A long time ago, I read a story in a magazine about someone's children who called a certain cookie recipe by the name of the family friend who baked them. Emily Cookies? How great would that be?
Well, last week I made what I am now calling Rouse Bread after this easy and successful recipe, and I am thinking of rechristening the ugly-named "No-Bake Cookies" to "Micheal Cookies." No, not because he makes them, but rather because he loves them so -- even when I don't let the milk/sugar boil long enough, and they don't set up properly!
These thoughts of honoring people through recipes ties into my oft-repeated statement that the one true religion in which I was raised was Food...
My aunt laughingly recalls her younger sister, about age 6, who grew up to be my mother, rubbing her hands together and whispering excitedly, "Rolls, rolls, rolls!" on Sundays when Parker House rolls were made and baked for dinner...
My family is well-known for sitting over a lovingly prepared meal, to then ooh and aah and then? Soon start talking about the NEXT delicious, lovingly prepared meal we'll have. Or one we had in the past...
It's a true, deep and endless love, this love we have for food, for breaking bread together, for showing love and affection through the oven, the stove top, the grill...
So this Thanksgiving, I am making Butternut Squash Gratin, maybe to be called Bill Gratin -- but then does that sound like he is the ingredient?! -- Rouse Bread, and a Brussels sprout dish that was learned largely from Leighton. We could market Leighton's Sprouts, couldn't we? Kids would suddenly start loving them! (Though the bacon lardons don't hurt.)
So what are you making? Who taught you how to make it? Do you like to cook on Thanksgiving? Or, like me, do you like to supplement? This year I am 28 and a married woman... and I have yet to cook the turkey. Leave it to my mom, my dad, to Megan and her famous second Thanksgiving. (To which I scored an invite again this year! Yeah!)
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I am so honored to have a recipe named after me at your Thanksgiving dinner!
ReplyDeleteI love to cook on Thanksgiving, or any day of the year, but my grandma always handles all the main dishes, so I've never cooked a Thanksgiving turkey either (though I sometimes buy one because they are so cheap this time of year and cook it after Thanksgiving and use it to make turkey soup. Yum). My Thanksgiving contribution are limited to pies, generally, but that's really OK because pies are my very favorite thing in the world to bake.
Thanksgiving is my sister's holiday. I don't know exactly when she adopted it, but I am happy she has taken it on. As a vegetarian, the way I'd approach it isn't as exciting for the members of my family who really revel in the traditional food. I don't think they give a damn about pumpkin pie any of the other 364 days but man, on that one day, it's pumpkin pie or no other. Apple? No. Normally cherished deserts such as chocolate cake? Hell no!
ReplyDeleteI'll find another holiday to cook for and to be truly excited for from a culinary standpoint. Thanksgiving to me isn't about food, but is about family. And family there shall be.
(Also, "married woman." Teeheee :)
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