Staying in touch – the old fashioned way

I had to include the faded picture of tubby me and my beautiful Mom circa late 1970 because she is the one who triggered my pondering the topic of staying in touch the old fashioned way. And because every time we get on the phone she still calls me her "beautiful baby girl" and I am 41 years old. So the topic of staying in touch the old fashioned way came to me after she and I talked on the phone the other day and I was telling her about starting my blog. She surprised me when she asked, “what is a blog, what does blogging even mean?” Although she does use a computer and email (email rarely), she does not use any other form of electronic communication: no texting, no Facebook and of course she doesn’t read blogs. As I was explaining to her that blogging is sort of an online public journal and a way for me to share my love of food, cooking and life, I was reminded of how technology driven our lives are now. How all the technology we "enjoy" allows us to do more and more with our time, making life seem to buzz by us at lightning speed. And before we know it, a few months, a year, then a few years have passed and live contact with an old friend or even family has slipped by.  Now, it is not lost on me, the irony of sharing my thoughts on this topic in a blog post, as I use many modes of technology to communicate…probably too many. But it's also why I took the time to share these thoughts; there are friends I want to call and notes I want to write. And I will be making a regular effort to slow down long enough to communicate the old-fashioned way: a phone call, a handwritten note, maybe even a letter...

Staying in touch with my mom is a good reminder for me; it requires that I slow down while we talk on the phone because I don't see her often (she lives in Long Island) and we very rarely email because it takes her weeks, sometimes longer, to respond. She always has a lot to share about what she’s doing, so I have to make sure I’m not on the computer, texting on a second phone, or distracted in some other way so I can really listen to what she is sharing about her life. It's certainly not a bad thing that I have to slow down and pay attention (I should!) but rather a reminder of how infrequent it seems I do that with other people in my life.  I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with Facebook for that reason. I love that I am in touch with many old friends and that I get to hear tidbits of what’s going on in their lives and see pictures of their beautiful children and families. But I do miss having more frequent live interaction of a phone call or receiving a note or card in the mail instead of an e-card or post on Facebook. Of course I enjoy the convenience of technology and electronic communication in order to keep in touch with family and friends but talking on the phone with my mom reminds me of the importance of person to person contact – hearing the voice and inflections, sharing and hearing laughter or tears, and the exchange of life, being lived and shared with those we love - the parts we don't get to experience when we are communicating electronically.

  

This also relates to why I love to cook and bake and share it with others. In the preparation stage, I am totally focused on what I’m doing: planning, measuring, chopping, mixing. Nothing else is on my mind when I am in the kitchen. It is calming and mind-clearing. And one of my favorite parts of the process is putting a box together with some home baked goodies or a container with a home cooked meal and taking it to a neighbor or friend – sharing something that took time, care and focus – and then delivering it to their door, spending a few minutes with them to chat and catch up on life. Cooking and baking is not only something I love doing for my personal enjoyment but also because it connects me with others...and there is joy in bringing others joy.

So tomorrow I will make time to call a friend and catch up on life. Then I will get to business addressing the wild pot of basil growing in my back yard and make a batch of homemade pesto. Of course I will share the recipe and a few pictures.

No fuss Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was having some trouble figuring out why I can’t get a good chocolate chip cookie at a bakery, local restaurant or store that isn’t too dry, has some strange spice in it or just plain tastes too many days old. Happy for me, I was lucky enough to put an end to my search while at lunch on Wednesday with a friend. She and I try to meet once a month for lunch at a different location to catch up on our busy lives (and I seem to always be trying a cookie) and Wednesday’s locale was a new place in the Houston Heights called Down House. I’m not going to elaborate on the restaurant (as I don’t want this to turn into a restaurant review!) but the food and namely said chocolate chip cookie were delicious.

