There is Time Right Now

January 25, 2014January 16, 2019 ~ Katherine ~ Leave a comment

It’s Saturday morning, and I have a moment to think. There are patches of sun covering the snowy front lawn and the brittle branches of the bush waving back and forth outside my kitchen window makes me think that at eight degrees fahrenheit, I am the owner of an optomistic weather thermometer.

Looks like another day of hibernation for me. Another day to scan the cookbooks on my baker’s rack searching for inspiration…what to make for dinner tonight? But before I can think about that, there are breakfast dishes in the sink already, a dishwasher that needs to be emptied, and another load of laundry to put on.

I remember not six months ago, secretly hoping for a rainy day to cancel swim lessons at the pool so that I could have time to accomplish these basic chores that were piling up around the house. And more recently, wasn’t I just complaining about the quick pace of the holiday season? How I barely had any time at all to bake a single sugar cookie?

Mother Nature has a way of giving us what we want, what we need — doesn’t she? And for me that’s permission to recuperate, to linger here at my kitchen table watching swirls of snow dust blow across the icy street.

A New Year: Some Things are Good As Is

January 10, 2014January 16, 2019 ~ Katherine ~ 1 Comment

Ten days into the new year and I’m still thinking about what I’d like to do differently in the next 355 days with regards to Mangoes and Mojitos. There is so much information out there about cooking and how to cook food better — so much noise and excitement. And a lot less time to sit and enjoy all these wonderful cooking tips and recipes faithfully blogged by so many creative and talented people. There are so many bloggers and we all seem to be showing up in your inbox offering the same information albeit in our own voice.

I began M&M a couple of years ago as a way for me to connect with others in the quiet afternoons when I am typically alone in my kitchen wondering what to make for dinner or more often than not what cooking technique I want to learn or feel I need to improve. Blogging helps me share — express my love of food — and it spares others the torment of listening to another one of my food stories. Is that all she ever talks about?

Quite frankly, yes. And it’s all I ever read about as well because I really don’t know a whole lot. For instance, why is it that every chocolate chip cookie recipe I make leaves me with flat crisps covered in small bumps of chocolate that ok, taste great? These are recipes meant to improve upon the original and delicious in its simplicity Nestle Tollhouse cookie accidently invented by Ruth Wakefield in 1936 –with additions such as expensive chocolate, exotic nuts and spices.

And why does every butter cake I painstakenly attempt from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible always turn out dry and yet when I follow Betty Crocker’s approach of dumping all ingredients into a bowl and beat for three minutes – I serve up a moist, yellow cake that my family devours? Unlike Rose, Betty has a complete disregard for the science of building a cake’s structure!

All leads me to wonder why attempt to change the classics? Why be so ready to dismiss our “Grandmothers” of invention? Surely there is wisdom in what I now feel is their message, “Honey, why make such a fuss? When something tastes this good, leave it alone.”

What is Your Joy?

December 4, 2013January 16, 2019 ~ Katherine ~ 2 Comments

My first issue of Saveur magazine arrived in the mail the other day and a little twing inside my stomach reminded me I still have that child-like excitement when I see something that brings me absolute joy. Before I begin, let me just get something out of the way right up front: I love my children, my husband, my family and friends. They all bring me joy and I will say that my husband can still sneak me a look from across a crowded room sending a shiver of excitement my way.

But, I am not talking here about love-of-people-joy joy.

I’m talking about that other joy. The Joie de Vivre! The joy of living – that which fulfills you as a human being — gets you out of bed in the morning. The passion you were born with that may take time – possibly years to discover. I am figuring it out. And it began this week, with the arrival of Saveur. My stomach chirped, like a small bird so happy to have found the worm.

And I realized, what I’ve always known….I love cooking magazines. I love cookbooks. I love holding them in my hands, carefully flipping pages. I love the photos. I love the stories. And at the risk of sounding like a bit of a hoarder (gasp!) I don’t easily part with them. I do, however file them in monthly order by year. I’m sure I’m giving you the wrong impression and realize I’m risking a phone call from the local chapter of an OCD support group.

But, look at this! The December 1997 issue of Better Homes and Gardens. The cover is a throwback — the very first BH&G holiday cover and somehow in my early twenties I had the forethought to save it. I take it out this same time every year. It’s like a warm cup of hot cocoa –more like the sweet marshmallow floating on top.

Which reminds me….I promised the kids we’d make homemade gingerbread marshmallows after school today. I’m off to the market for unflavored gelatin!

Garlic Bread Aha!

November 5, 2013January 16, 2019 ~ Katherine ~ 3 Comments

I did it! Who finally made good garlic bread for her family? That’s right, Me!

I have always made tasteless, mushy garlic bread my entire life. My mother makes very good garlic bread and she’s tried to offer me advice. You need more garlic, more butter! Hon, you’re overthinking it.

But all her encouragement has been of no use. It is time to move on for the sake of my own children, for my husband. I just can no longer serve up a pallid version of my Ma’s garlic bread!

