Mom made me feel like a dip
February 26th, 2008 by Treena ShapiroI sometimes wonder if my mother thinks my lack of culinary confidence reflects poorly on her.
Other times, I suspect she just wants to pass the spatula and can’t understand why my hands are always too full of takeout containers to grab it.
Every once in a while, she does manage to make me think that maybe — just maybe — my life would be easier if cooking was as natural to me as swiping my debit card.
Take the other night for example. As I prepared some macaroni and cheese for my daughter’s preschool potluck, I told my mom that I was going to pick up some hummus on the way to a grown-up potluck affair that evening.
She was appalled that I couldn’t be bothered to make such an easy dip on my own. As she listed off the ingredients, I peered into my pot of water and willed it to boil.
“I’m making macaroni and cheese,” I protested, blocking the instant (but organic!) mac-n-cheese boxes from view.
It took her just a few beats to realize that I wasn’t making homemade cheesy goodness, but rather shaking powdered cheese onto Arthur-shaped macaroni. “At least you’re boiling water,” she said as she rummaged around in the cupboards.
I decided to take it as a compliment, since it was more than I did for my son’s last potluck, when my mom ended up in charge of chili preparation because my son refused to let me experiment with a fundraiser dish.
I don’t blame him. I’ve never made chili. I’ve never even heated it from a can. As I tried to remember if I’d ever made anything with beans in it, my mom mentioned that the organic garbanzo beans were bigger than the regular ones.
“Are you making hummus?” I asked incredulously.
She was, and she finished it in less time than it took me to turn my macaroni orange. Go figure.
As she handed me the container of hummus — with instructions to keep it cold — she gave me permission to pass the dip off as my own.
In my heart of hearts, I’d like to be like my friend B.J., who makes a dreamy peanut butter pie and is eager for everyone to try it. I always marvel at the way friends are able to throw together barbecues and dinner parties like it’s nothing.
Honestly, I’d like to be able to make a tossed salad without worrying that I chopped the lettuce wrong.
Don’t get me wrong. I can cook for sustenance. It’s cooking for presentation that makes me sweat. I figure it’s easier to save myself the stress and let someone else do the cooking.
I’m not one of those people who orders in and tries to pass it off as homemade. I don’t put store bought dishes into pots and pretend that I’ve been slaving away. I’m completely up front about the fact that I’m not much of a cook and I’m usually not embarrassed about it.
Still, it was impossible not to feel a little silly as I handed over the hummus and admitted, “My mommy made it for me.”
February 26th, 2008 at 7:08 am
Don’t fret, Tree. Mothers will do that..make you feel guilty or wonder why their kids can’t be like them, as in cooking or house cleaning. I gotta admit that whenever, we go over to my son’s house, we start cleaning or putting things away. I think he actually looks forward to our yearly mainland visits to have his house, yard and car cleaned.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:22 am
Heh, you know, I don’t know how controversial the following’s gonna sound, but, here it goes.
I think the reason why I (Chicken Grease is a male, here) got/still have the desire to learn to make more than a few (O.K., a LOT of stuff) is due, in large part, to an act of defiance after having been told by ma’ herself and assorted aunties that I’d know how to make “that if you were” the fairer gender. Oh, no, no, no, no, says my male-ness; I can make that as well as any Betty Crocker or Martha Stewart or girl-next-door.
I don’t know why the stigma between what guys do and what gals do exists (then, again, we guys are usually called on to, you know, go kill that rat and throw it in the garbage). Guess it ends up as a motivating factor.
But, guys have their own guilt-trips imbued by their ma’, as hemajang says. I could go into examples, but, I better not take up 10 pages
.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:46 am
hey tree…i’m not much of a cook either and now that i am embarking on the culinary world, i realize that neither is my mom. she’s got some killer dishes, but for the most part its all pretty simple! i still ask her about this or that and thankfully cooking isn’t one area she comments on (but trust me, there are much more). but i figure if i can read, i can cook. i’ll google recipes, ask friends/coworkers, and own a bunch of cookbooks. what i do, is follow the recipe exactly the first few times, then when i’m comfortable i’ll start to experiment…less of this, more of that, add some of this…thankfully the hubby eats just about anything!! lol!
February 26th, 2008 at 9:48 am
p.s.
i LOVE hummus and tried to make my own because its supposedly so easy…the first time i didn’t boil the garbanzo beans…lol…the person who told me about didn’t say to boil the beans! she said to puree them with a little EVOO!! and the second time ii boiled them too long and ended up burning my pot! i think i’m a bit gun shy now, cuz i haven’t tried since and that was nearly a year and a half ago!
February 26th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Don’t fret. We all know that your a very busy woman balancing a career and 2 kids. Hey, it’s hard. You barely have time for yourself let alone learn the “how-to’s” of cooking. If your lacking the motivation to cook or skill set try setting your DVR to shows like Top Chef, 30-minute meals w/Rachel Ray, Good Eats, and the like. I find that those shows inspire me to take a hand at culinary craziness even though I’m not born in the kitchen either.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I was like Jusamee and would follow recipes exactly until I felt more comfortable with them. For me, the motivation to cook is to know exactly what I’m eating. Trying to become healthier and all that. My boyfriend is great in the kitchen, throwing things together without a recipe at all. Most of these things we wouldn’t serve to others because our tastes could be different. I have only recently served something I made to a bunch of friends, and it was beef stew, the hardest thing to mess up if you have a slow cooker!
February 26th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
The Weeknight Survival Cookbook: How to Make Healthy Meals in 10 Minutes. It is written by a dietician, is healthy, Shop once a week using Premade very organized shopping list. Prep ahead for the weeks menu. Several of the meals are based on the extras cooked during the first meal.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I’m lucky, my wife went to culinary school and is a food service manager. She can cook, no complaints here.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I’m definitely going to have to perfect a potluck recipe. I’ve got my BBQ thing down — veggie kebabs — but I should probably consult some cookbooks and food shows for inspiration.
It’s very cool that the guys cook, too!
August 14th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
http://recipespedia.info/recipes-for-chicken-salad-sandwiches.html
September 5th, 2008 at 6:49 am
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