The Conch Girl Project at Fort Collins

Recipe for Celia T’s Kitchen:
Eggplant Parmesan Pork Saute Pie 肉末茄子派

• A huge open kitchen in a giant house. Large windows, cute decors, beautiful details. So much information, so many choices, that you feel catatonic. 
• A cat in your company. She is curious and friendly. Her drinking bowl is modest and clean. 
• The content in the fridge is mainly vegetables, herbs, leftover salsa, dairy, and drinks. There are various meats and fish in the freezer. A very healthy palate. 
• A giant eggplant on the counter. Before she left, Celia expressed her hope for you to use that, or have it used sooner than later. 
• Most decorations are either nature or animals. You guess it’s hard to not love them if you reside in Colorado. 
• There are plants on the kitchen high counter, right by the sink. You can see how they are watered. 

• Greeted by Celia, who shakes your hands, guides you in, points out a few cabinets for pots and pans, and the walk-in pantry, expresses her hope for you to use that giant eggplant on the counter, before leaving the house. In New York, kitchen owners normally won’t show you around the kitchen, but here it seems necessary. It is big and non exhaustive, that you actually won’t mind some guidance. 
• You spend the first hour just to take photos of and with the space. Then you try to take photos of the cat. So many good angles, so many choices. You can’t help, and you can’t stop!
• After forcing your attention on food, you start to think of ways to use that eggplant, the only intact produce in this kitchen. You are most familiar with cooking sauteed eggplant with minced pork, so you pick out the Italian sausage from the freezer, where the frozen pie crust left an impression on you, so you picked that one out too. Now this combo reminds you of an Italian-American sandwich you had in New York, so you start to take a closer look at the cheese in the fridge––and bingo, a jar of parmesan!
• You saute the eggplant with the italian sausage meat and parmesan, lay them on the pie crust, and put a layer of parmesan, thymes, and olive oil on top before putting them in the oven. 
• While waiting for the pie, Celia came back with her friend. They asked you a bit about this project, and Celia made everyone mushroom tea––for you too. 
• The pie looks good. Not bad for an improvised dish. You put that on the table, reject Celia’s invitation to eat together, and say goodbye.