Aventuras en la cocina con Chris y Miguel

Since I'm working on Spanish and using the (long-ago appointed) nickname Miguel, a full Spanish title seem appropriate (someone can let me know if the syntax is wrong) ...



So, dinner last night certainly was an adventure. We were trying out some new recipes, which in and of itself is not the adventure since it is fairly common-place around here. However, the behavior of the kitchen devices certainly was. I was working on sweet potato-rosemary soup (the recipe called for way too much stock in my opinion; I should have listened to my intincts and left out 4 cups of it ... who ever heard of putting 12 C of stock for 8 C of sweet potatoes?), blending the cooked sweet potatoes with a hand blender. I heard an unusual noise, pulled the blender out of the pot only to see that the blade had falled out of the blender. We rapidly pulled the blade out of the soup, hoping that it was only a single piece that fell out, and that there wasn't a long spring floating around in the soup. The soup still needed some more pureeing, but now that the hand-blender was defunct, we had to resort to the "old-fashioned" method of taking some aliquots of soup out at a time and placing them in the blender. The blender was turned on to work on 2 C of soup, immediately 1/4 of that ended up spraying on the wall and counter. still not quite sure what happened, if it was a combination of the soup being hot and the lid not being held down firmly? Anyhow, I moved Miguel out of the way to try and fix the problem, when the same thing happened to me. Maybe the seal was broken the soup went flying the first time around. We felt like we should be on some cooking show, with Maybel and Earl at home watching some nincompoops at home unable to puree soup ... We had some good laughs. Dinner actually turned out quite well, including this cake:



Ginger Pear Upside-Down Cake

Ginger Cake

1.5 C flour (3/4 C can be whole wheat pastry flour)

2 tsp ground ginger

1.5 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg (or substitue equal to one egg)

1/3 C sugar

1/3 C molasses

1/3 C applesauce

1/4 C canola oil

1/3 C yogurt (soy or dairy)

Pear Topping

1/4 C brown sugar

1/4 C walnuts, chopped (if desired)

2-3 pears cored and chopped thinly

1. Oil 8x8 baking pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix dry ingredients together (besides sugar).
3. Mix together sugar, wet ingredients besidies yogurt.
4. Add wet to dry, then stir in yogurt.
5. Spread brown sugar on bottom of pan, then place walnuts (if using), and then pears.
6. Pour cake over pear topping layer.
7. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until knife comes out clean.
8. Immediately turn cake over onto serving plate.
9. Enjoy!

The pig is finally visible and acknowledged

In case anyone was wondering, I've survived the past week intact. Miguel came down late last week for support while reading Mom's response to my letter. I'd gotten myself so worked up that it took a lot of holding and tears to get through the night. Thankfully I wasn't on call the next day .... After so many years of a taboo subject, we finally have an open line of communication on this topic, and it's going to be okay. I've had many people say "just tell her." Good advice. But after not acknowledging that Miguel and I have stayed in contact for years and that topic being the huge pig in the room that no one is acknowledging (anyone see the _Life Goes On_ episode years ago where Corky had the pig in his bedroom, standing in front of the pig with his arms outstretched asking, "What pig?" to his father?), the subject has taken on epic proportions. It's going to take some time for both of us to be comfortable actually talking about Miguel and I spending time together. And, for me to fully realize that I need not be secretive anymore. It is interesting how the act of writing this letter and opening up communication has also opened up memories and ways of being that go back years and years. Mother-daughter relationships are certainly complicated, complex, and so central to who we are as women. I was so afraid that I would lose her love over this, and she, likewise, was afraid that I wouldn't still love her because of the way she handled the topic in the past. She was just worried and didn't want me to get hurt.
There are many conversations to have over the next several months, but I feel I can contemplate Miguel and I moving to Northern Washington together without having the caveat at the back of my mind, still needing Mom to know about our relationship.
Thanks for the positive thoughts ...

the sound of the mail box closing ...

as it gladly accepted the letter I finally finished writing to my mother. It wasn't even that long of a letter, actually quite short. But what it lacked in length, it held in emotional intensity. I had written a rough draft sort of thing several weeks ago. It had been staring at me, idling at the back of my consciousness the whole time, and it feels good in a way to have it done. A few times today I felt a little overwhelmed at this "secret" being out of my hands as it slowly makes its way up to Longview over the next day or two. Positive thoughts for a respectful conversation with Mom and courage for us both would be much appreciated ...