Friday, August 26, 2011

I Hate Myself (For Loving You).


I am a little bit wonky and battered today. It was the first week back at school/activities for my kids, and trying to get a new schedule on track has been a challenge. Between arranging homework time and music class and fencing practice (And my own music class! And actual work that needs to be done! And dinner to be made!) I am knackered. Sometimes I feel as if I am nothing more than my children's social secretary. Add to that the fact that I have decided they should probably eat breakfast (and not just a to-go cup of cereal and milk in the car) and not eat school lunches this year (awfully unhealthy, and anyway the money I am saving by not buying them will probably pay for a cruise at the end of the year.) The end result is that I am actually making three meals a day and a healthy snack before the aforementioned classes. It's my fault for exposing them to real food early on. They request things like yogurt parfaits and chicken caesar salad wraps ("Please, mom, with the homemade dressing! The one in the bottle tastes gross!") Why can't they just eat fish fingers and Doritos like other kids?

Oh, that's right. Because I love to cook. And bake. And ply teachers, administrators, random passerby, friends, Romans and countrymen with goodies. I admit. Food is love! Behold the raspberry-rose macaroons that I crafted. Lovely, aren't they? Just a bit. And delicious, too. (Admission: I am patting myself on the back because nobody else does. Feel free to weep for me. Ah, to be taken for granted!)

I've always been obsessed with food: eating it, preparing it, watching others grow it successfully (I have a black thumb.) I own over 300 cookbooks (and use them!) plus stacks of magazines, foreign and not. I base vacations around restaurants and food stalls and visits to local grocery stores and markets. I have mad crushes on Nigella Lawson and Jamie Oliver. 

At university, my Shakespeare's Major Plays class required a final group project to successfully complete the course. We all sat through a couple of days of fairly boring presentations (this was before PowerPoint - although, looking back, that was probably a blessing.) Even the group that enacted the death scene from Hamlet didn't do that well. Maybe it had to do with the fact that Gertrude and Hamlet were played by the same guy...but anyway. I'd like to think that our motley crew blasted through the curve. Our project, thanks to my stalwart leadership (I'm a Leo!) was, of course, food-related. Every one of us prepared a dish inspired by Shakespeare's time. One member actually was a hunter and had a frozen pheasant on hand! The other items were really not that authentic but incorporated things like dried fruits and spices that were becoming popular in Elizabethan England. The professor was a bit skeptical, and didn't believe that the bird was pheasant and not turkey until he bit down on a mouthful of buckshot. Thankfully, that didn't prevent us from getting high marks. Undergrads.

My girls not only love to eat, but love to help in the kitchen as well, which makes meal preparation take about five times longer than it should. No matter. The end result, other than their increasingly sophisticated palates, is also a growing appreciation for other cultures and the unrivaled bounty we are blessed to enjoy. It's homework we don't mind doing at all.



28 comments:

  1. Hello Maggie:
    Chicken Caesar Wraps.....well!! And, the macaroons really good grace the shelves of La Duree in Paris. Now wonder that you are worn out, but how wonderful that your family is nutured with such fabulous delicacies. If only we were closer.....

    The Shakesperean inspired food project sounds to have been most enterprising and imaginative. No wonder you scored high marks, what a mind to have thought of that!!

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  2. Hello Jane and Lance!

    Beirut has a branch of La Duree, believe it or not, and that was what set me on the macaroon path. They are delicious! Thank you for your kind comments. If only you were closer, indeed.

    And as for the food project, please give credit where credit is due: to my stomach, not my mind! :)

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  3. When I saw the pic of the macaroons I thought, oh, she's been in a fancy bakery and took a pretty picture of some fabulous looking cookies! Wow! You actually MADE those??!! I am completely impressed! Your daughters obviously have a multi-talented mom. Also, I must ask- who is the fencer?

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  4. (Admission: I am patting myself on the back because nobody else does.

    WHAT??!!

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  5. Here's a major pat on the back. What do you mean, nobody else does? With cookery like that you deserve a star.

    I love to cook, but my baking is rubbish, but then I rarely eat cake; but my cooking is fab. All prepared from scratch. I slave for hours over a hot stove and love to feed guests.

    What I don't like is the daily grind of catering, like feeding children and unappreciative adults. Very male of me, I know.

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  6. And I thought I was doing awesome when my child requested vinegared cucumbers! The macaroons look amazing. I think it's fabulous that your kids are branching out. Food is more than fuel, it's sensation and memory and even history as you point out. Good for you for making the people you love think about what is going in their bodies.

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  7. Elizabeth: This from someone who does more with ink and paper than I could EVER dream to do! :)Thank you for your compliments. As for the fencers, they are my 9 year-old twin daughters.

    Suze: Well, I think they are jaded at this point!

    Friko: I completely agree about the unrelenting catering. I wish we could have a dinner party - you cook, I bake.

    Julie: Oh, vinegared cucumbers sound SO GOOD!! You are right about food. As the mother of girls, especially, it is very important to me that I help them understand that food is delicious and good and not your enemy. I want them to appreciate everything in moderation and be more concerned about the wonderful things their strong bodies can do than become obsessed with body image. Hard work this all is!!

