(Foodie) Life Lessons Learned from Mom - Part 2

As you may have gathered in the previous post, we are a well-intentioned if often-straying family when it comes to food.  Here's the thing: I think that is true of every family.  Removing the barriers and, more importantly, the pitfalls is the key to success in so many things.

Mom would buy grapefruit and then painstakingly slice it, prep it, leave it in the fridge and post a note as to its existence near the cereal.  She bought and washed grapes.  She sliced cantaloupe.  She placed bananas in a visible and enticing spot on the counter.  It was (and is) genius, really.  Lesson two: preparation, preparation.  

Honestly, it is shocking how late in life I realized her tactics.  Each night, the coffee was prepped and the timer set.  A tray with all the appropriate accessories (spoons, sweetener, mugs) was readied... because honestly, does anyone want to search the deep recesses of their mind while uncaffeinated to figure out how to brew coffee on a weekday morning?  Breakfast cereal, bowls and spoons were laid out.  Skipping breakfast was not encouraged and met with almost as much of a lecture as far grander transgressions.

Now, I understand the method to the madness and preparation.  Breakfast is unlikely to be skipped when the thinking is done for you.  Fresh fruits and vegetables are very likely to be grabbed and consumed when the work is removed.  We thought we were choosing to reach into the fridge and swipe a handful of grapes of our own free will.  Alas, we were being cunningly manipulated into healthy choices.

I take it a step further with my obsessive meal preparation.  I consider the options, prepare the shopping list and write the menu on giant chalkboards in my kitchen.  I think a lot of people assume I do it for some sort of statement or a rubbing of my Martha Stewart-esque ways into their collective faces.  Au contraire... I dread the witching hour when I arrive home from work exhausted and preoccupied.  Without preparation, that hour arrives and I make a maddening move: I open the fridge or pantry door and stand there, baffled, staring into the depths, hypothesizing with my feeble mind what I will make for dinner.  A plan and a clearly-posted menu take all of that away.  Suddenly, we aren't the family microwaving cheese onto tortillas and passing them off as "quesadillas" or picking up fast food or making breakfast for dinner... again.  We are a family with a good meal ahead of us.  My kids and husband smell good things from the kitchen and know that I care.  The systemic chopping is therapy for my work-torn soul.

Preparation, in the home and in the kitchen as well as in life, turns out to be the best defense.  It's shocking, really.


And so, I'm now the mom who, on a weekend afternoon like this one, quietly congratulates herself and realizes she has made one small parenting step, and that one small step leads to another.  The neighborhood kids have been playing in the late autumn sun all afternoon.  The time has arrived when one breaks from the stupor of play long enough to realize they are very hungry (and they have to go to the bathroom).  The kids all disperse to their respective homes, operating on an unspoken childhood pact and hoping for a quick-grab snack and a hasty return to play without being apprehended by chores or parental demands.

I watch quietly and unnoticed as some, though not all, of the neighbor kids re-emerge from their homes with processed, individually-packaged (i.e. convenience) foods and disposable water bottles.  It won't kill them, and it definitely won't be the end of humanity.  But again, I won't lie about the pang of pride as my kid saunters in, grabs one of her chilled, reusable stainless water bottles from the fridge, downs a big swig and covertly swipes some grapes and a hunk of cantaloupe from the fridge before springing back out into the afternoon sun.

She definitely got away with something.  I did, too.

(Foodie) Life Lessons Learned from Mom - Part 1

Today is my Mom's birthday - read The Glamorous Glennis here .  I'd been mulling over this series for a while, and kicking it off today seems a fitting tribute.  For all that you knew about that you conscientiously taught me in the kitchen, thank you.  For all that you didn't know about but, I suspect, vaguely hoped you taught me about life in the kitchen, thank you even more.  ♥

By comparison, I definitely grew up in a household where family style meals were the norm.  My mom would probably argue that she didn't cook that often, but she absolutely did.  She used an arsenal of fairly familiar meals and fresh ingredients.  Although I stopped eating meat at age 15 and Mom didn't pander to my whims, I always found it easy to make a full meal out of what she prepared for the family.  Lesson 1: You won't get special treatment, and meals are prepared for everyone.  Make your own adjustments.

