Caroline is the editor-in-chief of Literary Mama, the associate director of The Sustainable Arts Foundation, and co-editor of The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage as well as Mama, PhD: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic Life (Rutgers University Press, 2008).
Summer vacation’s here and I’m catching up on ideas I meant to write about during the school year, like our school garden! The kids work closely with their classroom and science teachers to plant, weed and harvest from the various planters that have been tucked in around the school.
This vertical planter is on the stairwell on the way up to the rooftop play area:
These box planters have drop down plastic covers to protect them from errant basketballs:
Do your kids garden at home or at school? What do you grow?
I was delighted when Lisa’s and my friend, fellow anthology editor Nicki Richesin, invited me to write up my family’s five favorite picture books for The Children’s Book Review. I quickly realized I needed to narrow the topic even further. Five favorite train books? Five favorite bear books? No, it had to be five favorite food books.
I could have written about ten or more, and at one point I had a teetering pile of books on my desk, but I managed to winnow it down; take a look at my list, and then come back to let me know about your favorite food picture books!
Serves one; adjust amounts according to taste (and your supplies)
Several handfulls of arugula, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 apricot, sliced thinly
6-8 toasted pecan halves
about half an ounce of sharp cheddar cheese (use a vegetable peeler to get thin shavings)
a drizzle of your favorite vinaigrette
Toss all the ingredients together until nicely dressed. Serve.
future bread pudding
It should come as no surprise, given all the baking I do around here, that my kids can order up whatever they like for a birthday dessert. But it was definitely a surprise, after a solid six years of chocolate birthday cakes, to hear Eli request bread pudding. And not just any bread pudding, but Chef Ric’s Bread Pudding.
So I went to school and asked Ric if he would share the recipe he makes for the school, only to learn that — talented chef that he is — he wings it. And of course, he’s making dessert for three hundred people, so even if he could give me the exact recipe he makes at school, it would have taken a bit of math to scale it down for our family. But luckily he has chef friends who do write down their recipes, and he passed on this recipe for a New Orleans bread pudding. It calls for more butter than any bread pudding recipe I have ever seen. I think it’s going to be great.
Bread Pudding
12 oz bread, cubed
½ pound butter
4 whole eggs
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
Vanilla (to taste)
Ground Cinnamon (to taste)
2 cups sugar
Preheat the oven to 325. While it’s warming, put the cubed bread on a baking sheet and let toast it in the oven till just golden, about five minutes.
Lightly grease a 13X9 baking pan and put the toasted bread into the pan.
Heat milk and cream with butter and vanilla. Whisk eggs till pale in color and add sugar and whisk some more. Temper egg mixture with the cream mixture off heat. Pour the liquid over the bread and allow it time to soak for a few minutes.
Bake until set – approximately 30-40 minutes. Serve, if you like, with caramel sauce and seven birthday candles.
edited to add: I actually ran out of butter and sugar while making this (my pantry is usually better stocked than that!), so can report that this tastes just fine if you only use 1/4 pound of butter and 1 1/2 cups of sugar
Among the treasures I found in my garage recently were two bank-issued datebooks from 1938 and 1939. They are embossed with Tony’s grandfather’s name and offer some introductory boilerplate pages of information considered essential for businessmen, from a 300-word description of the Statue of Liberty to “Fifteen Don’ts in the Use of the Flag” and “The Fourteen Errors of Life.” “Good Rules for Business Men” include “Make Friends, but not favorites” and “Stick to chosen pursuits, but not to chosen methods.”
These pages fascinate me, but I’m even more interested in the calendar pages of the book, which Tony’s grandmother took over and made her own daily journal. From January 1st until December 25th, she noted the day’s activities and the family’s meals (sometimes indicating different dishes for her daughter, eleven year-old Nancy, and her youngest child, Geoff).
Saturday, January 1st, 1938 Played in the yard in the morning
Ate lunch at Andersens on Wilshire Blvd.
In the afternoon went to Grauman’s Chinese to see “Love and Kisses” + “Checkers.”
Supper at 6:15 P.M. Bed at 7:40 P.M.
~~~ Breakfast
Orange juice
Ralston
Scrambled eggs
Ham
Milk
Toast
Supper
Bean soup
Pear salad
Crackers and cheese
Apple
Cookie
Milk
Monday, January 10, 1938 School.
Nancy had her 17th French lesson. Geoffrey went to club.
Bed at 7:05 + 8:00 P.M.
Breakfast
Orange juice
Oatmeal
Raisin bread toast
Bacon
Milk
Lunch
Meatball
Spinach
Lima beans
Peas
Orange
Milk
Supper
Mushroom soup
Spaghetti
Roll
Rhubarb
Milk
Graham crackers
I skip ahead to April:
School
Nancy had a French lesson at 3:10 P.M. Geoffrey went to club.
Nancy getting her rock specimens ready to take to school for the “Hobby” department on May Day.
I learn about their haircuts and their play dates and their appointments at the dentist; I learn that Nancy had a pet guinea pig and Geoff was sent to bed early when he misbehaved.
But of course it’s learning about their meals that interests me. I’m intrigued by the ways in which they are not so very different from our own (cereal, juice and milk at breakfast) and the ways they really are (also bacon and toast with that cereal, juice and milk!) It’s page after page of hot lunches and meat + two (or more) veg dinners, with milk at every meal. It is very proper English eating, because Nancy’s mother was English, but clearly California eating, too, as they incorporate the local produce, especially avocados, and lots of grapefruit and oranges.
Its uncomplicated lists of everyday meals show how one family was being nurtured and nourished, and makes me glad of the record Lisa and I are keeping here. It makes me think about what I want my children to remember of their meals, and realize my aspirations are fairly simple: I want them to be satisfied and happy, I want them to enjoy cooking and eating our meals. I could emulate some of these 1938 meals today if I wanted to – you can still buy Ralston cereal, which has only changed to note on the package that it’s microwavable — but I don’t feel the need. It’s enough for me simply to read this completely unremarkable record of one family’s daily food life, notable only because it exists.
