lydamorehouse | Interacting with Others

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Interacting with Others

Since I reported the overheard weirdness from Barnes & Noble, I thought I'd post another strange interaction my family and I had. This time it took place in the check-out line at Target. The Saturday before last we did a long over due shopping run, as the cashier was ringing up our various and sundry items Mason noticed that we were buying some new kitchen impliments. "A new measuring cup!" he cried in excitement.

The cashier looked startled and said holding up the glass pitcher, "Wow, he knows what this is? He's smart. I didn't even know what that was."

Shawn continued chatting about why it was we were buying a new measuring cup. (Dishwasher accident -- which is to say *I* dropped it.) Later, in the car, Shawn told me she couldn't believe that the cashier could possibly have been serious about not recognizing the measuring cup. I didn't get the sense that the cashier was kidding, however. The cashier seemed genuinely baffled (and impressed with Mason.) It's entirely possible the young cashier was just being super complimentary to Mason and at the same time self-depricating. I mean, I've said over-the-top things in the name of humor, but the interaction didn't have that vibe. Plus, I thought it might be possible that the cashier had honestly never spent a lot of time cooking, in which case all the stranger impliments of construction would seem strange. (There are, after all, things in my kitchen I didn't know the names for until recently. Potato ricer, anyone?)

Plus, times have changed. I make "from scratch" (such as passes for that these days) a great number of meals we eat, but I understand I'm part of a diminshing minority. And, my family is weird. For instance, this Saturday, I participated in the annual Rounds fleischkuekle fest. We spent the entire day rolling, filling, and deep-fat frying "meat cakes." This is always a family affair, though this year Shawn's brother Greg couldn't join us, her other brother, our nephew and even my folks stopped by to take part of the construction of this traditional food. I was talking to Jonathan (my nephew) about it and be both thought about the ritual as our family's version of "barn raising." Everyone has a part to play and, though the point of the gathering is to get something done, the process is really a form of family bonding.

Do you have traditional family foods? Things you make from scratch that you're proud of? I'd love to hear about them.

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pierogi! sauerkraut dumplings. yummy! We make them every Easter sometimes at Christmas too if we are feeling rather dedicated. Mom cooks from scratch a lot and it is totally a dying art. She makes bread from scratch too, though she does love her bread machine.

Oh my god I love sauerkraut! And pierogi -- we have a Ukrainian "tea house" here in the neighborhood which sells pierogi as "Russian hamburgers" and I love them, although my Ukrainian friends' version is much smaller and more dumpling like.

we're Polish....you could kill someone with our pierogi. LOL Seriously though, if you are ever coming towards chitown, they freeze well!

I run into more and more people (mostly in the U.S., but it seems to not be 100% unheard of elsewhere) who don't ever cook even a single meal. This kind of alarms me, but truly I've met several people over time buy breakfast, lunch and dinner from a restaurant every single day. I think what gets to me most about it is that I can't begin to imagine how much that must *cost*. But also that usually this winds up with the person eating fast food once or twice a day, which doesn't seem like an awesome option. Me, I eat dinner out about twice a week and can end up getting lunch at the deli downstairs maybe two to three times a week. That seems like eating out *way* too much to me, so when I found out that it's hugely less than a lot of people, I was pretty surprised.

I don't know that I'm that overly proud of making most things from scratch, because I tend to make easy-to-make things. It's funny sometimes when they're things that have a reputation for being difficult, though. A lot of people have over time been impressed that I make risotto with some regularity, for example, whereas risotto is actually very easy (if a little tedious) to make.

I have several fond memories of foods that could be called traditional family foods, but oddly, I haven't made them myself. My Mom's "Roly Poly" dessert was a family tradition, and my Dad's pakoras and (dessert that I don't know how to spell but is something like "savigna"). I keep meaning to try them, but I haven't yet. I probably should! Mostly, despite being half French Canadian and half Pakistani, I cook Thai and Mexican foods at home.

Yeah, the cost! I totally agree about that. And, you know sometimes a "traditional" food isn't one's own ethnic group. Goodness knows I'm not German from Russia, but I LOVE Shawn's family food and have adopted it as my own. I never thought to tap my grandmothers for their Polish or Czech foods. Of course, now I wish I had.

I try to make as much as I can from scratch. I have been moving away more and more from most "ready made" foods because, frankly, the stuff you make yourself tastes better. About the only ready made meal I make any more is cans of soup (not a lot of soup eaters in our house, so an entire batch for me goes to waste), pancake mix, and frozen waffles in the AM for the kids. Okay, breakfast is pretty much the exception across the board, as is bread (I don't have the time to make bread on a regular basis).

Fairly regular favorites include: pasta sauce (bacon & onions - yumm); teriyaki beef; flank steak; tandoori chicken; irish lamb stew; beef carbonade; fish fry; maple glazed salmon; jambalaya.

Less frequent foods that are, or are becoming, traditions/comfort food: New Year's eve chili night; hoppin' john; no-knead bread; mussels in white wine; bbq ribs; chocolate chip cookies; fresh fruit crumbles.

