Making Bones In The Kitchen

Who knew that having children would change you so?  I mean even in the less obvious ways.  Suddenly I'm interested in cooking in a way I've never been before.  I've always loved food and, unlike C, am motivated by food.  But cooking was really not for me.  Since having BB, I realized that meal preparation is a significant part of parenting and unless I wanted him eating takeout every night, I needed to learn how to cook healthy, nutritious and tasty meals from here on out. 

Necessity has now morphed into an interest.  But let me be clear - I am by no means a chef nor do I want to be.  But I am interested in developing a repertoire of homecooked meals that the boys will grow up on, love, and crave into adulthood.  I still crave many of the dishes my mom made for me growing up, foods that I would ask for over and over again.  When I was 11, I went overseas to stay with my grandparents and extended family for the summer.  In addition to missing my parents, I missed my mother's cooking.  Luckily for me my grandmother's dishes tasted very familiar.  My mother had learned from her mother.

So it remains to be seen whether my cooking will stay with them, whether they will be homesick for it when they are away at college or on a business trip.  But like all aspects of parenting, it's something I'm working on every day.

He didn't come out of my belly, but my God, I've made his bones, because I've attended to every meal, and how he sleeps, and the fact that he swims like a fish because I took him to the ocean. I'm so proud of all those things. But he is my biggest pride. ~ John Lennon

P.S. This is not my kitchen.  You can see a few photos of my kitchen here.  This is Julia Child's kitchen donated to the Smithsonian and on display at the National Museum of American History.