Regardless of my fickle teenage whims, I looked forward to the smell whipping me in the face when I came in the back door after activities or sports practice.  One whiff told you whether it was orange juice chicken, spaghetti, Chinese (an all-encompassing term for various stir fry dishes) or, to my chagrin despite its relative merits, meatloaf.

But that whiff conveyed many other things: even though I knew, I asked what was for dinner.  Even though she knew I knew, Mom told me.  I knew she cared enough to buy the groceries and fix an involved meal even when she probably didn't feel like it.  I knew we would all sit down to the table together.  I knew to pull back my hair and wash my hands, and to use manners: a napkin in my lap, no elbows on the table and please and thank you even as a sullen teen.  Sulking may have been mildly tolerated as a teenage phase, but overlooking these simple expectations was not.  I could certainly stalk off to my lair after dinner, but not before asking to be excused.  I knew, above all, that many things in my life were consistent and predictable, and that the comfort of our routines feels good.

The lesson of the meal prepared for the greater, familial good mattered because I was free to make my own choices, but Mom wasn't going to plan dinner around me.  Lesson subtitle: I love you, but the world doesn't revolve around you.  Second lesson subtitle: you will act appropriately, and our family has rules and standards.

When my older daughter was about age three, I did what I thought I was supposed to do as a new parent and picked up "kid-friendly" things like fish sticks, chicken nuggets and miniature pizza bites.  Then, I started reading the ingredients and the sodium content and thought about the lack of real ingredients.  By contrast, the meals my husband and I ate were well planned, fresh and enjoyable.  I stopped immediately and realized I was on the road to developing a picky eater.  It's shocking how quickly a child stops informing you of what they don't like when no other options are presented.  Now, Chez Stephens, your plate must be cleared but a small treat or dessert is always an option when that happens.  If you don't clear your plate, no other meal options are offered and you'll find yourself hungry.  I don't mention to my kiddos that I was once in deep trouble for pouring my glass of milk into a nearby plant instead of drinking it.  More on that later.

It probably didn't hurt in the early years that I turned mussels into "We're having seashells for dinner!"  Regardless of the tactics, my eldest now eats an impressive array of foods, and I suspect the small one will follow suit.  The eldest loves "snacky dinner," which in our house translates to a sampling of things like cheeses, meats, crackers, fruits and vegetables.  She considers cherry tomatoes a preferable snack and loves finding a fridge full of washed and ready to grab items like grapes, carrots, cantaloupe and grapefruit.  Sure, she would devour a pantry full of Ding Dongs and Twinkies, but they aren't there, so there isn't much opportunity.  She is baffled that other kids don't love bananas as much as she does, and recently did an impressive pitch to a neighbor kid joining us for dinner on the virtues of "my mom's mushroom pasta."

We're not saints - we keep around things like fruit snacks and cookies, but the household favorites are ice cream sandwiches and dark chocolate bars that we dip in peanut butter.  Currently, there are some packaged cupcakes and a boxed yellow cake mix baked and frosted in chocolate frosting on the counter, but it all works here.  A friend just told me that she felt like she was corrupting my child when they stopped by Burger King recently and Sophie told her that she had been there once or twice before.  Definitely, definitely we are not martyrs - we don't preach our approach, we just do it, and the way other families do things is up to them and we are not judging.  However, I'm not going to lie that I felt a strong pang of pride.  She gets fast food, because we are as harried as the next family - but the fact that it isn't a staple of our lives makes me feel some sense that we are getting it right.

More importantly, I realize that every single day of my upbringing, Mom was teaching me simple lessons.  I cling to these things when I feel overwhelmed by the challenge of raising small humans.  And then, I realize that it isn't about how many meals we ate at the table together as a family last week - it's about the day when it all blurs together in the collective consciousness of my daughters, and they remember that more often than not, I cooked for them as a feeble expression of my love.

The Food Adventuress Goes Green (Eat Your Veggies!)

