Life With….

Twice this spring, my refrigerator has been filled with tomato with meat sauce and meatloaf, and other dinners made by scratch, along with store bought soups and other easy dishes, all provided by my mother.  She did this when she came up to visit, once for the Duke-UNC game when she cooked for me for four days and otherwise took care of me while I was sleeping off the first of what turned out to be many brought with a recurring bronchial infections (or pneumonia) triggered by asthma from pollen and Cairo.  The second time was more recently, while I was recovering from hand surgery and doped up on painkillers without the use of my left arm and hand almost completely for two-three weeks.  Even though she only stayed a few days – she left me enough food to last 2 and half weeks – when interspersed with the occasional prepared meal from Whole Foods.

Both of my parents, in fact my whole family, have really been supportive of me in many ways throughout this difficult year.  From my first expressions of unhappiness, to exploration of other alternative career options they have been there emotionally, financially, and even willing to edit or (in most cases) read this blog, when many others have not been the best about returning calls or checking in.[1] From pure sustenance support to emotional, hardly a day goes by without a parent (or two) and often my brothers checking in, at other times in my life, and even sometimes during this one, it would be overkill, but right now, it feels right.  The physical embodiment of this is the meatloaf and pasta with meat sauce.

To me, when the weather is cold, there is not much better then meatloaf, and as the weather warms up meatballs provide some of the same pleasure and are especially enjoyable as they can be paired with fresh vegetables stewed into a delicious sauce.  There is a satisfaction that comes from meshing together by hand the ground meat, onions and mushrooms, breadcrumbs and egg as well as the tomatoes and other ingredient that can go into meatloaf to personalize it and differentiate it from a huge meatball.  (There is a similar pleasure to be gained from making meatballs, another dish I have personally made frequently in the past few months – there is a pleasure that comes from the contrast of the meatball and the tangy, but sweet acid of homemade tomato sauce that cannot be beat – but that is a story and recipe for another day, one when I think more about college, something making meatballs always reminds me of.)   To be perfectly honest though, the quality of the food my mother prepared varied, the thought and feeling and gratitude I had for did not.

The first time she was here, my mother went conservative on her meatloaf and pasta with meat sauce.  In both cases she used a mix of veal, pork, and beef for the meat base.  Then she made a standard meatloaf with mushrooms, canned tomatoes, garlic, onion, some mushrooms, fresh basil and parsley, a small amount of breadcrumbs and an egg.  For the meat sauce she used canted tomatoes cooked with peppers, onions and garlic, throwing in herbs.  She stewed them together with the ground meat and let it cook for at least an hour, creating a more complex version of the sauce I grew up with.   In contrast to this when she came up in April – she made the meatloaf with beef and added a habanera pepper and it just did not work well, it as edible and even appetizing but I grew somewhat tired of it.  And the sauce did not simmer down right – needing either more tomatoes or tomato paste, which is anathema to my mother.  But both were soft and perfect for someone who has only one hand for a short a mount of time, and I cannot thank her enough for taking the time to create dishes for me to eat, and try to experiment for me.  That, more then words, shows emotion, and means a lot so thank you.

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[1] (Not that I can completely blame them, as I can be bad at staying in touch, though as I have said before that does not mean I am not thinking of you.  In fact in some ways this blog is meant to give a SMALL insight into what is going with me, much is not shared publicly and needs to be told via personal message, but some is put this way to give clues).

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Create Your Badge  All text and copyrights preserved by the author for words and original pictures and may not be used without author's permission. For more information visit http://www.peebesalgy.com Follow me on Twitter @ http://twitter.com/peebesalgy or contact me directly through http://www.peebesalgy.com/blog/contact-me/ Courtney Brown | Create Your Badge

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