We don't have a ton of "family cooking events" other than those centered around the holidays in some form: Thanksgiving, Passover, Channukah, New Year's, the kid's birthdays (they get to pick what he have for dinner that night), and so on. I suppose having more would require us to be doing other things less. :)

Hmm, meat cakes, eh? Sounds tasty. I may have to check that out.

Some day, my friend, you're going to have us over for fish!

Our family does lefse at the holidays! It's one of my favorite things ever, and the first Thanksgiving I spent away from home that was what I missed the most. Mom and Dad make it in the morning and I tend to sleep in (and now Brother is off at his own house!!) but one of these years I will wake up early and learn to make it too. I swear. Really.

Shawn's stepmother makes lefse from scratch every year. It's delicious! A bunch of old women get together at the church and roll all day long. Sounds a lot like the "barn raising" experience of fleschkeikle.

I cook a lot from scratch, I guess, but not too many of the recipes are family recipes. My mom broke the chain by not learning to cook, and then by constantly weight-loss dieting, and I crushed some of the remaining links by going vegetarian. I have my mom's aunt's Passover recipes, most of which are from synagogue sisterhood or Hadassah cookbooks. (I got a great book on remainder about ethnic cookbooks from churches, synagogues and women's groups, it's very interesting--who knows where it is in this book-swallowing apartment.) I spent awhile finding a recipe for matzah balls that tasted like my great-aunt's, so I suppose that is sort of a family recipe, kind of.

Most of the really good signature recipes in our family are either my partner's inventions, like his tempeh tomato sauce or his savory noodle kugel with spinach, or I got them from a cookbook. I have a good reputation in my community for my cooking, which I think really comes from my ability to read.

Anyway I have some good recipes for challah, kasha varnishkas (which doesn't require any special skill so maybe not what you're looking for!) several kugels, mandelbreit, matzah balls (vegan and with egg), vegetarian psuedo-chicken soup, and some other Ashkenazi Jewish things. Then I also have some regular recipes for dal, curried cauliflower, Chinese-style stir-fried vegetables, polenta, risotto, and so on and so forth.

The best thing on which to wield a potato-ricer is shepherd's pie. I have a vegetarian one I made up, if you want it.

I was thinking about Mason and the measuring cup. Is your son in love with numbers? Does he really like cookbooks and other books with instructions that have numbered steps? I am wondering if this is an age-related characteristic, or whether it's a personality issue. My kid enjoys measuring for me.

Not books with numbered steps, though he loves to ask random math questions that test my ability to add and substract. Right now the big obsession is science books with facts about animals in them.

We read a lot of books about animals, but the focus is almost entirely on how they take care of their babies, with a strong preference for penguins.

Oh, and your food sounds great.

Speaking as someone who sees a LOT of kids daily...

Mason really is exceptional.

As re: foods I make from scratch-- I make soft pretzels from scratch for pretzel parties. I make the dough, everyone rolls pretzels and takes turns dipping them in lye and sprinkling on salt.

We routinely have sushi parties in which we make GREAT HEAPS OF SUSHI and then consume it all.

And I make certain types of dim sum from scratch, when I have a week or two free.

I make jambalaya. Even better now that we have a neighborhood restaurant where the chef makes his own andouille sausage. And you can go there and ask the host if the chef has extra and if he does he will sell you a pound to take home. Damn, it is good.

My latest recipe to add to the family standard supply is farfalle carbonara.

Alas, my cooking has been sporadic of late. Busy life has intervened. But a batch of sausage and kraut does sound good since y'all are talking about it here....

jpj

We hold two semi-regular parties that revolve around food. One is our St. Patrick's Day dinner, where we serve up the traditional Irish-American feast of boiled corned beef with cabbage, carrots, potatoes, and onions. Along with some odd vegetarian alternative because we have a few friends who persist in refusing to eat meat. The other is a fish fry we hold on a Friday during Lent.

Every December, we bake sugar cookies with the girls. They get to mix up the cookie dough, roll it out, cut it (they have a huge selection of animal-shaped cookie cutters), and then frost and adorn them with sprinkles after they've baked and cooled. We then pack them in tins (we buy tins at rummage sales during the summer, then wash and sanitize them twice before re-using them) and the girls give them to friends and family.

Molly and Kiera really like to cook. Kiera is especially into it right now. So, we do baking projects semi-regularly. Most recently we made apple crisp. Molly helped cut up apples, and measured all the topping ingredients. Kiera stirred the topping ingredients and greased the pan. They both sprinkled everything on top. I peeled the apples, made sure the topping was thoroughly blended, washed the outside of the pan after Kiera greased that, too (whoops, I should have been more careful when giving instructions), and handled the parts involving the oven.

I think my arteries hardened a little just reading the wikipedia article on fleischkuekle. ;)

I homebrew and make vegetarian sushi from scratch. My SO makes key lime pie, and had never tasted oatmeal until he moved in with me. In his family, grits and biscuits are breakfast foods, not oatmeal. He also didn't see snow until he was 21 years old. Quick, guess what state he's from. :)

I also make the traditional Thanksgiving tofurkey (I sometimes think I should boycott Thanksgiving, but how can one not love a holiday dedicated to gluttony?). Mmm, tasty textured soy goodness! I recommend a nice kriek lambic to go with the tofurkey. Or mead.

