Happy Mother's Day - and reminiscing about "her" food......

I wanted to post one of the images (five of them) but was not successful, so please click on the link and imagine that I showed you my favorite, the Lasagna, on the open.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/05/09/opinion/05092010opart-2.html

My personal reminiscence about Mom's food is that I was very very happy every time she turned the task over to Dad.

:rofl:

no dad, so i took the spatula. thank god i got my paternal grandmothers cooking genes.

My mother disliked cooking and it showed. During the week when my dad was on the road, it was tuna fish salad, peanut butter, or Campbell's chicken noodle soup for me. On the weekend, it was Chef Boy Ar Dee right out of the box with nothing added, served as a side to my dad's Saturday night steak and which I ate as the whole meal.

Oh, my poor mother tried. I still have her book of recipes, carefully clipped out of the "ladies'" magazines she disliked, possibly tried once and forgotten. She did do a pretty good oven fried chicken for Sunday dinner and a reasonable American chop suey.

My dad was also well trained. He'd ask what was for dinner, my mother would say "Macaroni and cheese," and he'd say "Let's go out to dinner!"

Like I said, we ate out a lot.

She opened a lot of cans. She fried every kind of meat and made it all taste the same. When my brother and I were old enough, we had a garden. The fresh produce helped quite a bit. Of course we learned to cook in self defense.

I used to love cooking. I am tired of it now. After cooking for myself and then for a family for thirty-plus years, I don't like it any more. I am bored with cooking for just myself and my husband, too.

It is nice that there are lots of convenience and value-added foods now to simplify my life. I wish those things had been around for my mother. Of course, she did not know what a dreadful cook she was, and still is. She would be angry and hurt if anyone told her that.

by exploring various cuisines in my own kitchen. It started with Julia Child, of course, teaching me how to do French cooking with oodles of butter, wine, and velvety sauces.

I've been to China, Japan, Thailand, the Caribbean, Mexico, Germany, Italy, India, and Morocco via cookbooks and my kitchen.

The only question is where to go next.

where I learned about "Comida Tipica" Casado
Which means in essence: The typical food of the married people.

I made a batch of it and just finished serving it to my X-daughter in law and my grandson.
It starts with black beans cooked from scratch with vegetables added and special seasonings,served with plain rice, after that you put little amounts of everything you find around onto the plate.
Very thinly sliced salted cabbage seasoned, a fried egg, small quesedillas, and sliced baked seasoned chicked was what I had.

Good stuff.
I think my Mom would enjoy it, were she with me today.
But she is in Germany, probably eating Bratwurst and Pretzels.

except for one thing, that appears to have been hers alone. She is gone now and her "recipe" has gone with her......

She made a skillet spaghetti that was one of my favorite foods until I was in my 20's. My first MIL was straight from Italy and when I told her about my Mom's spaghetti, she was offended, and went straight into her kitchen to show me what REAL spaghetti was, which of course wasn't ready until the next day.

My mom made pan-fried pork chops that melted in your mouth. Broiled steaks that did the same. Southern Fried chicken that was to die for, and dumplings that would float off of your plate like clouds. Those are just a few of her magical creations.

Sorry all you people had it so bad. My Mom was, and still is, one of the best cooks whose meals I've ever had the good fortune to partake of.

And, she worked full-time.

He had a decent income, which got better after his ex-wife got married and he no longer had to pay her alimony.

We ate steak about once a week. He introduced us to many good things including fresh raw spinach, fresh vegetables in general, artichokes, avocado, fresh (ocean) fish, shrimp, lobster, and many other good things.