Fall Food
I don’t have tons of foods that feel traditionally “fall” to me, probably because I tend to overlook this season after a cursory glance at the pretty leaves and a few pumpkin spice lattes. My calendar is generally packed with activities, and I’m low-grade exhausted for most of fall, already thinking ahead to Christmas.
But this year, there’s more white space on my calendar, more time on the couch with my eyes on the changing landscape outside my window. The extra time has found me, sometimes multiple times in one day, stirring something in the kitchen, often with my daughter, which is the best part of all.
Left on my own in the fall, I make multiple batches of Chex Mix and caramel popcorn, and my idea of fall comfort food is curried chicken or teriyaki chicken bowls, both of which are as soothing to make as they are to eat. (This is entirely because Joe always agrees to cut the raw chicken, which I hate touching.) My daughter, however, has another brand new cookbook and does not care what season it is. She has marked her must-try recipes with washi tape and has read them repeatedly. When I meal plan for the week, I ask her what she wants to make, and she is always ready for me with a meal and a dessert. She is also always excited to try what she makes, which is fantastic to me, as she is a notoriously picky eater.
This week, we made “priazza,” which is basically layers of pizza toppings baked in a pie crust, and we made an apple crisp that was so good she and I almost devoured the whole thing before Joe could even get home from work. We also made bug cupcakes, which involved slicing off the tops of the cupcakes, frosting the bottoms, and then using pieces of the tops to form butterfly or ladybug wings, and decorating them with mini chocolate chips and sprinkles. My daughter hates cupcakes, but she loves the creativity of decorating food, and she applied techniques she learned on The Great British Baking Show before trying one of her creations and actually liking it.
My favorite of her cooking escapades has been the writing of her own recipe. She was full of questions. I loved how much the taste, scent, and color of the various ingredients were important to her as she planned, thought, and revised. She asked tons of questions and studied her cookbooks for inspiration before adjusting ingredients for a more pleasing appearance and taste.
When I went into her room and read the ingredients, which is as far as she has gotten with it, I was surprised to find that she was creating a fall stew based on a Mario story and was debating over what kind of meat to include and how to ensure that the flavor was what she wanted. She had more questions about which spices to use for the right effect, so we made plans to pull all the spices from the cabinet and let her smell them to help her decide.
Never, in all my years of loving the kitchen, have I seriously considered writing my own recipe. I have no doubt that would be a hot mess. But to my daughter, who loves reading and studying and learning, it was the natural next step. First you read and practice, and then you write. You revise and try again. You taste and see that it is good.
When she first asked me, months ago, if she could learn to cook, I thought I would be the one who had the most to teach. This fall, my cooking may turn into a great adventure. I can’t wait to see what we can learn together.