The cookie was the perfect size, like you would make at home, not as big as your face and not bite-sized leaving you wanting for more. It arrived at our table placed simply on a white beverage napkin, on a small white plate, still warm (or maybe it was rewarmed?) to my utter delight. Loaded with chocolate chunks and pecans, it was baked to perfection, still soft in the center and only slightly browned. Which leads me to believe they make them in small batches, which is a very good idea because it really was perfect. So kudos to Down House! Now let’s talk about some you can bake at home and be equally satisified…

What I love about drop cookie recipes, is for the most part, you can just throw all your ingredients together, scoop them on to a pan, and a mere 15-18 minutes later be rewarded with homemade goodness. My husband is particularly fond of these cookies and really, who doesn’t love a homemade chocolate chip cookie, which of course makes them great to share, which I do, often, with the neighbors, who are starting to threaten me with their future doctor bills…

I’ve tried quite a few chocolate chip cookies recipes and this is by far my favorite. (I do, however, reserve the right to change my mind should I find a better one.) When you want to whip up a batch of homemade cookies, you want it to be easy and you don’t want to wait for butter to soften. This recipe fits the bill. You can melt the butter in the microwave and while you are gathering the other ingredients, it cools enough to be ready when you are, to begin building your cookie dough. Another great thing about this recipe, you don't have to bake it all the same day. You can put it in a container in the fridge and it will keep for a week - I have done this and they turn out just as good. Just bake em' when you want em'!

Before we move on to the recipe...

** A note about scooping or weighing your ingredients. Weighing your dry ingredients is always the best method to use but with drop cookie recipes, you do have a little wiggle room. If you are doing the scoop method, place spoonfuls of flour into your measuring cup until it mounds over the top (I am holding the measuring cup over the flour at this point). Then take a knife and sweep across the top edge of the measuring cup, removing the excess, and leaving a flat surface.  You don’t ever want to just scoop the flour with your measuring cup from your container because the flour gets packed down and you’ll end up with more than you need.**

Now let’s bake some cookies!

The Work Horse

The work horse, my 575 watt, 6 quart mixer

This mixer, the Kitchenaid 575 watt 6 quart beauty, is absolutely one of my favorite kitchen things. I’m introducing her early because she will undoubtedly make many appearances throughout the life of this blog and the recipes shared. AND, this is an appliance I thought I’d never own. Not that I didn’t own a mixer before this one, it just wasn’t a Kitchenaid stand mixer, that is for sure. It was a hand held mixer, which I still own and it is very rarely used. I think I was intimidated by the grand stature of the Kitchenaid – I mean, real chefs use this brand of mixer! And I’m a home cook! What could I possibly need this piece of chef’s equipment for??

Well, I waited quite a long time to purchase one and it was the proverbial deal you just can’t pass up. You see, I had been contemplating the purchase when the local Williams-Sonoma had them on sale, which they regularly seem to do. Even on sale, these suckers are not cheap but I’d decided I would bite the bullet because I really wanted one, intimated of the thing or not. And it really was almost too good to be true. It was a Saturday afternoon that I dragged my husband into our local WS. I was ogling the many different colors trying to decide which one would eat my wallet, when…the sales person helping us mentioned they might have a discontinued color in the back for $199…which was HALF of what the ones were currently on sale for. Uh, Yes I’ll take the discontinued color for $199, I didn’t care what color it was! Said sales person said he’d check in the back…

I think he must have realized while he was in the stockroom checking that he had someone in the store who was already willing to pay for the one that was double the cost of the discontinued model. He returned and of course, no mixers. But it was too late, the seed had been planted and there are 4 more Williams-Sonomas in our area so I wasn’t giving up that easily! With the other stores’ phone numbers a mere google away, we sat in the car and called the other stores until, yes! I found one albeit 25 miles away! It’s the pretty one you see in the picture and the name of that color is: Williams- Sonoma Green. And I love it! Helps that my favorite color is green but they didn’t know that when they marked it down!

Okay, enough about how I came into actual ownership. I love this mixer and she no longer intimidates me. She whips, mixes, kneads, and whips some more. If you are reading this and contemplating buying a Kitchenaid mixer, I am now jumping up and down yelling “BUY IT! BUY IT!”  There are a few other models that are smaller and just as handy. And who knows, you might even find one on Craig’s List.

I have made more batches of holiday cookies than I can count, beautiful cheesecakes, homemade pasta, pizza dough, scones and much more.  It really is a wonderful appliance, even for this home cook, I think it elevates my game a bit… well, it definitely elevates my baking skills…