Love at First Frying Pan

How old were you when you first fell in love? I mean real, unfiltered, painstakingly true LOVE? Maybe you were a budding teenager who one day became startlingly aware of your attraction to the opposite sex. Maybe you were a bit of a late bloomer who became overwhelmingly intrigued by your sophisticated language professor in college? No? Well however old you were I'm sure it helped to shape every relationship you had moving forward. In the African American community we have a saying when something is good and filling. We say it "sticks to your bones". Well love has a way of "sticking" to your soul. You never really forget how it feels after the first time you meet it. I remember exactly how old I was when I first fell in love. I was four years old. Now don't be alarmed! I'm not about to share some stranger than fiction child bride story. No shenanigans over here! I digress. As I was saying, I first fell in love at the tender age of four.

 I remember standing in the kitchen watching my grandmother fry chicken. The memory is still the most vivid one I have. I recall the fear I felt seeing the wild flames under the pan and hearing the crackling and hissing of the oil for the first time. Maybe I had seen and heard it all before but this was surely the first time I truly noticed it. I can also recall the sense of wonder I felt. What was happening in there? Why was the sound of it so startling and why did my grandmother sometimes approach the pan with such caution and uncertainty? And most importantly...why did it smell so good? Now surely you must be thinking that it probably isn't normal for a small child to be so intrigued by someone frying chicken. You would probably be right. The taste of it didn't help to resolve my new fixation either. In fact, I wanted to see it again. I wanted to do it myself. I wanted to become the master of the flame.

 An experience so simple had probably changed the course of my life. Not in the way where I would be smart enough to realize my passion early and become a child prodigy, I'm simply not that extraordinary, but in a way where I could instantly find peace and happiness each time I reconnected with the pan. I am not a certified chef and I may never become one in the technical sense of the word. I am as I have always been. I am simply a girl in love.This love has introduced me to new people and things, it has assisted me in creating new opportunities for myself, and it has ultimately led me to the most important man in my life, my husband. That alone is enough.

 It was at four years old that I knew I had found love at first frying pan. This is the story of how Chocolate Martha came to be. With each day that passes and with each mastered meal a new page of this love story is written. I invite you to witness the progression of love.

 Welcome.