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  8. i'm afraid you've set expectations too high too early, but there are worse things

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  9. J: Well, I suppose you're right...but, on the plus side, I see it as kind of a challenge!

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  10. My dear Mags, you are an amazing, amazing force in the kitchen. Even little nothing visits to your house in which we take off our shoes and the girls run around like maniacs while we just hang out for hours are blessed with treats I wouldn't even make for holidays and special occasions! I'm still getting over the elaborate pancake bar you set up for us during the summer. (Actually, no. I'm not getting over it. Can we have another? :))

    You should post more pics of your work. But then I'll get all hungry ... hmm ... conundrum.

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  11. Oh, la, you made those macaroons? I join Friko and others in giving a big round of applause. I love to eat good food, but do not love to cook. (This is not a good combination, as you might guess.)

    I absolutely loved your Shakespeare story--the truth is in the buckshot!

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  12. Suze: Awwwwww, shucks. (Bats eyelashes appreciatively!!) You make me blush! You know how much I love making treats for you, so come visit soon!

    Susan: It is good to be a good eater that doesn't cook. You make a great (and hungry!) audience for people like me; we love your kind!! And yes, buckshot. Not as flavorful as pepper, really...

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  13. When you say raspberry-rose, do you mean there are rose petals in the recipe or for the color?? They look amazing!

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  14. Hello, Alleged!

    It is homemade raspberry jam with a rosewater flavored buttercream. Yes, I rock! ;)

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  15. Maggie, I asked about the fencers because my son was an avid fencer. He travelled all over the country competing in tournaments. Then gave it up for crew (rowing). So great your girls are doing it!!

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  16. I want to take a nap after hearing about how active your son is! I hope my girls keep up with it; they really seem to love it. I didn't even push them to it - I was just trying to find a sport they both liked to minimize the driving I have to do (also, anything that required early rising and before-school practice was nixed, so no swimming or ice-skating!). The lazy mother wants active children...

    I think someone else here has a child who fenced - Amanda, correct?

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  17. Strange but last week i popped on over to your blog via Girl Wizard. Perhaps it's destiny :) Those macaroons look lovely and you deserve many pats on the back. I love to cook. Well, maybe not. I love to bake and I also make decent pasta sauces. Other than that I cook because I have to. I do have a crush on Jamie though too.

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  18. Well, it's a great sport! You are a good mom to take them to any and all--regardless of when and where! :)

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  19. Loree! Welcome, and nice to meet you! I look forward to hearing about the foods of Malta, then. The ones that you are eating, I guess, since you don't cook... :)

    Elizabeth: Thanks so much. You know how it can be, all this thankless drivel just to make sure they turn out to be half-decent people!! :)

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  20. Mmmm Jamie Oliver. My biggest crush is Curtis Stone! And those macaroons look amazing. A blog post full of YUM, indeed!

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  21. Kimmy: Thanks a lot. Now I won't be able to concentrate all day. If Curtis Stone was my Take Home Chef, the show would be renamed something like Chef Who Was Never Allowed to Leave Home. :)

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  22. Your macaroons look wonderful. I have never tried one, i must be one of the only bloggers around who hasn't. Note to self: try macaroons!
    Di
    X

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  23. I don't cook. Sometimes I wish I did. I admire people who do it well. They seem passionate about it. Oh well, I guess it's not meant to be.

    Those macaroons look delicious.

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  24. Di: Thank you! You must get some immediately. They come in lots of flavors and are tiny enough where one can indulge without feeling awful about it.

    Madeia: Oh, I am plenty passionate about it! It's ok that you don't cook, I'll cook and you eat!

    This post has generated so many comments it's making me think that I should write about my food exploits more often!

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  25. great post
    i like your blog (:
    +follow

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  26. ah, maggie, consider yourself a great mom. if your kids are requesting your homemade dressing because the bottled stuff is gross (they are right, it is!) you are raising kids on healthy foods who are developing their palates for the good stuff. congrats ;-)

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  27. Hey, Maggie. Wouldn't mind trying one of this delicacies one of these days ;)... This post (and your 300 cookbooks) reminded me of Julie & Julia.

    Today I tried a new Mexican recipe I saw on TV: Entomatadas de Pollo. Have you tried them? They came up pretty good, except that I couldn't get the tortillas to get crispy in the oven. (We were really hungry and it was 8pm already!!) Any suggestions?

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  28. Damon, thanks!

    Amanda: you lay it on thick, but I like it! Thank you!

    Lorena: Entomatadas are like enchiladas but with a tomato instead of a chile sauce. I don't think I have every had them crispy...what happens, as with enchiladas, is that you kind of dip the tortillas in hot oil to soften them before dipping them in the sauce, filling them and then rolling them up. Although it is MOST delicious that way, ha ha, sometimes we just soften the tortillas in a hot skillet coated with cooking spray. That is the healthier way.

    Now I feel like a cooking advice column! I will post more food and cooking related topics, I guess! :)

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