Tulsa, Oklahoma / Shannon / 3

My time at Shannon’s home in Tulsa was a perfect start to this shadowing adventure. A few of my friends texted me asking about my first day (hi @ally and @tucker!), and when I told them what Shannon and I were up to, they agreed with me that there was nothing we could have done that I would have loved more. The point of this summer isn’t to stay in my comfort zone, and I don’t expect that as I go along, but spending time in grocery stores and kitchens was a delightful and fun start to this trip.

Shannon told me that “when people ask what I do, I tell them I feed people.” The act of feeding is the umbrella hanging over much of Shannon’s life, and I sat in that shade this week as we walked through her world together. The first thing Shannon and I did together was go to a kitchen (well, sink) design store called The Galley. I could write a whole post on how nifty these sinks are, but you’ll have to check out their website for yourself. Shannon cooks for their display nights, so we met with Linda to plan the menu for an upcoming event. Linda wore glasses and a sunshine yellow cardigan, and she was easily one of the most adorable humans I’ve ever met.

I realized during this meeting that Shannon is, in fact, incredible at what she does. I hadn’t doubted that, but as we sat in that meeting room and she selected the menu, I got to watch it happen for the first time. I wrote in my notebook that Shannon “knows what they want and how to make it work—what sinks to use to help them show it all off.” She was completely present at that meeting—focusing on those people and that food, appreciating the space and the people and the opportunity to cook.

As I look back on those first few hours, that grounded presence is even more impressive, because since then I’ve learned her schedule (just wait) and lived it with her (my feet hurt). The Galley’s event was coming up in two weeks. Shannon is hosting a dinner for chefs at her home in one week. But between that Monday meeting and that next week’s dinner party, Shannon hosted a cooking demo party, made dinner for the elders at her church, cooked for and hosted a fundraiser for a family she didn’t know, and prepped food for her sewing club. When I got there, she’d had church friends over the previous night and a group of police over a few nights before that. And imagine more than twenty people attending most of those events.

I need a paragraph break just to catch my breath from typing that. Shannon is busy, and she knows that, and it was exciting and interesting to get to live that with her. We spent the entire second day preparing for her cooking class that night. I love nothing more than spending an entire day in the kitchen, especially when it involves learning that English cucumbers have fewer seeds and that quinoa can be toasted as a garnish. Again, I was impressed by her ability to be focused and present and patient with the process—evidence of both expertise and experience. She makes hard kitchen skills look easy because, once she explains them, they are easy.

Shannon's cookbook shelf

I’ll be writing more about my time with Shannon—a trip to the international grocery store, bonding over The Food Lab, discussions about social media and work and family. For now, though, just this little snippet of our time together. Also, feel free to check out her website and Instagram!