COLUMN: Life with Cupid, COVID and cooking

When Alan and Michelle Hornaday began dating in the winter of 2018, she made him a homecooked meal.

Chili in the crockpot. It was delicious — some might call it beginner’s luck — and he politely asked for another helping.

“I always heard the way to a man’s heart is through his belly,’’ she said, laughing.

Michelle was three months shy of her 52nd birthday. She had never been married. Alan, who was seven years older, had not dated since his divorce.

Was it love at first bite? Absolutely. And Michelle’s friends were somewhat amused when they saw her flipping through the pages of cookbooks. They weren’t sure she knew how to boil water.

“I have a plaque that says: ‘I only have a kitchen because it came with the house,’ ’’ she said.

The Hornadays were introduced by mutual friends at High Point Church on Hollis Road in Macon. They married six months later.

They live in a house in Wesleyan Hills that Michelle has called home since her family moved to Macon 50 years ago this past December.

And she now operates a food ministry in the same kitchen where she once had to heat up frozen dinners because her mother was ill and unable to cook.

On Valentine’s Day, Michelle hopes to tie her apron strings and prepare Alan’s request for baked chicken and rice.

For a while, it looked as if the weekend might be as up in the air as one of Cupid’s arrows. Michelle tested positive for COVID on Jan. 29, and Alan tested positive three days later.

They were hospitalized in a COVID units across from the emergency room at Atrium Health Navicent in Macon. The Hornadays were isolated in different rooms, separated by a nurse’s station, and unable to see each other. Over the past week, the couple spent more time apart than in their entire 31 months of marriage.

Michelle was released on Wednesday, but Alan still had not been released as of Friday and has several weeks of physical rehabilitation ahead of him.

They both have regained their sense of smell and taste, so any Valentine’s meal should have a special flavor.

Alan is an appraiser, and Michelle works for the Georgia Secretary of State’s professional license board.

They also work together in the kitchen. She is the head cook. He is the sous chef. It is not a job. It’s a calling.

Michelle created the alias “Jorga Peach” when she joined Facebook in 2008. And the “Café Jorga Peach” opened its doors 20 months ago.

Actually, there were no physical doors to open. It is not a diner or restaurant. There are no printed menus, white tablecloths, catering service or curbside pick-up.

It is a ministry.

“The Lord puts on my heart people who need food, and we make extra for them,’’ she said. “They might be sick or going through something. I don’t charge for it, and it’s not on any grand scale. It’s little bitty meals for little bitty families here and there.’’

The only donations they accept are carryout food trays. They no longer are able to deliver but they make arrangements to get the meals into the hands of the people who need it.

She created a Facebook Page for seasoned cooks — no pun intended — to share advice and encourage ongoing efforts to feed others. Michelle also has held a couple of contests and offered prizes.

“There are ministries that talk about raising funds or fighting political battles or aid in education for children from challenged homes, or provide health opportunities,’’ she said. “I just thought it a good idea to encourage loving others through feeding their most basic need — eating. This will provide fellowship, sustenance and friendship.’’

It all started with crockpot chili and a spoon in the hand of the man of her dreams.

Said Michelle: “The way to say, ‘thank you’ is to love back, shine some light and love people with food.’’

Ed Grisamore teaches journalism at Stratford Academy in Macon. His column appears on Sundays in The Telegraph.