Saturday, February 7, 2015

Madre

I have scoured my family tree looking for my Italian genes but "niente"!!!

How then to explain the delight I have in food and feeding people? 

It's not that I am a good cook... I'm adequate at best.... But I am currently addicted to making bolognese sauce. 

I seldom want to be in the kitchen, want to cook but this bolognese sauce .. Man.. It has me hooked Amici. 

I even minced my own veal the recipe called for for heavens sake? 


I think I have made this 4 times this year already.

I didn't make anything other than scrambled eggs 4 times last year... Ok maybe French toast.....

Lasagne.... You got it... From scratch ! For the second time in 3 weeks! 



So if you see my family sneaking across the street to DQ for a burger because they can't take one more bite of my bolognese you'll know I've gone too far! 

 The funny thing is the more I delight in following a "Cooks Illustrated" recipe and nailing it ... The more confidence I get... and the more confident I feel the better the food I am cooking...

I'm not auditioning for Master Chef just yet but if I can find the joy in the kitchen I will be a happier person! 

I cheat fed some friends tonight... I lovingly prepared a meal but didn't exactly cook any of it (thank you M&M  meat shops) although I did give them a bag of my frozen summer harvest of chilliwack corn.... It was such fun to put the meal together for such a lovely and inspirational family.  They are newly arrived in Canada and they have reminded me how hard that immigrant experience is and what bravery it takes to leave your homeland and come to start life again in a new place. And they have done it with such grace.... And that it has brought a new friendship into my life is a gift. 

And then I came home and in 30 minutes (thanks to some earlier prep) I pulled off steak fajitas for my busy family! 

So my day was all about food and feeding and friends and family and fellowship... And it was Fun! 

I don't know where it comes from in my genes .... English, Irish, Canadian, Scottish... maybe it's my sorta Italian Russian name (insert heavy Italian mafia-esque accent) "Nicola" ... Or maybe, to my surprise, I have just uncovered something new about myself at my advanced age. 

Who knows? 

Amici Addio. 

Ti Amo.

PS: until googling the above Italian phrases tonight I only had one line of Italian and it was "Giubbotti salvagente sotto la poltrona" which was of little use once I was done flying around the world on Alitalia in 1988. 


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