My mom is an unlikely gourmet chef. She grew up in Rhode Island where Saturday afternoons were spent at the local store picking out Ho Hos and Ding Dongs, Twinkies and Donuts. She became a vegetarian around 16 after reading a Diet for Small Planet, and from there discovered the world of tofu and lentils. In fact, her first time eating lentils she was in high school and had no idea how to prepare them–so she put them in the microwave. Not a great introduction! After enduring her own mom chase her around the house with a chicken leg, she plunged headfirst in college to exploring the food coops of Boston, where she ate her first tofu, tried dozens of types of cheeses, and ate a lot of quiche. She met my dad and quickly converted him to her cooking, and therefore vegetarianism.
I spent my childhood eating pasta and pesto, pasta with parmesan cheese, tortellini, white pizza, and frozen yogurt. Do you see a trend here? I stopped eating meat when I was 8 or 9 by my own accord and only ate white foods or dessert (mostly chocolate) until I was in high school. During that period, I thought nothing of the fact that my mom was making three dinners every night: a white meal for me, meat for my younger brother, and a gourmet pescatarian feast for my dad and herself. It really wasn’t until college that I realized it was strange that my mom would make me homemade pesto and fresh mozzarella sandwiches on brioche rolls for lunch everyday, and that most moms don’t spend 2 hours in the kitchen preparing an entrée with three different sides for a Wednesday night dinner. Hell, most parents don’t go to a grocery store everyday to make only the freshest meals every night of the week! Did I mention my mom still does even though it’s just her and my dad at home, and my mom works 35 hours a week?
In college I began eating seafood again, and found myself calling my mom every night to ask her what she was making. I started off slowly, but by the end of junior year (during which I finally had a real kitchen to cook in), I too was spending an hour or two in the kitchen as my study-break most evenings.
We have wanted to start a blog together about cooking for a few years, especially considering the number of emails that go back and forth each week comparing recipes–the best is when we discover we are making the same thing without consulting each other first!. We hope you enjoy our project!
