Ruminations

While driving two tired, happy dogs home from my mom’s house, I considered how lucky I am to have her so close by. My mom is one amazing lady and cook. This blog would not exist if I had not grown up sitting on the counter in the kitchen  watching her cook dishes such as gumbo, chicken and rice, etouffee, split pea soup, shrimp dip, and bruschetta.

If  she did not cook, I would not know that eggwhites must be room temperature and and whipped in a metal bowl to make a meringue… or that burning hot oil will most definitely  mean firemen are coming to your house.  I  would not know how to make a roux or how to properly eat and cook a crawfish. I would not have learned that homemade peach  ice cream is the  greatest thing on Earth.  Or that great macaroni and cheese and a perfectly cooked cut of meat  is what really makes a man happy.

And most importantly, I would have missed out on a lifetime of memories that involve food. As my sister aptly said as we were looking through pics of our childhood today ” All the family photos center around food”!

 

Today there was  fresh bruschetta (excuse the dim light, it was a rainy day!)

 

Grilled squash and zucchini. Orzo salad. May prawns caught yesterday just down the river.

Homemade lemon mousse (courtesy of Ina Garten)  garnished with fresh blackberries.

 

High tide.

Fur Babies.

Family.

We spent the afternoon looking through old pictures of Emily (my sister) and I as  kids and laughing at the ridiculous hairstyles and outfits Mom insisted we wear. I am not entirely sure where I got the idea that bucket hats looked good on me in middle school. Or glittery makeup.  Or uniform skirts up to my belly button instead of on my hips. Or high tops.  Or a penguin costume for Halloween.

I seem to have conveniently lost all of those pics tonight.

Let’s hope none of those end up in the slideshow at my rehearsal dinner in  a few months. The fiance has definitely never seen the “one” of my sister and I:  her naked in only yellow knee-high socks , sprawled out in a starfish pose behind me. I stand there in the foreground in a onesie thingie….except I am not an infant…. I am at least 8  in that photo.

Enjoy your Mother’s Day, however you are celebrating, and be sure to take some awkward family photos.

 

To Your Health,

Lydia