Today I'm completely honored to have a guest blog post on Eat Local When You Eat Out over at Practically Green (www.practicallygreen.com and www.blog.practicallygreen.com)!

There's mention of some of my favorite spots to dine in addition to the fun of contributing to one of PG's action items for a sustainable lifestyle.  I'm also pretty stoked to have my main blog, www.littlemagpie.org, mentioned over at EcoPressed.  What a fun week!

Thanks to both current and new readers of both The Little Magpie and The Food Adventuress.  It's such a treat to share with you, and even more of a treat to interact.

Starting next Wednesday, October 12 (my Mom's birthday) and running throughout the remainder of October, watch for a five post blog series on (Foodie) Life Lessons From Mom - hope you enjoy!

More Books To Devour

I posted last month on some of my favorite foodie reads: Books to Devour.  If you didn't read it, I'd love for you to skim it and add your favorite food-centric reads.  I also set up a special shelf on Goodreads for these tantalizing tomes.

Today, I'm adding to it all the books on my foodie "to read" list.  Although I just read and couldn't get enough of The Hunger Games trilogy, I suppose they don't technically count.  As the winter months approach, here are a few of the books I'll be tackling from my hibernation post on the couch by the fireplace:

1.  Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen by Laurie Colwin

2.  How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking by Nigella Lawson

3.  The Sweet Life in Paris: A Recipe for Living in the World's Most Delicious City by David Lebovitz

4.  Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer by Novella Carpenter

5.  Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotten Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate by Kelly Alexander and Cynthia Harris


6.  Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat and Obsession by Julie Powell

7.  Plenty: One Man, One Woman and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon

8.  Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany by Bill Buford

9.  The Feast Nearby: How I lost my job, buried a marriage and found my way by keeping chickens, foraging, preserving, bartering and eating locally (all on $40 a week) by Robin Mather

10.  A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines by Anthony Bourdain

These are all catalogued along with those I've already read on my Goodreads "Books to Devour" shelf.  I note with some amusement that the vast majority of the books on this list offer the clever minimalist one to three word title followed by a colon and an exhausting interpretation as you might read on the book jacket if you wanted to further explore the book's premise.  It's ok, they've done it for you right there on the cover!

Any additions?  Which foodie books are whetting your appetite?

Also: I'm excited about launching a series next Wednesday, October 12 (my Mom's birthday) honoring her and the (foodie) life lessons she taught me in the kitchen.  I hope you'll tune in for the rest of the month and share some of your own stories of kitchen inspiration!

Food I Find Pinteresting

Hello foodie friends,

You may realize that I do not post predictably or regularly here on The Food Adventuress. My main blog is www.littlemagpie.org, and I find this blog to be most satisfying when I don't force it and simply let inspiration strike.  However, with that said, I am certainly in the kitchen far more frequently when hibernation months are upon us. If you'd like to keep up between posts, however, please visit The Food Adventuress on Pinterest:

http://pinterest.com/bethanystephens/food-adventuress/

I think of it as my virtual recipe idea file, and I pin good eats to try out almost daily. And, once in a while I even get around to making them! Friday was my sister's birthday, and we are both adorers of Blue Moon beer. So, naturally I had to make her these Blue Moon cupcakes:

And then, naturally, I had to take this highly inappropriate picture of my young child playing with the Blue Moon box:

A mere twenty years until she can raise a toast to Birthday Aunt

And that is why there are some days when I simply should not blog.  Anyway, hope you'll follow along on Pinterest, or follow The Food Adventuress on the Twitter if you're so inclined:

http://twitter.com/#!/foodadventuress

Then meet me back here, same bat channel (but not necessarily same bat time) for more foodie fun. What have you been cooking up lately?

Books to Devour

During this summer's vacation, I noticed I had selected a number of food-centric books, which I promptly (and appropriately) devoured.  More, by the way, on the vacation food in a forthcoming post.  Anyway, being an avid reader, it also occurred to me that some of my favorite books are rather food focused.  It seemed appropriate to begin (for others to finish) a foodie book list.  That, of course, got me thinking about foodie films, so that will be forthcoming as well.  

