First up: Ben making chicken salad at ChopChop, complete with priceless gross-out expressions, because he is his mother's son.
Then, for Erin K, some of my thoughts about camping and food:
- This, over at family.com.
- This, from familyfun.com (note the 3 recipe links in the intro paragraph). Actually, this is worth looking at just to see the irate comments that followed, I am now noticing. Gosh, I turn out to be capable of pissing people off in the most unpredictable ways! You cook food in a jar? Fuck you!
- And this, from KitchenDaily.
- This piece, which I wrote for O Magazine a while back.
- And this poem, which I wrote for Literary Mama eons ago.
xo
p.s. Who wanted to know about the cream-cheese frosting and if it would hold up? It definitely needs to be refrigerated. . . I think it would be good for an afternoon or so, but beyond that could get a little droopy. We froze the rest of the cake and have been eating it frozen, and it is crazy delicious.
I love your piece about The Father's Day Card you can't find. That was just exquisite.
ReplyDeleteYou're right - those irate comments were worth reading. Is it possible to write anything that isn't controversial?
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny, I just thought I'd double-check your camping recipes before we head out this afternoon. So timely!
ReplyDeleteAlso, those glass jar comments cracked me up. Glass = DOWNRIGHT ILLEGAL. You degenerate.
Wow! That's hilarious! Those really are some crazy comments. I'm rather amused that the idea of bringing glass camping is more upsetting to some people than boiling ziplock bags. Oh well to each their own issues.
ReplyDeleteYou know what always gets me when we're camping? People claim that they're camping to enjoy the natural world and get in touch with nature; but then they bring a million convenience items and disposable dishes and throw away more garbage in a weekend than the average family throws away in a week. The ziplock bags reminded me of that. I like the idea of using the jars, because besides being non-toxic, they are also reusable. I can see the point of broken glass being a problem, but I don't think that means everything has to be plastic, either.
And I love the gross-out faces for the chicken. Your children are really fantastic! I hope you have a great weekend.
love love LOVE the grossed-out chicken expressions, and the commentary! so honest and real! just love your writing!
ReplyDeletewow. you seriously pissed some people off with your wild ravings about GLASS JARS! My only explanation would be that some serious campers are pretty weird. We do backpacking with our kids, and I always hate cooking in the plastic bags because who knows what chemicals are being released into the food when heated up? The only problem is that the weight of the jars are cumbersome, and they take up a lot of room too. But for family camping trips? I think I will buy myself some canning jars (since they are in season) because that is a good idea.
ReplyDeleteI had typed out our favorite backpacking dinner recipe, but felt weird about putting a recipe on someone else's cooking blog! I'm pretty weird (I must be a serious camper).
J, please do post it here!
ReplyDeletexo
Whoa. Who knew about the glass jar thing? I'm not a camper (serious understatement) but I had no idea that glass would raise such an issue. You just never know what's going to be a hot button topic for people. Years ago, my now-husband almost had a heart attack when I painted my toenails when he was in the house. Because the smell! It almost killed him! How did I not know? But here we are, many years later, still happily together.
ReplyDeleteGoodness me. I use glass for all kinds of dangerous things, like making jam, which is very hot, maybe even boiling.
ReplyDeleteI know! Maybe I better start drinking my beer out of a ziploc. . .
ReplyDeleteThanks, Abe. Father's Day pieces made me cry. Ben's 2nd chicken face made me laugh out loud. And his appreciative sentiment toward chicken preparers in his future made me misty. Glass jar psycho made my heart beat fast and roll my eyes a lot...and suddenly want to go camping.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful Father's Day piece. You really captured it for me with "preemptive grief." And my dad always maintained he loved my mom the most, and that seemed just right.
ReplyDeleteOn the other end of the spectrum: who knew there were anti-glass jar activitsts?! I'm always enlightened here. Off to see the chicken horror...
Actually the tray of water would catch the pieces anyway, in the unlikely event of glass jar turbulence, right? Though you could of course still throw the shards onto the ground if you wanted to.
ReplyDeleteMy own favorite part of the glass jar comments is that implied supposition that any degenerate who would bring glass to a campground would never, ever think to clean up the mess if something broke!
ReplyDeleteThank you thank you thank you for the camping links!!!I really appreciate the time to pull it together. I picked up my borrowed camp stove and coffee percolator this morning so I'm about set to go.
