Rockin' The Stove? Like An Avalanche!

As I've told some people recently, I am a Blogger Come Lately. I am quickly trying to get up to speed after nearly a year of allowing this site to idle. Actually, I let it stall. But it's all about moving forward. 

Now that I've got several test drives under my belt, I thought it was time to handle the trickier stuff, like actually writing entries that direct people to other sites. 

And I could think of few people I wanted to give a shout out to more than my dear friend Chef Shirle Hale Koslowski. 

Shirle and I have known each other for over 15 years now. Back in the day, when we were both living in Baltimore, the house that Shirle shared with her now-hubby David was the go-to place after the shows at Memory Lane - the bar where we saw our favorite indie and punk acts, from Girls Against Boys to Brainiac to Gas Huffer to Supersuckers. 

I will always have the fondest memories of Shirle, standing in the doorway of her kitchen, surveying the group of people hanging out in her living room as the clock inched toward 2:30 in the morning. As someone who also likes to cook and entertain, I knew what was going through her mind as she looked around the room: "How many people are here? And what should I feed them?"

After a minute or two of taking sights (and taking sites) Shirle would ask, "Who wants some... hummus... or potstickers... or [insert any snack food here.]" With very little effort, and in very short order, she would whip something up and, before you knew it, a "hot passed tray" was making its way around the room. People would stop talking about the show we'd all just seen long enough to comment on the deliciousness that the chef had created on the spur of the moment. 

None of us had much money, or many resources back then, but we were fairly resourceful. And Shirle was by far the most resourceful of us all. In fact, next to my parents, she was one of the people who came to mind when I interviewed Anthony Bourdain for "The Warmest Room In The House" and, in referencing the leaner years in the American Kitchen, he said "We ate more heroically in this country when we had less."

The way Shirle could feed so many people, so quickly, and with such ease at a time when - for most of us - paying rent could be a huge challenge, always impressed me. 

Today she's still rockin' her stove. She's got an award-nominated blog, a successful career as a personal chef, and apparently another band in the works. I'm convinced she clones herself because I have no other explanation for how she gets so much done in one day. 

Many thanks to David K for the tutorial on writing code - I hope I did it correctly and that the links work! And much love to him and Shirle for their years of friendship and inspiration!

So, without further ado, here's Shirle's site: Rockin The Stove.