Well, my mother wouldn't have thought of making those wonderful things for us, my God, she wouldn't even make a sandwich. She would supply the makings only. We made our own from the time we were tiny. I knew what other people's mothers did, and felt horrid about this deplorable situation. Even today I hate making sandwiches. I am so lucky to be married to a man whose mother made him WONDERFUL sandwiches and therefore thinks I was so deprived he tries to make it up to me. I hardly ever have to make my own sandwiches now. When the ingredients for sandwiches are on the counter, I just stare at them sullenly and... voila, a sandwich! hee hee. (I will in these parentheses tell you something related to this. It refers back to a conversation here about quickies I decided not to contribute to because I am so genteel. Once a group of women friends were, without exception, expressing (feminist) disapproval of the quickies concept. (Quickies = Sexploitation argument, hahaha) And of course disapproval of me, for describing quickies as mere acts of friendly helpfulness. So I said that even when N was not eating lunch himself, if he saw I was working hard and looking hungry (I get low blood sugar so it can be obvious) and not taking a lunch break, he would make me a sandwich and bring it to me on a plate... Was THAT a bad thing, or merely a friendly one, I asked. Same thing, right?) End of parens. I have a friend who trades quickies for foot or back rubs on a separate occasion. Which of course can... lol...
Back to Food Art.
I LOVE the idea of funny-looking food. I'm definitely going to get the makings for those bunnies, though I won't use marascino cherries because they're poisonous, aren't they?, but there are plenty of substitutes. Fresh cherries are really good now. And penni, dried rosemary leaves would make good whiskers. Or spaghettini, though it wouldn't taste good. I shall serve pear rabbits to guests, to astound them.
Which reminds me that the best sorbet I ever had was lemon rosemary. In a restaurant in Seattle called Coastal Kitchen. It was amazing. I think of it often.
I have a largish platter I found in a thrift shop for a couple of dollars. It's plastic and could be hung on a wall. I just prop it on the back of the counter to hide a bunch of extension cords. Anyway, it's cream colored (it's old and was probably white originally) with blue, rather fancy lettering. Across of the top of one long side of the oval is a banner containing the words What'll You Have?, and on the bottom the banner reads Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer. The message in center of the platter is inscribed over a small colored painting of a plate of food (chops, asparagus with hollandaise, tomato slices, mashed potatoes) and two glasses of beer, and says,
Wives who cook and do the dishes
Should be granted these three wishes:
A grateful mate... a well-kissed cheek...
A restaurant dinner every week! |