I’m afraid I’ve had to go outside the family for this one. (Cue the soundtrack to The Godfather)

Hello Food Network Star and Cookbook author, Rachel Ray! Her quick little recipe has filled a hole in my knowledge of basic cooking skills. It goes in the binder — it’s a keeper. And it’s so easy!

Let’s begin!

Move the top rack in your oven down away from the broiler a good six inches. Preheat the broiler.

Into a small microwave – safe bowl (I used a glass Pyrex measuring cup) place:

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (use the good stuff)

and four cloves of garlic, crushed.

Microwave for a minute. If you like garlic, you’re going to love how good your kitchen is about to smell. Now grab that crusty baguette, slice it lengthwise and open it up. Place it on a pan and under the broiler. Don’t go anywhere! Please stay close and watch the bread toast to a golden brown. I know from experience how quickly bread can go from a beautiful, amber-color to a blackened, smoky, call-the-fire department mess. A Mommy, what smells like toasted marshmallows in here? total flop.

Take the bread out from under the broiler and slather on the butter, olive oil, garlic mixture. Sprinkle on a little salt and Voila!

Tear it into pieces.

Done. Yum!

4.5 members of my family actually give this recipe a thumbs up. (4.5 because my six-year-old only licked her piece.) That’s pretty good. The original recipe offers the addition of freshly grated parmesan or Romano cheese after brushing on the butter, oil, garlic mix then returning it to the broiler for another 30 seconds.

Rachel also recommends adding some chopped fresh parsley just before serving. That is not going to fly with this family. No cheese and absolutely no green stuff! Oh and I had to be very careful to not let one piece of garlic accidentally show up on the bread. It can be done. With the precision of a mother’s eye, it.can.be.done.

One other thought: your microwave will smell like warm, buttery garlic for at least two days. If like me, you sense that this will cause an uprising in your house feel free to instead place the butter, olive oil and garlic in a saucepan on top of the stove and warm gently for about three minutes.

Autumn Harvest Oatmeal

October 25, 2013January 16, 2019 ~ Katherine ~ 3 Comments

Crisp autumn mornings that snap when you first step outside onto the porch, silver-lined lavender skies behind leaves drenched in buttery caramel, burgundy wine and skeins of spun gold. Warm oatmeal, steel cut, with a touch of cream, a drizzle of maple syrup, diced apples, broken bits of pecans and dried cranberries.

Dusted with cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg: the spices of this meditative season.

Wrap yourself in a quilt and head outdoors, your hair still wild with sleep. Feel the heat of the bowl against your cool fingertips. Hold your face over the swirls of steam and breathe.

With every spoon you feel the clouds separate in your mind and come to know in your bones you are part of the seasons, the frost on the grass below, the geese flying high and away. You are part of life’s continuing flow and you too go on and on.

Come follow me to my newest blog: townandfork.wordpress.com where I share the food stories of Madison, Wisconsin. Two blogs = twice the fun:)

Roasted Tomatoes, Garlic and Thyme

October 2, 2013January 16, 2019 ~ Katherine ~ Leave a comment

Tomatoes, garlic, thyme, olive oil, salt and pepper roasting in a 425-degree oven on a cool autumn Sunday, late afternoon. The game on in the living room, and I alone in the kitchen….

Sweet, roast-y, garlic-y, tomato-y, woodsy, deep and comforting – this aroma goes through me, wraps itself around me – and I remember now my grandmother’s gentle, warm embrace.

Roast for 1 1/4 – 1 1/2 hours until most of the water has evaporated. Whirl for 30 – 60 seconds in a food processor until smooth. Just before you drain your pasta add a few ladles of pasta water to thin your sauce to a nice consistency. At half-time, call your family to the kitchen table to eat together, Sunday supper.

Sixteen Tomatoes Do Not a Winter Pantry Make

September 19, 2013January 16, 2019 ~ Katherine ~ 4 Comments

Cooking is done in the garden. When that’s not complete, the gardening takes place in the kitchen.

Alan Chadwick, gardener

It was a sleepy late afternoon this past Saturday. I had just put on a pot of coffee to try to raise the shades inside my heavy head when a feeling of utter urgency took over. I began to put a few facts together: 1) it is chilly, autumn-like and 2) the squirrels are acting crazy – darting through the yard with black walnuts in their teeth and finally 3) lots of rain is expected tomorrow (Sunday).

I slowly pour my coffee as these thoughts run through my brain like a slide show on a loop. Suddenly the shades snap up and reveal a blinding call to action:

Time to gather the ripe tomatoes off the vines in the garden! The squirrels are getting hungry and desperate – they are going to eat them! Their squirrely behavior along with the cooler weather and impending rain says Time is up, Woman! Better act now!

I put a large pot of water on the stove and set it to simmer, slide into my flip flops, grab an empty brown grocery bag and head out into the garden where I gently twist and ever-so-slightly pull sixteen ripe and ready tomatoes from their unruly vines! It is time to make enough sauce to last us all winter! (At this point I am completely giddy at the thought of many zippered plastic bags of fresh summer tomatoes taking up space in my freezer!)

