We're going to celebrate our youngest son's birthday next week-end. Everybody's busy, including our son, who is finishing his first year of college. My daughter and her husband and two babies are moving into their new home. My older son and his family are dealing with little league games, teenagers and their own new baby. We are about to experience construction disorientation, yet again, with the installation of an in ground pool in our backyard (another story to be told, I'm sure).
My husband believes that serving birthday cake and coffee will be an adequate celebration for our son this year. I'm sure he's correct (this time) since there may be a crater-sized hole in the backyard and possibly muddy heavy equipment - surely not a place for our two year old grandson to navigate, looking for his sandbox. As fatigued as I am, weak legs and all, I was still hopeful we could at least put a picnic feast together with hamburgers hot from the grill, accompanied by homemade potato salad and corn on the cob. It's not happening this birthday.
Maybe I'm motivated to cook for the whole family after just having finished "Blood, Bones & Butter" by Gabrielle Hamilton. I loved her memoir. And I so get her desire to create and re-create emotional experiences through shared meals. I understood and empathized with her disappointment when others around her couldn't experience her connection between love and food. And our connection to the source of food and the way it nurtures us. I could only admire Gabrielle's attempt to create a family table of her own that was so much of her childhood, without the tragic and lonely disintegration of her parents marriage.
I highly recommend this book for a delicious summer read. You'll love it if you like to eat. You'll eat it up if you like to cook.
