Sean already picked on me about getting a recipe out of a book. By the way I made a mistake. It wasn't a salad dressing. It was a dip to accompany salmon- watercress, cilantro, and sour cream. Sounds wonderful.
This morning was a rare morning. I got to sleep in. I can't actually remember the last morning I had that ability. It should have been Monday, but after Sunday at Ramah, I napped then couldn't sleep, so my sleep-in was still only 5 hours of sleep.
I woke before my alarm, grabbed my latest book from the night table, and read for an hour, a real treat. I'm re-reading Powers That Be. It the first of a sci-fi series by Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. There's a lot of cultural references and friendly interaction, which understandably take place around meals. Dinner was moose spaghetti. Yum. Moose is kosher, but where would I get one properly shechted at this late date, and besides, it's the 9 days leading up to Tisha B'Av, so no meat. Turns out we're also out of spaghetti. The compromise- bowties with (fake) meat sauce topped with Parmesan cheese and pine nuts- A decent compromise, which I am enjoying while I type.
I love to cook, even more than I love to eat, although the two are, obviously, intertwined. The best eating is the picking and tasting done while cooking, and I'd be happy to have that as my meal many a day. As a child, a favorite part of family holiday celebrations at my Aunt Dawn's and Uncle Paul's house was standing in the kitchen, with all the other kids, while the turkey was being carved. If any of us saw an opening, we'd thrust forward a hand to snag a small piece of the turkey that had fallen off. Arnold was a master carver, and it's only through his skill that no one ever lost a finger. Those stolen scraps were sweeter than anything served at the table.
These are the types of memories that make me go "yum" when I'm reading a book. It's the meal around which significant moments occur and special memories are formed. This is true for books, and it's true in real life too. Faye Kellerman, in her Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus series knows & uses this, as does Susan Wittig Albert in Lavender Lies. Both have includes recipes at the end of their books to share the moment with the reader.
It's a known fact that, the more senses you engage, the stronger the connection of the memory. Good author's use this purposefully, others by accident, but it connects their characters to us, and makes us care.
By the way, a favourite genre for me to read- cookbooks. The best includes stories with the recipes. I recommend Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival, by June Feiss Hersh, and Welcome to Junior's! Remembering Brooklyn With Recipes and Memories from Its Favorite Restaurant, by Marvin & Walter Rosen. Sean's favorite is the Junior's cookbook, although he also loves the stories and pictures in a couple of Israeli cookbooks we have.
Happy reading & eating!
No comments:
Post a Comment