So the point of posting the picture of my ancestral waffle iron is that I have recently been doing a LOT of thinking about STUFF - like for the last 10 years, since I started going through my parent's stuff and my own stuff - editing, evaluating, keeping, throwing away - STUFF. Such is the life of the orphaned and homeless domestic goddess...
My parents received the pictured waffle iron as a wedding gift in 1938. It's such a beautiful example of Art Deco functional style. The Super Chief of waffle irons. It has been in constant use in my family for 73 years! Well, maybe there were some years in there where in was stuck in a closet...Mom & Dad gave it to me (correction, I "liberated" it) from them in 1988, replaced the cord, got it up to "code" and USED it. It makes the BEST waffles - crispy - not the flaccid, soggy things that modern waffle irons make...Of course, the first one is always a throw away - 1938 being in the pre-teflon era - but the inside of this cast iron beauty is a thing to behold - seasoned and square and elemental....
The night we watched the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, Mom made us waffles with this waffle iron - Sunday Supper Waffles were (are) the BEST. Filled with bacon for a salty, sweet chewy treat...Oh yeah...The Beatles, bacon & waffles....My youth in a nut shell right there...
I realize I have carried so many "ancestral" things from life to life. I've thrown away ALOT of STUFF in the last weeks in preparation for my next incarnation. Letting go of my parent's memorabilia and much of mine! Lightening my load...Time to move through and on. I have off loaded the ancestral card table, step stool and garden wagon...but the waffle iron stays - Why? Because it is a thing of beauty and because I USE it.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Cooking manifesto
I received Mastering the Art of French Cooking for my 18th birthday and spent the next several years cooking my way through it. That was my culinary school. It didn't occur to me to write about the process. Imagine my chagrin when Julie/Julia came out! After I quit beating my head against a wall and moaning "Why didn't I think of that!" I realized it was time for me to start writing about food, my love of food - preparing it, eating it, thinking about it, reading about it, talking about it, growing it. The good thing about that book is that it made me realize I have something to say about food! I hope so, anyway! You, dear readers, will have to be the judge of that!
Today I'm thinking about how my relationship to cooking has changed and morphed over the years but it has been a constant in my life - I wish I could have been so thoughtful and flexible in my relationships with people as I have been with food! I'm thinking about the role of recipes and cookbooks in my cooking....I hardly ever follow them anymore - except when I'm doing something that has to be very precise - candy-making, baking, canning, preserving. I love the alchemy of carmelizing sugar or watching a ganache set up or seeing oil and lemon emulsify...
But most of the time I think about how flavors, textures, colors go together. I found a really ripe mango at Trader Joe's the other day and immediately thought of combining it with walnuts and cabbage and a slightly sweet vineagrette for a yummy coleslaw. Did I see that combo in a recipe once? Maybe. I don't know. All I know is that it came to my mind in an instant. It was really good and was a perfect compliment to the Chicken Bouillabaisse I served that night to my pals Bill and Lee. I'll write about that in another post.
Today I'm thinking about how my relationship to cooking has changed and morphed over the years but it has been a constant in my life - I wish I could have been so thoughtful and flexible in my relationships with people as I have been with food! I'm thinking about the role of recipes and cookbooks in my cooking....I hardly ever follow them anymore - except when I'm doing something that has to be very precise - candy-making, baking, canning, preserving. I love the alchemy of carmelizing sugar or watching a ganache set up or seeing oil and lemon emulsify...
But most of the time I think about how flavors, textures, colors go together. I found a really ripe mango at Trader Joe's the other day and immediately thought of combining it with walnuts and cabbage and a slightly sweet vineagrette for a yummy coleslaw. Did I see that combo in a recipe once? Maybe. I don't know. All I know is that it came to my mind in an instant. It was really good and was a perfect compliment to the Chicken Bouillabaisse I served that night to my pals Bill and Lee. I'll write about that in another post.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
The Artist's Gathering Place - Tina's Opening
My friend Tina Tammaro is an AMAZING painter! Her show "Contemplating the Spaces Between" opened Friday at the YWCA Women's Art Gallery on Walnut Street. Tina's subjects are family and friends captured in intimate moments in everyday settings - or is that everyday moments in intimate settings? Anyway, they're beautiful and deep and meaningful and rich. And it is so wonderful to see her paintings beautifully lit in a gallery space and to see so many people looking at her work. It was especially fun to see some of the actual subjects in the paintings standing and looking at the paintings themselves! After, we all partied at Tina's loft. The food was great - I made a killer chili and cheesy jalapeno cornbread. Martha brought 2 kinds of spiced nuts - one sweet, the other spicy. She also brought a cheese ball - and I don't mean some hideous orange store bought blob - this was a beautiful, white, silky, lemony bag cheese that started life wrapped and drained in cheese cloth. The ginger chutney it was served with was a perfect foil to the creamy lightness of the cheese. Barb brought her famous brownies and there was copious wine. Ever notice how the best parties are often on the coldest nights? We escaped the frigid weather and gathered inside to celebrate our friend's success and recognition. I'm proud!
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