ReplyDeleteTHAT's quite a steamy poem. Did you ever try to get Disney to publish it? ha ha
ReplyDeleteHappy Father's Day to Michael!
Oh, and a book recommendation:
The Art of Racing in the Rain
An engaging story told from the dog's point of view - a very smart dog. I don't know if you have to be a dog person to enjoy it. But if you ARE a dog person, it will change your relationship with your dog forever. I don't see how it couldn't.
Yay! We leave for camping on the Cape next week (my kids' first time ever!!!) and I was going to search to see if your camping recipes were still about..and here they are, with handy links! Perfect. Now I'm going to see what this glass jar talk is all about.
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ReplyDeleteOh Catherine, that one about your Dad ... just lovely. I wish I'd had what you had with him, you're so blessed.
ReplyDeleteAnd the camping people are so right about the awfulness of broken glass, and everyone else is so right about the awfulness of heating things in plastic, that's why we use billies to cook things in here :)
Jeez, Catherine, how can you suggest that people cook in food safe containers?! Seriously! I should call the park ranger right now.
ReplyDeleteYour poem nearly made me blush! I loved reading the Father's Day pieces because I hadn't found them on my own before.
I used to camp when I was younger, with the Girl Scouts, but I haven't been in forever. My husband wants to start camping, so I did buy a tent a few months back. I guess all I need now is the Motrin for my back after a night on the ground since I have all these great recipes!
We also had a number of hobo and vagabond dishes. What's the rationale behind that?
Oh and to Cheryl...those camping people with the dumpsters full of disposable stuff and their iphones, driving to the part of the park where they actually get reception, yeah, that's my in-laws.
I've been up since 4:30 with a small person...she went down...I of course did not, so finding these links which are making the bed girate with my laughter have made a rather rough Sat. AM so much better. And really...glass...I mean poisioning your kids with plastic is the logical choice....and I will never look at microwaved hotdogs quite the same. Please always write and share!
ReplyDelete"Cooking With Ben" was especially awesome this week, probably due to his "chicken faces".
ReplyDeleteAlso, I love the absolute rage with which your glass-jar camping recipes were met. It's like people are lurking around, just waiting to be pissed off! It reminds me of some of the over-the-top comments from the Baby Center days. I seem to recall people more or less threatening to call CPS on you because you gave Ben a doll for his birthday, or let him wear pink, or (horrors!) dared to have gay friends. I used to want to track those people down and throttle them.
On a completely different note, my 8-year-old son wants to know if he can email you for advice. He's an avid cook, and wants to start his own cooking blog and web show, and thought you could give him some pointers. (Don't worry- I promised him nothing except that I would ask permission for him to email you!)
wow. I was planning on bringing canning jars as a safe/eco option for drinking etc...you really have to throw them down on concrete to break them...now it seems so punk-rock on top of it all :) Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteLoved all of these - though the poem the most - thank you for the gift of your writing.
ReplyDeleteOh no - did Disney Family take down your recipes? My links no longer work :(
ReplyDeleteIs it too creepy for me to ask what campground you prefer when you camp at Cape Cod? We've been researching, and want to take our kids there next summer, but could really use a little advice from someone who has been there. We are way down in southeast Tennessee, so it's quite a haul and I want to make sure we do it right! Thanks. Hope you don't think I am being a total stalker.
ReplyDeleteOk, so I actually made the jar cakes with my cub scout den on Tuesday at our outdoor cookout. (After thoroughly enjoying the comments on them.) I loosely screwed the lids on three jars, then realized I didn't have the fourth ring, so I put that jar on a rack over coals, with just a lid, no ring. I then put the other three in the boiling water where they bobbed around (are they supposed to do that?)I finally put the lid to the pot on upside-down to hold the "cake" end of the jar under the water. End result was one beautifully cooked cake over the coals, two beautifully cooked cakes that were sealed in the jars (were they supposed to seal?) And one slimy gooey mess that had to have had some water leak in. The three that turned out were delicious, but I don't know how I made what looked like an easy recipe so complicted!
ReplyDeletep.s. no glass broke, despite being handled by a group of rambunctious eight-year-old boys. The scariest part of the evening was my hair being entangled in a melty marshmallow skewer. I would love more camping recipes!