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There is so much that is so cool about living
the life of a cook. Sharing tasty food with the
people in your life, seeing the happiness it
brings and then watching the good things that
happen to people who feel happy opens your
eyes to the world of kindness we live in. Once
you understand cooking for what it is, an act
of kindness, it can bring such great balance to
your outlook on life. And the kindness of cooking
knows no bounds, it happens everywhere.
Do the math and it is easy to see that for each
story that makes the nightly news there are a
hundred million acts of kindness that happen
every day in kitchens in homes across the globe
as cooks spread their love.
But sometimes I look at the news and these
days it makes me sad. Are we really going to
leave unchecked the companies whose reckless
pursuit of billions have so damaged our
economy and our environment, and instead let
our frustrations be redirected at the people who
have spent their lives doing our unwanted jobs
for dollars an hour? In our need to restore our
sense of self-control are we actually going to
reward politicians who are not working to bring
us together, but instead are forsaking America's
beautiful 234-year history of diversity? These are
decent people's lives, real loving families where
children will be separated from parents, where
grandparents will be separated from grandchildren
for what possible gain?
The other morning I was driving my sixyear-
old daughter to her weeklong summer
woodworking class and she asked me how you
get people who have stopped caring to care. We
had watched a movie over the weekend where
people simply stopped being nice. She was
thinking about how to change that. Not sure
myself, I asked her what she thought could be
done. After a moment's imagination she came
up with: "You get people to care by spreading
your happy feelings."
The Arizona I know has plenty of happy feelings
to spread. We all owe a debt to the past for
those who bore the costs of our families' arrival
in this country, but it is the people of Arizona
that are bearing our share of the costs. From
my travels with my family around the state, and
through our store in the Phoenix area, we have
been introduced to an Arizona so different from
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what we see on the nightly news. Each day in
the kitchens of the homes across Arizona, we
know for a fact there are millions of acts of kindness,
and these acts revolve around the flavors
of Mexico more than influences from anywhere
else. From the initial responses to our cooks survey
( please take it if you have not already), Americans love the food and flavors
of Mexico. In the answers to the question on the
types of cooking you do, Mexican is on more
people's lists than any other type.
It is the flavors of Mexico we choose to share
around our dinner tables with our families and
with our friends. Arizona even takes America's
love of Mexico's culture of food to the next
level. We see Sweet Chilies, Cumin, Mexican
Oregano, and Chipotles on the shopping lists of
our Arizona customers far more than our store
average. Through our customers we see how
over the years the culture of Mexico has moved
past being just an influence from our neighbors,
to being a part of how we define ourselves. In
a magic that flourishes in America like nowhere
else, all the hugs and smiles and laughs
and tears we have shared over the years have
brought us together, and we have yet again
become one people.
From all these experiences, from all these
emotions, we have come up with a wonderful
new blend. We call it Arizona Dreaming. It is the
great flavors that originally came from south of
the border, but are now a part of who we all are,
combined in the way that the people of Arizona
love to use them. It has no salt out of respect
for the heart-healthy style of cooking so many
Arizonans enjoy. It is the perfect blend for the
flavorful foods of the harvest we are sharing
right now, but I also hope that in its deliciousness
Arizona Dreaming gets us thinking about
what we want our future harvests to be. That
its inspiration gives us the encouragement to
figure out the seeds we need to plant now to let
an even brighter future grow. Give it a try and
be happy.
As always I would love to hear what you're
thinking. Email me at: bill@penzeys.com.
And once again thank you for taking the time
to spread your happy feelings,
Bill
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