What's Cookin'

It is midafternoon here in northern Florida, the liquid sunshine is dripping off the eaves of the house making it's own kind of gentle music. It has gotten colder as the day progresses and I wonder how many days I have before the heat will envelope us and I will have to run the AC constantly.

I am considering putting in a garden so that I can have organic produce as close as my back door. Last year I grew some herbs and enjoyed using the fresh basil, mint, rosemary and thyme in various ways. I want to expand and grow squash, onions, bell peppers and tomatoes along with even more herbs.

I love to cook if there are other people to enjoy it with me. My baby girl is in college and works part time at Publix and has a boyfriend that takes her out quite a bit, so she rarely eats a meal with me. Consequently, I have spent entirely too much money on eating out or buying food that I never cooked. One of my friends always tells me to keep it simple, he would eat grilled cheese sandwiches every day and be happy about it. My husband was like that with beans and franks. My palate wants variety.

Today I am making French Onion Soup. This is one of the meals that is accepted by all who have ever dined with us when it was on the menu. It is one of those things that takes time to eat. The molten lava of bubbly melted cheese requires a bit of cooling before allowing it to rest upon the tongue. It is the best soup for conversation at the table and tonight I want to speak to my daughter about her life plan.

I do not recall ever having a conversation with my parents about a life plan. I think we all expected that I would graduate high school, go to college and have some kind of employment before being married to a boy from church. That is not exactly how it happened.  My daughter will turn twenty on March 17th. By her age, I already had two children and a failed marriage. Sometimes as a parent it is hard to open up and confess to your children that you do not have all the answers, but I believe it is crucial to allow them the benefit of possibly learning from our mistakes.

Perhaps I will just go have a sip of the Chardonnay that I use in the broth of the soup. I will slip on a sweater and read for a few moments before addressing the weightier matters of life with my teenager.
Until later ~ Rita Darlene