A Love Story
We went out last night. Saw that movie, The Artist. The wife loved it; I thought it silly. But it did make me want to tell a story. May I? I Googled “recipe books” and got 249 million responses—one more example of the overwhelming complexity of nutrition. Nosing around I came across three characters, who I must introduce before the story telling begins:
Jennifer Reese is a Marin County mom, writer, and teacher of cooking. During a period of unemployment, to save money, she tried her hand at making things at home you usually buy. This led to her 2011 book, Make Bread, Buy Butter. You get the point—baking bread is worth the effort but churning your own butter is too much hassle. Actually, we’ve been working through such decisions on this blog, like the benefit of making your own breakfast cereal.
Thomas Keller has a world-class restaurant (three Michelin stars) in the Napa Valley called The French Laundry (the building originally contained a laundry operated by a French family). The French Laundry may be the best restaurant in the U.S.; everything is very, very special. Besides being a celebrity chef, Keller writes cookbooks for really fancy food.
Ree Drummond lives on a ranch, a big ranch, lots of cattle and horses, in Oklahoma. She calls herself the accidental country girl, but she loves all the ranch stuff, and writes a popular blog, The Pioneer Woman. She also writes cookbooks about ranch food. Basic food, nothing fancy.
So now the story. Ms Reese, the Marin County mom, writes an article for Slate magazine where she prepares two meals for her family. The first time she uses Keller’s fancy cookbook; it was a lot of work, took three days. The second time she uses Drummond’s basic pioneer cookbook; much easier. We’re talking about smoked paprika vs Lawry’s seasoned salt. Same meal each time—fried chicken, salad, biscuits, and pineapple upside-down cake for dessert—cooked two ways, fancy and basic.
The outcome? Though Keller’s fancy food tasted better, the family preferred the Pioneer Woman’s down-home basic grub. This is a Marin County family, mind you. When a family gathers around the dinner table in a daily ritual as old as time, as Reese put it, “good enough is good enough.”
There’s an important lesson here. What makes food good is the love that mom cooks into it. Home cooking puts the love in food. Straining to make it fancier can get in the way of mom’s river of love. Bottom line: Cook healthy food, keep it simple, and don’t forget the love.
This Week’s Menu
Our pantry dictated this week’s menu: Beside leftover bean, lentil and ham soup, I bought broccoli, cauliflower, green onions and cabbage from the Farmers’ Market. The beautiful wife picked up a pineapple that was ripening.
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Please comment: The adventure this week was learning to cook stir-fry. Next week we have a cabbage so maybe we’ll feature a coleslaw recipe. Does anyone have one to share? Any menu requests or suggestions?