Small Scribbles

The weather is cool. We've pulled out the candles and the slippers and long johns. My sweats-clad children do their school work wrapped in reading blankets in front of the fireplace. Afternoons are spent raking heaps of leaves and mulching them into bits for a vegetable garden in the spring. Our cheeks are rosy red from the cold but we shed out of our jackets. Raking is hot work. The children work with enthusiasm. In the long term, they are earning money for Christmas gifts. A sizable amount for each child. We have a forest of leaves to contend with. In the short term, they look forward to a mug of hot apple cider with whipped cream or hot chocolate topped with a large homemade marshmallow. The kids put away the rakes, the tarp, and the push mower while I head inside to prepare our afternoon warmth. Hot Cocoa I adapt the cocoa recipe off the side of the Hershey's cocoa canister: In a saucepan, mix: 1/4 cup sugar (this is half the amount of the original recipe. I like my cocoa o...

I'm in the newspaper this week. In a town as small as Smallville, it's inevitable that one ends up on the inky pages. Anyway, my recipes are featured in the cooking section. I think the Lemon Raspberry Muffins were featured on the blog ages ago. Everything else is new and delicious. The muffins are delicious too, just not new. Sixteen years ago my husband, Stuart, would have choked on his dinner if you told him that his wife would one day be featured in a cooking column. Back then, he did all of the cooking because I was too headstrong and independent to be saddled with such a mundane task. I eased into the kitchen by degrees when I quit work to stay home and raise our children. At first we didn’t stray far from the standard American fare. Our pantry shelves were stocked with white flour, packaged foods, and sugary snacks. I didn’t think twice about what I fed the kids until Claire came along. She struggled with asthma and had a blotchy rash around her mouth and eyes for severa...

We are on a quest to eat food that nourishes. This is a hard thing to accomplish given the fifteen aisles in the grocery store that offer soybean oil, red # 40, high fructose corn syrup and enriched wheat flour in two thousand brightly packaged varieties. I’ve stiffened my resolve and we skirt around the edges of the store dashing into the middle for dog food and olive oil. The kids and I are turning this into a challenge. How many aisles can we bypass? How many things can we make ourselves with whole, healthy ingredients? It’s busy in my kitchen tonight. The food processor whirrs and shreds. Charlie feeds the hungry machine zucchini that Claire has cut into slices. Faith writes ZUCCHINI on a freezer bag and tucks one cup packages of the shredded veggie into the bag and carries it out to the freezer. Lauren rinses cranberries and we chop and add them to our colorful pile in the freezer. I slice and process onions. Claire tries to stay and watch because she doesn’t like to miss a thing ...

The smell of baking scones fills the kitchen. Lauren just mixed up a batch and popped them in the oven. John is emptying the dishwasher. Faith and Claire are tag teaming with the vacuum. All are working cheerfully. A bag of wintergreen Lifesavers stashed in the cupboard goes a long way toward sweetening their work ethic. They have graduated from helpless to helpful. The helpless days felt long indeed but I am surprised at the speed with which the helpful days have arrived. While they bake and wash and vacuum, I put shoes on the shoe shelf, fold laundry and tuck it away. A quick peek out the back door reveals toys, tools, more shoes and a dog leash. I am tired of cleaning so I scoop everything up and dump it in the Mothership (our catchall basket) in the corner of the living room. All of this takes less than an hour. If I am faithful to keep on top of shopping and sorting, cleaning and cooking, it's easy instead of overwhelming. I enjoy the rhythm of daily tasks. Now the children ar...