I have to admit something before I continue this blog about food and family.
My nutritional standards are a little less-than-scientific. In fact, I have come to realize that they are based, quite arbitrarily, on my own personal likes and dislikes. And, even more arbitrarily, these likes and dislikes are often based on vague, romanticized and connotation-laden ideas that I have nurtured quite unconsciously heretofore.
Let me explain. I believe in baking with sourdough. Not for the amazing phytate-destroying benefits that sourdough provides, but because it makes me think of San Francisco, my childhood, and long-ago cowboy cooks making biscuits on the sagebrush plains. And there are other considerations. Would I like sourdough as much if I did not have a beautiful blue bowl (thanks Mom!) to store my starter in?
I doubt it. And that's the truth.
Furthermore, I still love baking with yeast. And find myself unwilling to stop. So my disclaimer is this. I want to place nutrition near the top of my cooking priorities-I have a young son and our family's good health to maintain. But I confess that nutrition is sometimes trumped in my kitchen by nostalgia, aesthetics, and occasionally pure stubbornness. Bear this in mind when I ramble on about healthy cooking, and please, I ask you, forgive my nutritional faux pas.
I agree. Your link to the yeast vs. sourdough FAQs got me all guilty feeling, but I love me some brioche so I probly won't stop making it.
ReplyDeleteNutrition smootrician! You have to think about the health of your soul too! If you don't enjoy it or it's stressing you out, it ain't healthy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the ladies up above.
ReplyDeleteI am also SO excited you started a bog! I love your instinctual kitchen wisdom. The flavors and aesthetics are such an important part. I wish I came from generations of women who cooked.
Growing up, my mother's grand feast (which there was never enough of) was instant mashed potatoes on top of split oscar myer hotdogs, topped with yellow cheese. Maybe some lettuce on the side covered with ranch, and perhaps some steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Of course, this was only our second favorite to being able to pick out our own TV dinners. My mom did the best she could as a single mom of 3, whose mother was a single mom of 3, whose mother was of Chinese nobility where the servants made the meals for generations back.
I think my own neurotic purity in the kitchen comes from the fact that I am inventing the wheel a bit. I hope that my grandchildren will just know how to cook and won't have to think about the hows and whys.
The beauty and enjoyment must be present here too, and now I really want a lovely blue bowl to keep my sourdough mother in!
Marianne-what a gift and a tradition you are starting for your kids and grandkids! They will be able to look back and talk about YOUR kitchen! It's a beautiful thing-food is-for both body and soul. Bravo for inventing the wheel :)
ReplyDeleteThanks Axon! You are inspiring.
ReplyDeleteHow did I not know you had a blog. BAH!!!!
ReplyDeletenow i have to catch up. And pretend like I know what you're talking about when it comes to these foreign topics like, food and kitchens...ha! it is a miracle if I feed my family at all but I'm slowly, very very slowly growing and know between you and Marianne my inspiration is endless!