Hello everyone and happy almost 2008! .
I thought I would share an excerpt from my writer friend Peg Rosen’s introduction in her personal cookbook:
“I’m no less proud of my culinary accomplishments than I am of what I’ve written during my career. I love the fact that after a near fruitless, shapeless, and open-ended day spent producing maybe two sentences, I can come down into my kitchen and create something wonderful simply by following directions. I treasure the fact that I can wake up early on Saturday mornings, whip up an apple cake, and rouse my family into the day with the fragrance of cinnamon and browned butter. I relish the idea that my two sons love to cook with me as much as they love to eat with me. And that—when my family is driving me insane or I am so bitchy I’m downright scary—the simple act of making a meal shows them I love them.”
Peg has been kind enough to share the updated versions of her cookbooks with me for the last few years at holiday time. Sharing her cookbook each year is a true gift, demonstrating, once again, how food and recipes shared bring us together and help to solidify bonds. The day after I moved to my town, barely knowing a soul, Peg, my NYC friend’s sister in law, having never met me before, had heard that my mother had died the day before . This stranger showed up at my doorstep with the most aromatic lemon roast chicken and a variety of other comforting treats. She gave me the warmest and most heartfelt welcome a grieving, urban gal can have when moving to the suburbs. I will never forget that act of kindness and what that meal represented.
Food IS love! No wonder so many women who are on the receiving end of such precious gifts as those mentioned above feel frustration , guilt and sadness when they cannot reciprocate because they cannot cook. There is hope but patience, support and confidence are key if we are to pursue our cooking goals. We will get there eventually!