>
<p><br>
One super intimate part of our food reality was that rarely, if ever, did we eat without each other. No matter where or who we were with, we always shared the same dish, cuddled up together, and fed each other with our fingers. Touching one another and our food was a delicious and potent part of our connection with our food and with each other.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/227760_1958053238370_7390100_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=323dad060bcabc222f76950fcbd71871&oe=5CDC4F7D" width="720" height="480"/></p>
<p><br>
In creating our food we began dissecting the flavors, and adjusting each bite of food to be more flavorful and imaginative than the bite before. We would take random things from the cupboards and refrigerator and combine them to stretch our palates and get our creative juices flowing.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/221678_1940923050126_3379382_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=d55527462eca9ae68cd2836fb30aa8fb&oe=5D2787CB" width="720" height="480"/></p>
<p><em>Version 1 of the egg nest...sweet little egg creation...hard boiled egg halved, filled with sprouts, chipotle cream sauce, egg yolk, sauteed mushrooms/onions/jalapenos, salt and pepper.</em></p>
<p><br>
We would make something as special as homemade ravioli, experiment with different stuffings, and then begin whipping up several sauces to try with each type of ravioli. </p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/10399554_1225895814892_8126459_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=dd9893df47fe04ed61b6c415151e7e52&oe=5D1C012E" width="604" height="402"/></p>
<p><em>Pumpkin Ravioli in the making!</em></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/10399554_1225887094674_1665241_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=ae0ecc1464949c558f9cd899f5efbfd4&oe=5D170FFE" width="402" height="604"/></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/10399554_1225889374731_8317190_n.jpg?_nc_cat=104&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=b68630514b677956b5d77c525675aa69&oe=5D25FABB" width="604" height="402"/></p>
<p><em>Maple Pumpkin Ravioli with Chocolate Cayenne Sauce </em></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/10399554_1225889414732_3208911_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=82c516cab0a3a3477c6d2bae3e79c547&oe=5D109ADA" width="604" height="402"/></p>
<p><em>Herbed Pumpkin Ravioli with Thyme and Sage Cream Sauce</em></p>
<p><br>
We would sometimes make something as simple as a huge bowl of popcorn and divide it into 6 portions. He would take 3 and I would take 3, and we would each come up with different flavor combinations and taste test until we would find our favorite. </p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/62102_1586490909544_1207582_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=0adca243079bdf5b61d8510684768e3f&oe=5D1FC6BB" width="480" height="720"/></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/248201_2018475188881_3700959_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=a71bf231f0b0f69669c9e9c35b69d842&oe=5CDBEB3C" width="720" height="480"/></p>
<p><em>Chocolate Popcorn</em></p>
<p>(Popcorn with dried cranberries, peanuts, chocolate chips, curry powder, salt and pepper was the ultimate!) We did this with many of our meals for months and months on end, expanding our repertoire of mouthgasmic blends.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/262059_2131692139234_3161447_n.jpg?_nc_cat=105&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=c7a5d0693a6d0dd5fff284ad04525f37&oe=5D22FD7A" width="720" height="480"/></p>
<p><em>Garden of Eden Raw zucchini noodles and raw herbed tomato sauce, raw parmesan cheese, avocado and garden purslane</em></p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/404662_10200781332163006_668048805_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=bfc2fde4b5dfc068bc1cf1ff3b71c836&oe=5D1277A4" width="960" height="640"/></p>
<p><br>
We taste tested sakes, beers, hot sauces, cheeses (specialty herbed creamy goat cheeses topped our list), vinegars, oils, water, yogurts, chocolates, ice creams, (Ben and Jerry;s Fish Food hand fed to me by Quinn was my favorite back then), and nearly everything we put in our mouths to find the primo products and fine tune our experience. Though many of these foods I purchased from stores in those early times together, we squeezed out every drop of flavor and quality possible. </p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/230689_1940922490112_3603763_n.jpg?_nc_cat=107&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=873d8c05fb1cddb972b40bb53f7fecc5&oe=5CE2416E" width="720" height="619"/></p>
<p><br>
Daily we were increasingly becoming even more in tune with our food reality. We developed an incredibly keen connection through growing it, experimenting with it, touching it with our fingers, feeding each other, and making our mealtime a sacred experience. </p>
<p><br></p>
<p><img src="https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/36127_1413171183281_6842182_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&_nc_ht=scontent-dfw5-1.xx&oh=f07451f53f0c0de637b5101a29fd0a84&oe=5CFC0607" width="720" height="480"/></p>
<p><em>We also shared many fine wines and other beverages - this was my personal favorite -<br>
drinking from the Port hole.</em></p>
<p><br>
<em>I would sometimes feel awkward eating in public, as many people showed their judgement on us for using our fingers, and putting food into each other’s mouths. I quickly got over caring what they thought, especially not enough to stop, as eating with Quinn was one of my favorite activities of all time. Of course, if the food had a label like “finger food” we were in the clear - it was acceptable! Funny how humans use labels to determine “right” from “wrong”.</em><br>
</p>
<h2><br>
Go with me on the journey toward Unconditional Love!</h2>
<p><br></p>
<h3><em>Stay Tuned for Part 33</em></h3>
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<p><img src="https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://s6.postimg.org/ind2skcs1/Untitled_drawing_9.jpg" width="640" height="342"/></p>
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