As an aside, check out the Top Northwest Food Blogs You Should Be Reading over at my friend Lyndi's NWA Foodie blog.  I'm honored that The Food Adventuress is included on her list, and would contend this novice blog aside, these are some of the best blogs you'll read just about anywhere.  Plus, it's a great time to visit NWAFoodie since she is doing some amazing giveaways to celebrate her blog's second anniversary!


Without further ado, a few of my favorite foodie books, with fingers crossed you'll add your own at the end:

1.  Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel: Obviously.

2.  Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell: The story of a New Yorker's challenge to cook every recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking - not only is this a great food read, it's also a great read for bloggers.

3.  My Life in France by Julia Child and Alex Prud'Homme: It's a treat to read both this and Julie & Julia in any order.

4.  The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand Normally not the kind of book I pick up if judging its cover, which features an exuberant couple and therefore makes me want to skip it and other romance-esque tomes, but a quick review of the premise had me hooked, and the first few pages are a summer restaurant menu in Nantucket - sold!

5.  Anything by Peter Mayle: From A Year in Provence to A Good Year, Mayle is the epitome of the food, wine and travel author.  While the books don't always go deep on the recipes and specifics, each conveys a confound sense of place that makes you want to hop a jet - stat.

6.  Boulangerie Now obviously, this is not a cookbook list (although we'll do that soon!), but I would argue that this one teeters beautifully on the edge.  It's really a treat to read (and obviously, I lean toward the francophile picks) and the photography is stunning, in addition to the great recipes toward the end.  I've tried my hand at a pretty passable baguette more than once based on this book.

7.  A Cultivated Life by Joy Sterling: A firsthand account of life at Sterling Vineyards in Sonoma and a light, fun peek at the wine industry.

8.  French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure

9.  Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert: As if the world is not already familiar with this tome.








What are your favorite food-centric reads?  Which of your bookshelf selections evoke a sense of good food and good company?  I'm looking forward to your additions.

I've ranted about my love of Goodreads in a tirade called In Praise of Reader's Digest Condensed Books and Toast on my other blog, The Little Magpie - you should definitely check it out if you're not already a member.  It seems overwhelming to take on another website or social media app and to add your books at first, but it's worth it - and seeing what your nearest and dearest are reading means you'll never be at a loss on what to pick up next time you're at the book seller or library.  You can also access my list of these "Books to Devour" via Goodreads if you like.


I'll be sharing the foodie books on my "to read" list soon as well.  Looking forward to your food-fantastic selections!

The Wisconsin Files

(Note: This post has been placed on both The Little Magpie and The Food Adventuress blogs, because hey - sometimes things overlap.)

 

 

So, true confessions: prior to 2010, I had never set foot in or even passed through the state of Wisconsin.  I stand (rather, sit) before you chastened and convinced that Wisconsin is absolutely a must-visit state, and I've even harbored dreams of a vacation home there.  However, my husband rightly reminds me that we already know someone with a getaway in Wisconsin, so we'll select elsewhere when we start entering and subsequently win the lottery.

 

Also, I should offer the disclaimer (see my rants on the subject over at The Little Magpie) that I'm an enormous fan of everywhere and abhor place-bashing.  Every state is pretty amazing, and making fun of where others are from is really just bad form.  We should all visit for ourselves and still withhold judgment if we don't have anything nice to say, but I digress...

 

My sister is fortunate on a number of levels to date a truly and exceptionally nice guy whose family happens to have several houses on the Chain O' Lakes (yeah, that's O' Lakes, not of) clustered in and around Waupaca, Wisconsin.  For two years in a row we've ventured up on a family vacation with them in August which has numerous food and non-food related merits, not the least of which is the fact that temperatures range from the upper 60s to low 80s throughout our sojourn, while hovering in the triple digits back home in Arkansas.

 

 

I love crossing from Minnesota into Wisconsin near La Crosse over the Mississippi River - it seems like a different world after traveling all the way through Missouri and Iowa's fields of corn and wind farms.

