Feeding the Fam.

I've never been a good cook, nor have I ever considered myself a cook to begin with. I find the ingredients are too many, and trying to do multiple things to make them all finish at the same time, arduous. I don't find it enjoyable, and actually prefer baking. I've never been the "a pinch here, a handful there" type, and my controlling mind likes the constructed measuring of baking ingredients. I don't like getting my hands dirty, and as mentioned in a previous post, have an aversion to handling raw meat. And though I hate the process, I get a surge of pride at the finished product, at producing a meal for my family.

My mother, on the other hand, comes alive in the kitchen. She never taught me to cook, partly because of my disinterest, and partly because she is the stay-out-of-my-kitchen type of cook. She glides effortlessly through a kitchen, chopping here, stirring there, tasting one thing, and checking on another. She is in a different world. She cooks from passion, not from necessity. Step into her kitchen while she is cooking, and you will certainly feel that you are in her way. Some of my fondest memories are sitting just outside the kitchen watching my mom cook and having a heart to heart with her.

Earlier in the week I blogged about wanting to cook a healthy meal. I knew I wanted to make a succotash, but needed help with the rest. Mom brought over tilapia and I had some extra spinach in the fridge that we decided to throw with it. So last night my parents came over for dinner, and entertained the baby while I started dinner. But I had never made tilapia before, or non-frozen spinach and kept peeking my head out asking for help. She finally joined me in the kitchen and I thought for sure I'd be exiled. But then something magical happened. We chopped and stirred and tasted and glid ....together. We belonged in the same space and cooked without getting in each others'way, talked without bickering, and she taught me without taking over.

What resulted was a wonderful barley, squash, and corn succotash with tilapia and spinach. ...but it was so much more than that.

And here is the finished product. For some of my mom's cooking check out her blog at mrsbrechtl.blogspot.com. Not always healthy, but always delicious.