Back in the kitchen I let them loose and watch them roll around on the kitchen table while the kids squeak and chase them, and most impressively, catch them before any of them fall onto the floor. Wiping away a tear of pride at the sheer beauty of what we grew, I begin to slice a small “x” in the bottom of each tomato with my pairing knife. By now the water has gotten its simmer on and I carefully lower each hefty tomato into the steamy, swirly bath.

Three minutes tops and I see the peel coming away from the happy bobbing orbs and so into a bowl they go until they are cool enough for me to remove their skins. From there I briefly pulse two batches in the blender and prepare to make sauce – again, enough sauce to last us through the long months of minus degree temperatures and mounds of white stuff that I won’t even mention by name this early in the calendar.

The Big Lesson

So guess what? I did make tomato sauce (a.k.a. Sunday Gravy, complete with meatballs – East Coast Holla!) and it was delicious, naturally sweet and so fresh, with beautiful young red color. However, and here’s the big lesson…16 tomatoes is only enough to make one pot of Gravy!

But it was good… and so worth it!

Today is Cloudy

September 11, 2013January 16, 2019 ~ Katherine ~ 3 Comments

Twelve years ago today, on a beautiful, sunny, warm, blue-not-a-cloud-in-the-sky day, I walked my husband to our front door and kissed him good-bye. I told him to have a good day. Then I listened for the train a few blocks away as I sipped my coffee and counted the minutes of solitude before our infant son would wake from his early morning nap.

Today can be both a tough day and a day for gratitude. Gratitude that on that horrific and unimaginable day I got my husband back. When by nightfall, so many cars were left unclaimed at the train station, my family went to sleep that night in tact. That day I received so much love and concern from neighbors and family who kept vigil at my home waiting for the phone to ring.

Today I am grateful that I wake to thunder and rain. That I have another chance to kiss my husband good-bye at our front door, tell him to have a good day.

Tell him I love him.

Late Summer’s Garden in the Midwest

August 13, 2013January 16, 2019 ~ Katherine ~ 2 Comments

Hollyhocks along the garden fence. I planted too late so don't believe I'll see flowers this year. — Hollyhocks along the garden fence. I planted too late so don’t believe I’ll see flowers this year.

I came to the flower garden late this year. And I am waiting for a show of color even though I know it may not happen this time around. As for vegetables, green tomatoes on the vine in August – and I wait still….for summer to finally turn up the heat and bring forth brilliance. Gardening teaches me how to wait, but more than that how to have hope even when it all looks very, very green and small.

While I wait, I read.Onward and Upward in the Garden by the late New Yorker editor, Katharine S. White. – a compilation of the fourteen essays she wrote for the New Yorker from 1958 – 1970. This book is filled with facts enveloped in her opinions and personal reviews of seed catalogues, seed companies, books and authors dating as far back as the 19th century.

The Writer in the Garden, edited by Jane Garmey includes essays written by authors as varied as Edith Warton, Michael Pollen and W.S. Merwin.

I am lost this summer in these great books, I am lost in the fiction that is a garden.

Basil just beginning to look full and fragrant.

I leave you with a thoughtful quote on what a garden is to W.S. Merwin…..

….an assembly of shapes, most of them living, that owes some share of its composition, its appearance, to human design and effort, human conventions and convenience, and the human pursuit of that elusive, indefinable harmony that we call beauty. It has a life of its own, an intricate, willful, secret life, as any gardener knows. It is only the humans in it who think of it as a garden. But a garden is a relation, which is one of the countless reasons why it is never finished.

This has however been the summer for cucumbers.

Never finished!

Wait… What? Writing Through Their Summer Vacation

July 7, 2013January 16, 2019 ~ Katherine ~ 8 Comments

I am sitting on my deck. It is early morning. The sun is shining and it is quiet. I am beginning work on my next post when…

My littlest, who is at the table working on a stamping project, begins digging through her art box and in the process knocks over my full! mug of coffee. As I scramble to wipe it up she begins telling me about her dream last night. Something about her family surprising her with a birthday cake.

My oldest asks me where his bathing suit is (I am still wiping up what’s left of my morning coffee). My middle son, who climbed out of bed before the five o’clock news this morning is now snoring on the couch in the living room. And I am begging both of my other children to please, PLEASE! be quiet and not wake him.

My husband left for work less than an hour ago and has just texted me to remind me to remember our son has a baseball game this afternoon and now my smallest is singing to me as I wipe away. She pauses in mid-song with “Mama…can I tell you something?” By now my computer screen has gone blank, into sleep mode. Into “I can’t wait for you all day.” mode.

I bring the blank post page back just in time for my oldest to return to the deck blurting out my name. It doesn’t matter that I’m not even looking at him when he says, “Mom, wanna know a fact?” No response from me so of course he continues. “Do you know yawning is contagious?” I am still staring at the screen and am not responsive. I might as well be locked in a coma, with my eyes open. “Well,” he says, “Do you know that?”

Oh he is just talking, talking, talking! And she is still singing! And the other one has just stopped snoring.

And I can’t remember what it was I was about to tell you.