For the Love of Food
The smell of cinnamon filled the air.
My honey crisp apple pie was ready to leave the hot oven and a slice was overdue on my salivating lips. I was bopping as I listened to my Cooking playlist as I swayed from my breakfast nook to my fridge to grab the creamer for my coffee. The boys were coming home today and the spring in my steps showed my excitement at the thought of their arrival.
I recently developed the habit of doing all my cooking on Saturday morning before they arrived. I had the marinated chicken in the oven next and my cookie dough was still spinning in my Kitchen Aid Mixer while I used a ladle to stir my salmon stew on the cooker. The song playing at this point was “Hey Boy” from the movie “Over the Moon” which the boys and I had watched on our last movie day and I had weirdly fallen in love with and had on replay.
When I was a child, one of the ways my mum showed her love was through food and I giggled as I mentally reminded myself of the similarities that make me my “mother’s daughter”. I put in a bit of effort into cooking and weekly meal planning for a nutritional balance for my boys. When my mum was happy with us, we got the most delicious delicacies. and when she was mad at us, she made sure we stayed with her in the kitchen as she worked to get any meal ready and had to clean up the usual kitchen declutter that happens with a flamboyant cook. When she was remorseful about any action, she had taken towards us, she made us one or more of our favorite sweet treats (especially creme caramel). Food meant “I am sorry”. Food meant “I love you”. Cooking meant “I am mad at you”. Cooking meant “I am happy”
For the next one week, I will try to serve meals that are rich in nutrition and eaten amid giggles, jokes, and songs like “if we are eating… we are sitting…” repeated almost 10 times to my eldest son so he could remain on his seat. Cajoling my youngest to eat more than one morsel at a time, bribery with ice-cream as a dessert, or even a piece of cake. Overall, I am appreciative of the time we have to be able to share a meal daily. I hope as they grow older they would see the Love in my meals as I had growing up.
What actions do you think you do that your kids would remember as an act of Love? https://littlespoonfarm.com/apple-pie-recipe/
