Category Archives: Foodies

six degrees of bloggeration

11 Saturday Apr 2009

Posted by in Foodies, good reads, seasons

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For me, one of the wonders of the blogoshere is this ability to find kindred spirits anywhere in the world.  Until very recently, I met people through the traditional walks and walkings of life, made many wonderful friends and interesting acquaintances — but my web of connections was based on where I lived, where the kids went to school; plus fate, luck, destiny, divine intervention and those six degrees of separation.  Along my merry way, I had not yet managed to meet someone who shared my vintage cookbook fetish, cooking contest winner fantasy, librarian aspirations and who is also an accomplished author who incorporated her love of food into her stories.  I did not spend much time thinking about the existence of such a person; but really what are the chances? And even if she did exist, how likely that our paths ever cross??

Viola!  Through fate, luck, destiny, divine intervention, the internet, blogs, and Karen’s trail of bread crumbs, I found such a person!  Does she play the harp?  We don’t know yet!  But just thinking about how wildly random this is makes me think in exclamation points!

The blog Vintage Cookbooks by Amy combines recipes from by-gone eras (the 70’s do count), vintage photos (photographic food styling in the 1950’s is quite amusing), cheeky commentary on culinary choices and… reviews of YA novels.

This is my kind of blog.

So, just in time for Easter dinner, check out her posts on Bunny Breads, and Baked Glazed Hams trimmed with candied orange daisies, and salad baskets with green pepper handles.  I find this so charming; you may be befuddled.  To each their own basket of goodies.

My friend Joan says that we all meet for a reason.  Tell me, have you ever unexpectedly found someone that shares your uncommon combination of interests?  I’d love to hear your list, and your stories…

bon appetit

05 Sunday Apr 2009

Posted by in Foodies, Motherhood

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It is not exactly news to write about what my kid(s) won’t eat.  Every parent has a story, right?  However, some blogs have elevated it to an art form.  At Suburban Bliss, author Melissa Summers has a regular feature called “Did They Eat It?”  She takes clever photos all through the meal preparation process, adds a liberal dose of humor, and tops it off with the comments from each of her (often disgruntled) family members.  As at my house, things rarely go well for her.    Plan, purchase, prepare, have everything be done (and hot) at the same time – ? – and then “they didn’t eat it.”  Sigh.  Perhaps my favorite part is the needlecraft motif header in her blog; a cross-stitch masterpiece that is to me the perfect juxtaposition of old fashioned “clean your plate” with modern parenting sensibilities.

The Professor was willing to eat anything when he was little.  Then came The Little One; he was much more, um, discriminating.  And that’s where I made the fatal mistake as the meal-preparing parent — I let one influence the other and it was a slippery slope down from there to Nitrate Land.  We still make them try new things on a regular basis — I take some amount of perverse pleasure in it actually — following a philosophy loosely based on some mythical research that when one tries a new food at least 20 times, one will learn to like it.  Or at least tolerate it.

The funny blog The Detective Mom had an amusing post recently, sharing a story of her toddler’s foray into salad.  It involves vegetables and the body functions of small poultry.  Sigh again, her kid eats salad!

So, we keep plodding along, throwing new culinary attempts at the wall to see which ones will stick.  The kids will eat more things if they are plain, raw or not touching any other food stuff.  They will eat all the ingredients separately, but not combined.  That’s not all bad.  There are always some healthy things to choose from on the table.  Someday they will eat food that is mixed together, I am confident.  I hear that at the age of three, I ate nothing but SpagettiO’s for an extended period.  Now, I will try virtually anything, and enjoy almost all of it.  (Except SpagettiO’s.)

Recently, The Professor and I were having a spirited discussion about what was for dinner.  I must have had an exasperated look on my face, because he suddenly looked empathetic and said, “Mom, I am really sorry that you have to go through so much effort to try to find healthy things that I will eat.  (long pause)  But it is kinda fun watching you try!”

Sigh.

Heaven on a Spork

30 Friday Jan 2009

Posted by in Foodies, Motherhood

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We have been watching  a lot of the Food Channel lately.  Football season is essentially over, and it provides a pleasant respite from the constant science/how-it’s-made/how-to-blow-it-up-in-super-slow-mo  programming at our house.  Plus, as a perk, there are no erectile dysfunction ads on the Food Channel.

One show, I can’t recall the exact name, something like “The Best Thing I Ever Ate”, was a particular favorite.  The family gathered around and watched intently as a group of foodies all recalled their singular most delicious dish ever.  Oxtail marrow spurred some spirited family discussion, as did the guinea hen cooked inside a pig bladder.  I’ll go on record and predict that the bladder-cooking method will be discussed around our dinner table for years.  It was bedtime; the boys begged to watch the end of the program, then went to bed presumably with visions of guinea hens dancing in their heads.

The next morning, since it was another snow day, The Professor and I lounged around in bed talking and thinking and talking.  He must have been thinking about pig bladders again, because he asked me what was the best food I had ever had.  After some reflection, I waxed poetic on lobster on the Maine shore, Tabla in NYC, and white clam pizza in San Fran.  I did not mention fried cheese curds in Wisconsin, although I do like those a lot.  Bottom line: I couldn’t choose a best best.  So, I asked him the same question.  What would he pick?  He thought for a long time, then stated “I hate to tell you this, Mom, but whatever was the best thing, I did not eat it in this house”.  The honesty of children is so refreshing, isn’t it?  I dropped the topic right there.

Later in our lazy day, he shared this random thought, which also takes the honor of Quote of the Day:

“School mashed potatoes and gravy are like heaven on a spork.”

So, I finally had my answer.  And my reminder to be careful what I ask for.