share! Everyone has a story, and we hope you will help us tell the tales of a variety of Des Moines cooks. Please send us your ideas. Tell us the names, contact information, and a little about your cooking friends. Send to Recipes@DesMoinesCooks.com. See the recipe for Roasted Pork with Vegetables here. Chili Verde (Green Chili with Pork) 2 pounds pork butt or shoulder, cut into 2-inch cubes 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 medium onions, chopped 2 large cloves garlic, minced 1 pound fresh tomatillos, cleaned and halved 2 jalapeño peppers, quartered and seeded (use gloves) 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground in mortar and pestle or spice grinder 1 cup water ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste      Preheat oven to 250ºF or 300°F. Sear meat in an oven-going pan; remove from pan. Keep warm.      Sauté  onions and garlic until golden.      Add tomatillos, jalapeños, and cumin. Cook until the aroma is apparent, 1 to 2 minutes.      Add water and bring to a boil. Simmer until soft, about 15 minutes.      Use a hand blender to puree. Return the meat to the puree. Braise in the 300ºF oven for at least 1 hour. If you have time, use the lower temperature for a longer braise.      NOTE: If desired, add hominy or black beans. If desired, serve over rice. Makes 8 servings.

A spirited outlook gets Teresa Adams-Tomka of Des Moines up and at ’em every morning. Like many other mothers, she has raised children—in her case, five—while keeping up with their activities and while working full-time. It was 11 years ago that Teresa and Molly Eliason opened Kitchen Collage, a full-service, locally owned store chock-full of dishes, cookware, knives, and nearly every imaginable gadget on the planet. First on 100th Street in Urbandale, the store moved six years ago to the East Village on E. Locust Street. “It has been so fun to see this area take on its new direction. I absolutely love the culture here. It has been a good move for us.” Getting meals on the table with kids’ activities and running a store required some Herculean planning some days. “We relied on many comfort food favorites, such as lots of soups and stews, French dip, build-a-burger meals, homemade pizza, and lots of ethnic dishes that some of the kids loved to explore. With that many kids, there always were extra guests, too. There always was food going on.” When Kitchen Collage opened, Teresa purchased a new stove for husband, Jim, who would have to be in charge for awhile. “The kids laughed and begged that they wanted meals besides his staples of spaghetti, brats, and BLT sandwiches.” But three years ago, all that changed, when Jim, an attorney, drowned in a boating accident in Minnesota. “Grief is a crazy thing,”  Teresa says. “No one would read a book about it prior to it happening, and everyone handles it differently. We have a great family and a super neighborhood. Neighbors even put up a memorial to Jim on the boulevard. Plus, the beauty of our store is that it is like a big family. Everyone was so supportive.” After his death, she pulled herself up and continues to live by words that make her strong:  “Look for a smile, either on your face or someone else’s.”   “Life’s a journey. How you live today will affect how you deal with tomorrow.” “Wake up and find something humorous to get you moving.” Now the kids, ranging from 20 to 28, are either in or out of college, and Mom’s cooking today is more about entertaining others. “However, when the kids come home, there are certain go-to recipes they ask for. Food means good memories, and one of those is a pork roast with vegetables, usually a confetti mix of sautéed yellow, green, red, or orange sweet peppers, and served with cantaloupe. “I don’t really know why, but we always have served the pork with melon, just because it tasted so refreshing, I guess,” she says with a chuckle. “It somehow became a tradition.”  “Some in my growing-up family were probably surprised when I opened a kitchen shop,” Teresa says. “I’m sure they would say I didn’t pay attention to food when I was growing up, but clearly, I did. I watched my mother and grandmother on the farm near Vail, Iowa, with their gardens and canning. They really fed us off the land. Amazingly, we are trying to get back to that now with the Buy Fresh, Buy Local campaigns to encourage people to meet the farmers and growers who produce the food they eat.” On a personal level, Teresa took up participating in triathlons (running, biking, and swimming) after her husband’s death. “Preparing for the triathlons gets me moving,” she says. She’s proud of her accomplishments, rightly so, and of her determination. For example, to get in shape, she and several others rode their bikes 140 miles in one day and 120 the next. This year several days on RAGBRAI were followed the next week by the Big Creek Triathlon.  The shop is important to Teresa on another level. “My kids are older now, but Molly, my business partner, has three young children. She helped me, and I help her. It’s all about women supporting women.” As for her kids—Andy, Patrick, Margo, Madeline, and Peter—the holidays have always evoked delightful memories. “Even when they were younger, each one was responsible for bringing one dish to the Thanksgiving table. Jim did the turkey, I did the stuffing and gravy, and they each became proficient at one contribution. One handled the mashed potatoes, one the vegetables, and another the pie and whipped cream.” One family food memory is that Teresa often uses Madeira wine in the stuffing and gravy. “Now when I use it in any other dish, someone always shouts, ‘It smells like Thanksgiving.’”