'Comfort Zone'
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| Susan Lind of Princeton spends a few quiet moments at her dining room table, preparing to go through some family heirloom cookbooks. Lind, who first learned her love for cooking from her grandfather, describes cooking in her kitchen as her greatest comfort zone. (BCR photo/Donna Barker) |
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PRINCETON — When Susan Lind heads into the kitchen of her Princeton home, she’s entering her favorite comfort zone.
The story of Lind’s love and journey with food and cooking is being documented online through Fooducopia.com, a Web site owned by former Princeton residents Pericles Tarsinos and Tim Lymberopoulos.
Fooducopia.com was founded in 2008 when Tarsinos and Lymberopoulos decided to bridge the gap between small-scale producers and consumers across the country. Hundreds of unique food products from dozens of producers are available through the Fooducopia Web site.
As she sat last week at her dining room table, Lind said she stumbled upon Fooducopia after joining Facebook one year ago. She liked the concept of Fooducopia promoting locally grown and supported produce, and she liked the entrepreneur-aspect of the Web site. When Tarsinos suggested she document her process of getting into a food business, Lind agreed.
Lind’s longtime adventure with food and cooking actually began as a little girl spending time with her maternal grandfather, Princeton attorney Bill Wilson.
“I’ve been in love with food since I was 3 years old when my grandfather first allowed me to help in the kitchen,” Lind writes for Fooducopia.”I would stand on my little stool and hand him his utensils, watching every step of preparation as he explained what he was doing and why. He had a magical way of taking even the most mundane recipe and turning it into a culinary adventure. He would tell me where the ingredients came from, and why it was important to use the best available ones, and why it was necessary to fold batter and proof dough. I knew the difference between Gorgonzola and Roquefort cheese before most kids my age could spell their name.
“But I think the most important thing he taught me was to appreciate food. He reveled in the amount of time it took him to prepare a dish. He enjoyed and savored every moment of the experience. The reward was sitting down with a great glass of wine and letting the consummation of all the work play on the palate. Meals were not just meals ... they were moments.”
Though her grandfather died when she was only about 4 years old, she continued to spend her weekends with her grandmother, Berniece Wilson. Every Saturday, she and her grandmother would go for lunch at the Elks Lodge. Then every Saturday evening, they would plan their meal for Sunday dinner. Sunday mornings were spent cooking, cooking and more cooking.
At one point, Lind had considered becoming a chef, but there weren’t that many opportunities and schools in the area. After high school, she attended Northern Illinois University and then came home and worked. She later met and married her husband, Don.
Her childhood love of cooking has never left her but has remained a constant passion throughout her adulthood, Lind said. She’s always tries to have a garden. She especially loves the aroma and taste of fresh herbs.
Several years ago, she and a family friend, Walter Langdon, began experimenting with making herbal vinegars. The friends ordered bottles for their vinegars, grew more herbs and made batch after batch of herbal and raspberry vinegars, which they gave as gifts to friends and family.
When the friends started seriously considering turning their vinegars into a business, they found the regulations and rules imposed by the health department to be overwhelming, daunting and expensive, Lind said. The dream of selling their vinegars as a business was put on hold, Lind said.
Though she still makes some vinegars as gifts, Lind has now developed a new specialty — marinated olives — which she hopes to market some day.
Through her writing on Fooducopia, Lind will continue to share her journey into becoming an entrepreneur. A former journalism major, Lind said she loves to write and loves to write about food and cooking. The ideal job for her would have been to be a traveling food writer, she said.
When asked what she wants people to learn from her writing on Fooducopia, Lind was quick with her answer.
“I think I would want people to learn to just embrace what you love,” Lind said. “There’s a saying that if you do what you love, then the rest will follow. I hope that’s going to happen with me.”
No matter what happens in starting a business, Lind said she, just like her grandfather, will always enjoy the preparation and the presentation of the meal.
“The preparation of food to me is like therapy,” Lind said. “I love being in my kitchen. It is my comfort zone. And I get so much satisfaction when people enjoy what I’ve prepared for them. There are no words to describe that satisfaction. It truly is a glorious experience for me.”
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