Many Hands Make Light Work

Many Hands Make Light Work

When I keep the tv on I usually enjoy a cooking channel, or PBS with greats such as Julia Child. Always some new task to be able to learn – different ways to slice a mango, how to make an angel food cake, techniques for a chewy cookie, best parings for meat and vegetables. I love it! (And if that makes me a dweeb, then I’m guilty as charged) I’m a foodie! But there is one show which just makes me sit down with my calculator and compute. $40.00 a day with Rachel Ray. Her objective is to show how affordable international travel can be, how a person can spend a measly $40.00 a day and have beautiful, filling, exquisite, gourmet banquet of food from so many parts of the world.
“$40.00 a day, my foot…I can feed my family of 6 breakfast, lunch and dinner with a bedtime snack for less than $15. That’s’ the show I want – Budget Gourmet – stretch that dollar and make it last; have your dinner , healthy and fast.”

I’ve enjoyed cooking since I was a young girl, and when I got to 7th grade, I became the dinner person for the house. Home from school, homework and dinner – my brother got other chores. Sometimes we’d have a good meal, sometimes it was more done than it should be, sometimes underdone and needed more expert attention – it was truly Culinary Chemistry. But I developed a regular list of menus, things we liked, tried and true meals to rely upon. Spaghetti and meatballs, eggs over easy and hashbrowns, baked chicken and rice, stuffed peppers. Since my brother was diabetic, there were specific ways to prepare the food, things to avoid, eliminate, other things to help include to make dinner satisfying and healthy.

When I’d have dinner at a friend’s house, I found myself swapping recipes with their mom and dad. At a large gathering, I’d be talking with the caterer, “How did you do this? Mine always gets lumpy, yours is perfect.” Me and grandmas of all shapes and sizes were like peas in a pod, talking and sharing about the preparation of food. My cookbook is a hodge podge of family, friends, neighbors, aunts, uncles, grandparents. There are regional delicacies we make and we have though we don’t live near there anymore _ pierogies – and holiday staples which help us celebrate and remember – latkes – and standards which are comforting – shepherd’s pie. (that’s for dinner tonight.)

I make an awesome cheesecake (and regretfully I have a figure that shows it! I have been perfecting more eggplant terrines and vegetable casseroles and the kids are enjoying a larger variety of veggies, more than their standards of broccoli/corn/carrots/green beans/cauliflower. ) The day I can persuade them to eat a tomato I will be proclaiming the veggie cheer with the loudest of voices! Every meal has a salad, without question, just no ‘maters on the plate. Oh well, high hopes for better days.

Here are some pictures of kitchen help…yeah the kids cook with me. T.A.N. K. all have their jobs and stations. No one is jumping up and down with enthusiasm for the dishwashing job while we are cooking, but its essential to a working kitchen – I just may need that pot again! K. is not qualified for the paring knife yet, but someday soon. She is an awesome potato peeler/carrot scrubber/salad maker. And the minimal mess they could make is clean-up-able in less than four minutes (Except for N. and his cake batter-helicopter impression. I was cleaning that off the ceiling the next day even.) They’ve been developing the pancake flip, the eggshell separation, the brulee of crème brulee (our favorite dessert), the dynamics of meringue, the variety of stir fry, the layers of lasagna, the differences between sauté and braising – its so exciting!. And they love the food they make!

Now I just need to help A. with her coffee preparation, and give her some more tips about keeping the grounds out of the brew.
Dinner’s cooking and my mouth is watering, so gotta go!