Friday! Who wants to work on Friday? Our heads are half in the weekend. On that note, Fridays are going to be "celebration of girlyness" days. This may not fly as a feminist idea, but I'm going from the standpoint of the Audre Lorde article featured earlier this week, which also talks about how women need to embrace their nurturing side and nurture and celebrate one another. I love to run faster than the boys, trust me. But I, along with other females I know, also delight in little things most boys (not all) that I know don't even notice, let alone relish. We can call it our icebreaker, though that's not fitting since it's at the end of the week. It's a way for us to get to know each other on a different level. Less cerebral, but maybe not less spiritual.
I live in a frozen tundra. Ok, no I don't. I do live in a place that has already recorded 125 inches of snowfall this year. We know how to do winter. But this is a week in U.S. weather history where most of us experienced real winter, with even my friend in Arkansas experiencing ice and snow. I thought this to be a fitting week to discuss
comfort food.
Maybe I need a lot of comfort, but I love comfort food. Food doesn't just nourish the body; at times, it feeds the soul. I believe this with all of my heart and so never put anything but cream in my coffee and real butter on my toast. There's something about snowfall, dark nights, and chilly weather that make me want to put cozy soups on the table for my family. Is it some deep feminine instinct to want to provide sustenance for those we love? Or a little girl return to feeling safe and loved that we want to replicate? I drink vats of hot chocolate in the winter with mountains of whipped cream, not the fat free kind. Usually with a homemade goodie of some kind. I do lots of baking. There's something about a pan of real mac and cheese being pulled out of the oven that makes me feel safe and warm and makes me feel as though I am taking good care of my family.
There are lots of good reasons not to turn to food for comfort. Such as our hips and our hearts (as machines, not the seat of emotions). We all like to take a little pleasure in our grandmother's secret recipe sometimes. We connect some of our best memories to food shared with those we love (or ourselves, our comfy couch, and a good book).
What are some of your favorite comfort foods? (This is not the time for touting your vegetable consumption!) Or better yet, what are some of your favorite comfort food memories?
Mine? Whenever we have another family over for a Saturday supper out on our deck. My husband is a master griller, New York has the best summer wines, produce is in season and tastes good, with some berry or other perfectly ripe for picking and tucked neatly into pastry and served with ice cream. Adults sit for hours in the breezy, warm sunlight that hangs on for hours and kids chase fireflies and each other.
Saturday morning big breakfasts, especially when I have overnight company. Waffles or pancakes, bacon, lots of coffee, and no hurry to get anywhere.
One time, my friend Courtney and I skipped lunch and had a 10 dollar sundae, the height of decadence. But also the height of comfort.
These are just a few. But I don't want to bore you all day. I want to hear yours. Happy Friday - and eat a little comfort food on this cold and snowy night:)
Chex mix. Probably barely counts as a food, but the smell of it in the oven brings back memories of holidays as a kid and means a day of planned laziness now.
ReplyDeleteAnd Ambar. Our go-to celebratory meal. When we eat there, which isn't often, it's because of something good. Kids are gone, tests are passed, friends are visiting. It means something when we eat there.
I thought of Ambar too, because we often ate it with friends. It's still the holy grail in Indian cuisine to me; I've never found a place I thought as good.
ReplyDeleteThe granola you gave me the recipe for, my aunt Cookie's macaroni and cheese, reeses peanut butter cups, fried chicken, red wine (pinot noir), blue berry pancakes...
ReplyDeleteYou once told me that you love the fact that when I find something good I just soak it up. Food is no different.
P.S. If Friday is about the girly, I so choose Friday :)
I do love that about you, and so many other things, but I cannot hand over girly Friday ... maybe one or two ... but not all.... Unless maybe I get a pan of Aunt Cookie's mac-n-cheese. Maybe I can be negotiated with;)
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