Hello, Wisconsin! Mississippi River near La Crosse - high noon. 86 degrees.

We also stopped at Ship Rock in Adams County, a staggering remnant of retreating glacial lakes during the last stages of the Ice Age nearly 12,000 years ago.

 

 

Throughout the week, we saw Sandhill Cranes in fields around the area.  They are intriguing to me every time, both due to their size and their demeanor.  There's a neat overview of sandhills on the state of Wisconsin's environmental education website for kids.

 

 

Other advantages include access to Long Lake via a short stroll on a fern and mossy rock-lined path, leaving windows and doors open throughout our visit, complete lack of cell service and email access and just a general feeling of true escape.  The scenery is stunning: just off two of Wisconsin's scenic Rustic Roads (a cool program in and of itself; we were near Rustic Roads 23 and 24) near the intriguing 1850s Yankee township of Rural on the Crystal River, and less than a mile from Hartman State Park, home to a portion of the 1,000 mile Ice Age National Scenic Trail.  We spend the week biking, swimming, hiking, kayaking and reading.   It's heaven.

 

 

Incidentally, nearby King is the site of the Grand Army Home and Wisconsin Veterans Home.  We biked through and had a picnic on the grounds, which are really interesting.  I suspect a lot of people overlook this as a fantastic historical site on the National Register of Historic Places.  According to the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King book by Kim J. Heltemes: "The Wisconsin Veterans Home at King, Wisconsin, was incorporated in 1887 by the Wisconsin Department of the Grand Army of the Republic. Initially a retirement home for Civil War veterans and their spouses, the Home slowly evolved into a health care facility as the original members aged and new veterans arrived from World War I.  Some original buildings still exist today, and the Home currently cares for approximately 800 veterans and spouses."  I was particularly intrigued by the Veterans Cottages Historic District.  We explored the entire area, and were rewarded as usual for straying off the beaten path - there is something of interest just about everywhere, including this town of approximately 835 residents.

 

 

On the foodie front, there are also a number of advantages.  We enjoyed the nearly-legendary Spotted Cow (read the grassroots story behind this nearly-legendary beer) from New Glarus Brewing Company, which is an interesting story itself - one of two craft brewing companies led by women.  We also sample a variety of selections from Central Waters Brewing Company (which makes a Glacial Trail IPA and a Mud Puppy Porter, although my favorite was the Ouisconsing Red, named for the Algonquin word for the Wisconsin River) as well as Stevens Point Brewery, established in 1857 (I liked the Belgian White).

 

Label from the Central Waters Brewing Company website (www.centralwaters.com)

 

We take turns preparing meals on the grill and otherwise, with the carnivores enjoying burgers and ribs and the vegetarians (ok, me) enjoying portabellas and shrimp.  We've indulged in fried cheese curds of unspeakable loveliness at Clear Water Harbor, pizza and garlic bread at the Wheelhouse, fresh Cedar Crest ice cream from Oskkosh and (I assure you) plenty more.  We have handy access to some of the best farm stands I've visited, corn fresh from the fields surrounding us, berries for snacking (and tart-making) and a great farmer's market in downtown Waupaca.

 

At the Wheelhouse

But oh, the cheese.  In nearby King amidst an array of cute little shops is a place called Cheesie Bob's Bleu Cheese House.  It's fairly nondescript but not to be missed.  Wisconsin is obviously known for cheese and produces nearly 600 varieties (read more about Wisconsin's cheese history), and most folks are familiar with fresh cheese curds (freshest when they are squeaky and delivered on Friday).  However, the selection at Cheesie Bob's will blow the cheese-lover's mind.  This year we were brought in by the enticing promise of morel and leek cheese (the base was jack), and we were not disappointed.  We've grabbed fresh muenster and drunken cheddar and every variety in between.  Honestly, thank goodness for the athletic endeavors of the week to offset the staggering amounts of cheese consumed.

 

Photo from the Wisconsin Cheese website

It's always a treat to escape to a place you're completely unfamiliar with and to explore it on your own agenda.  Here's to the not-lost art of the road trip and the family vacation!