Pancakes!

I've been brooding over what to write for my last piece. So today after I made pancakes with my niece it hit me. That is what my final piece would be! It works out. My first work was about learning, the second about cooperation, now the third is about teaching. It's coming together!

Internet recipe!

So it's Thanksgiving, and I ran into a glitch earlier. After promising my mom that I would make desert, I return home from the store to find that the pie shell I was planning to use was broken! I had to come up with a delicious desert fast, and preferably one that was gluten free. In case you're wondering gluten is the part of flour that gives baked items their chewy consistency. My step dad is allergic to it. I wanted a seasonal dish, because hey, it's Thanksgiving. I had also bought a can of pumpkin. Pumpkin pudding, no too time consuming, pumpkin cookies, no wait those have gluten, then it occurred to me, pumpkin rice pudding. I hit the Internet looking for a source. I found this recipe from a favorite magazine Real Simple. I had to modify it as I had no orange juice. I also used lactose free milk and added a bit of nutmeg, ginger, and cinnamon. It turned out great and we all enjoyed it.

Good God the God of Cookery!

This movie is fantastic. By the director of Shaolin Soccer and Kung-fu hustle, it's slapstick cooking comedy. IMBD describes it below:

The God of Cookery, a brilliant chef who sits in judgement of those who would challenge his title, loses his title when a jealous chef reveals him to be a con-man and humiliates him publicly. As this new chef takes on the God of Cookery's role, the former God tries to pull himself back on top again, to challenge his rival and find once and for all who is the true God of Cookery

The Food Lover's Guide to Paris

I'm becoming increasingly excited about my upcoming European expedition. So, when I found a copy of this book in the lending library at my apt. complex I had to nab it. One of the great things is that this book contains recipes as well as history, a couple lessons in french food vocab, geography, restaurant reviews and advice for navigating the Parisian dining scene. Fascinating!

Back Blurb-
"The indispensable guidebook to Paris -- by the incomparable French food authority. Patricia Wells knows exactly where to find the flakiest croisssants, the essential bistros, the most knowledgeable wine merchants, the richest, darkest chocolates, the most sublime cheeses, the earthiest charcuteries, the sturdiest copper pots, the cheeriest cafes, and the crusty loaf that all of Paris adores."

Moosewood Cookbook

This cook book is a classic. One of the best parts about it, other than all of the great vegetarian recipes and cute drawings, is the forward where the author Mollie Katzen gives her personal history in relation to the cook book. Following is a quote from the forward:

"I hadn't tasted a fresh green vegetable until the age of 12, when I was invited to dinner at the home of a friend whose mother had a vegetable garden. She picked fresh green beans for dinner and served them lightly steamed in bowls, with a little warmed milk poured on top. I went wild! This was a radical new discovery for me! I kept thinking about those green beans long afterwards- until I had my second experience with fresh vegetables at age 18 in, of all places, the college cafeteria"

She goes on to talk about her experiences working for and starting a restaurant, and how she came about writing and illustrating her vegetarian cookbook.

Response

I presented my writing in class and is felt well received. People seemed to relate to my experience cooking a traditional dish with my grandmother. I think that's because the story is about family as well as being autobiographical, and it hit a cord. Everyone has a family right? We discussed how I would present this and where I was going with my writing. I think I'm going to try to write enough recipes to bind them into a small book and pass it out to the class. Here's a rough list of the recipes that I'm planning to include:

Childhood:
Sour Cream Pancakes
Stuffed Cabbage

Teenager:
Dad's Doctored Ramen
Microwave Peanut Brittle

Independence:
Spatzle
Balsamic salad

I think this is how I'll organize them. It's still a rough idea though, if you have any suggestions. I was so glad for the help that the class gave me. It was good advice all around. I know I need to show more and not tell in my writing. I need to think about myself an the narrator but also, in some cases, the instigator. There is a transformation involved in the process of cooking but also in the collection of the stories. The process of transformation is key to theses stories, psychological transformation, the changes in a family relationship, and the change within. The recipe is a process, it is a form in which I can express my past and present roles. I liked what Holly said about the way I, as a narrator, was stepping up to teach my reader and then back to learn from my grandmother. I think cooking is really about communication and feeling, which is why it works so well for my self-expression.

Spatzl

So this week I'm presenting some of my hybrid writing. I though to give it some context, I wanted to show some visuals about the food, It can be kind of hard to imagine without pictures.