I have been thinking a lot about my mom recently. Partly because she passed away in September (eight years ago now and I still miss her and always will) but also because she really loved this time of year with all the fresh tomatoes and corn. These were some of my mom’s faves. I simply can’t eat a cob of corn without picturing my mom slathering hers with butter and salt and digging in with gusto. My mom was a great preserver of the harvest as well…making countless jars of jams, jellies, chutneys, brandied peaches and pickles. For my wedding she made both rhubarb and sage jellies (to match the pink peonies of my bouquet and the light green of my bridesmaids’ dresses) to give as favours to our guests.
And my mom was a fantastic cook! Whenever I’d mention I was coming for a weekend visit, in less than an hour I’d get an email from her with an incredible menu of brunches and dinners with mom asking “is this okay?” Okay???!! I’d give anything for one of her dinners right now…they were super delicious and all made with that most important ingredient, love.
So I was thinking that at this time when we perhaps cannot be with our loved ones, either due to loss or the inability to travel or simply sit at the same table (if from different households), one way to connect is through food and our shared memories of times around the table. If my mom were here today, these are some of her faves that I would cook for her. Since she isn’t, I’ll make them anyway and relive the fun times we had cooking (and drinking wine) together and laugh. And, knowing me, probably cry a little too. But she wouldn’t want that. The last thing she said to us was “Go home, have some wine and have some fun!” Words to live by.
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My Mom’s Faves Menu
Appetizer: Guacamole Corn & Feta Dip (Fresh corn and tomatoes in season were two of my mom’s faves. Married with avocados and feta, what’s not to love?)
Main: Lemon Garlic Shrimp Spaghetti Squash (Great lashings of fresh lemon and garlic make this dish a winner. I like to cook the spaghetti squash ahead as it’s easier to scoop out the “noodles” when cooled and you can drain away any excess liquid. Then I just reheat it while I sauté the shrimp.)
Dessert: Raspberry Apple Crisp (Whenever I told my mom I was trying to lose weight and just wanted fruit for dessert, she’d serve up a crisp! This isn’t my mom’s traditional crisp – I used nuts in place of grains and maple syrup instead of refined sugar and it is every bit as delicious.)
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The title of this month’s menu is a riff off the song 
I want to chat a bit today about resilience. Or to use a sailing metaphor, since I am learning to sail, keeping on an even keel in rough waters. It’s something we tend not to think much about until we realize it’s lacking. But it is hugely important to focus on and cultivate resilience each and every day. I chose the world cultivate carefully as it means to develop a quality but also to prepare ground for sowing or planting. Cultivating is careful tending to facilitate growth. And isn’t that what life is all about?
Sometimes I am just too hot to cook. And I don’t mean sexy. I mean hot as in temperature hot. When the mercury rises like this and I’m feeling hot, hot, hot, that song of the same name runs through my head and I’d rather be dancing around my kitchen than cooking in it.
I don’t know about you but lately I have been feeling a bit blue and rather nostalgic for happier times. It is tempting when you feel this way to turn to junk food to “treat” yourself, especially foods you munched on as a kid. But in my experience, no matter how much I might enjoy it at the time, I generally feel pretty sluggish after I eat these highly processed foods. Healthy food, however, has the power to heal both body and mind. So instead I prepare delicious yet more nutritious versions of these fun treats. These do wonders for my mood and they energize me.
I was inspired to create this menu during last Saturday’s Skype-fest/Transatlantic Brunch-Dinner Party with family in the UK. My brother was BBQing and was running a bit late so aimed his camera at the BBQ while he finished things up. It was sunny and 24 degrees Celsius there. Here in Toronto it was snowing. My husband joked that it was like watching that video 
So how’s life in “lockdown”? I imagine many of you are cooking a lot more than ever before and looking for quick and easy meals to make from all that food you stockpiled in your pantry, no? So I thought I’d offer up a Pantry Raid Menu this month. But first, a story…
As the calendar flips over to April, so begins another month of social-distancing in this new world of ours. While coping with COVID-19 has been challenging, it has been heartening to see the outpouring of generosity, kindness and humour in our local and global communities. People worldwide are providing and sharing COVID-coping sustenance for the soul. Together we get more resilient every day. The quote at left was something I saw posted on Instagram by yoga teacher, author and lecturer Eddie Stern in New York City. It exemplifies the fighting spirit we are seeing there and around the world.