My vegie relations make a certain recipe of nut loaf for holidays instead of tofurkey, and my cousin's spouse added pierogi to that mix (yum).

In past family gatherings, there was never a communal creation of food. Basically, it was one or more cooks doing the rest of us a big favor, which we certainly appreciated. These days I've been lucky enough to join in with friends in a massive cookie-baking extravaganza in December. I'd never have the energy to make two dozen kinds of cookies, but I can make two and get to sample the rest!

As for cooking from scratch, I can follow a recipe, whip up decent stir-fry, and bake very good things (especially cheesecake and cookies).

Yum! Nut loaf! :D

My family lives far away right now, but the communal creation of food was usually my Mom saying, "Make this! Make that! Assemble my barbecue grill! Oh, and while you're here, my VCR clock needs resetting..."

We cook at our house all the time. Both my kids started helping out early on, and now they both have specialties. the girl makes the best marinara! The boy is a whiz with eggs, and is always experimenting.

I love soup. I love almost any soup, and I make most of the soups I love from scratch. Potato soup is my particular specialty, and it has evolved over 25 yrs of making it. Also, split pea, minestrone, vegetable, chicken soup, white bean & garlic, borscht, gazpacho, corn chowder, clam chowder, a seafood extravaganza we call "the soup with no water," cioppino, and of course, chili.

For 21 years running, we've thrown an Oktoberfest party with traditional german fare. We purchase sausages, but we make stuffed pork loin, kartofelknulden (some years), potato salad, red cabbage with apples, streudel, all kinds of stuff. Both my DH & I have german heritage but neither of us learned any recipes from our families - they didn't embrace that kind of thing. So we learned on our own from the lovely people at the local german delis, and authentic cookbooks and magazines, and trial and error. I even created a vegetarian tofu "schnitzel" which is actually one of the favorite dishes on the menu!

And since we've moved away from the south, we've become very fond of southern specialties we never/rarely ate while there. dang it, I'm already hungry from the soup list, I'm not gonna start up with the southern foods!

Uh... well... apparently writers aren't just readers, they're COOKS, too! I can't say I've met a writer yet... um, except me... that doesn't enjoy cooking.

I had to call home to ask how to operate a gas stove and my one non-microwaveable credit was Macaroni and Cheese up until I got here (Guatemala). Suddenly, I had to know how to COOK or I was going to STARVE. There's an incentive if I ever saw one.

So, now I can make the "traditional," or rather the most-made, dishes of my family, which are broccoli salad, chicken salad, and fruit salad. I also remembered how to make green been casserole (I think my Mom finally demanded my presense in the kitchen about eight years ago, who knew I could retain such information?) and I can make carmel corn from scratch. I seriously hadn't even made spaghetti before I got here, and now I make it all the time.

But seriously, my Gramma (her spelling, not mine) makes EVERYTHING from scratch, and I mean flour on up. So, once or twice a year, we have German sweet chocolate cake (did I mention we're all German on one side?) rhubarb crisp, apple crisp, lemon merange pie, pumpkin pie (lumpy and smoothe, crust made from scratch), or pecan pie. She also makes several kinds of jello salad, the best broccoli and cheese I have EVER tasted, a big thanksgiving turkey, pineapple ham, dinner rolls (two kinds, one have an orange tang), and about 20 different kinds of Christmas cookies. My aunts and my mom and my Gramma used to have a cookie exchange every year, which meant there were coconut balls, peanut logs, coconut logs, potato balls, sugar cookies, some German cookie I don't like so I never bothered to learn the name of, and stuff like that. My Gramma and my mom make the "same" beef stew (but my Gramma's is better) and the "same" banana bread (but my mom's is better) and NOBODY makes sloppy joes like my Auntie Suzi. Nobody.

I've just never liked that it takes longer to make food than it does to eat it. It messes with my sense of justice and good use of time.

-Mel

Uh... well... apparently writers aren't just readers, they're COOKS, too!

It's not that surprising. After all, we create stories from scratch. :)

You can put me on the list as well. I mostly think of cooking as something that takes time away from writing or other things I'd rather be doing.

I make German spritz cookies from scratch every year for Christmas. My mom and I always made them, with green dough for the little trees and wreaths and yellow dough for camels and stars. If we were feeling REALLY crazy, we'd make some pink dough and pull out the shapes she didn't often use, like the playing card suits. But I love making them. I'm half-Irish and it's really the only part of my heritage I pay attention to (I go to Milwaukee Irish Fest every year, it's like a pilgrimage) so it surprised me when I realized that my traditional food is from my dad's German mom, adopted by my own Irish mom, and taught to me.

Off-topic, I turned 25 today. Not sure how I feel about that.

I turned 25 four months ago. I think it just takes some getting used to.

I had my full-blown quarter-life-crisis (yes, it actually has a name now) when I turned 23.

Happy birthday and a toast to your good health!

-Mel

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Interacting with Others

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You knew I was going to comment on this....

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Yay food!

Re: Yay food!