The urge to cook is upon me - it strikes every year at about this time. When a warm meal seems the right way to welcome home the boys from school and hubby off the train. When whatever I've made says 'I was thinking of you today, whilst you went about your business in the big wide world'.
Because they are often on my mind when I stand, hand on trolley in the supermarket, waiting for inspiration to strike. How can I fill them. With food, love, nurturing. They are all sort of bound together in my mind. And I am not the only one for whom this is true, as my latest recipe book aquisition demonstrates.
I think I read about Mad Hungry: Feeding Men and Boys on Alicia's blog. But it could have been Erin. It sounded interesting, but it was an import and seemed a relatively large amount of cash for a book I'd not even flipped through. I had put it out of my mind when up it popped on the shelves of TK Maxx. Meant to be mine then!
Mark was sufficiently intrigued by the title to pick it up, so I thrust some post it flags at him and told him to choose the things he fancied trying. By the number of pages he marked,it's clear that the book had some tasty sounding things. And this is how we came to be eating Empanadas the other evening (part of my childhood vernacular, but unfamiliar to them).
And they were very good. Not instant food, but filled with love. The time was inconsequential - the breathing space of an empty house allows me to plan what is going to appear on the table and cook something that either needs a long time to simmer or whose preparation is fiddly enough not to be practical with the inevitable interruptions that everyone at home brings. And who begrudges a little kitchen time, pottering on a cold day with the radio on and a cup of coffee to hand?
Don't misunderstand, dinner is nowhere close to domestic goddess territory here every evening. There's many a night when we run in the door from school starving hungry and throw some pasta in a pot. Though actually, a little jaunt to Ikea this week did produce not only much happy chatter with Val, but also a couple of bags of Moose shaped pasta. Which you have to say is pretty damn fancy. For a zero effort dinner night.
I had to look up empanadas! What were they filled with?
Today My 8 year old told me I should be a chef. I laughed. The meal? Pasta and tomato sauce.
Posted by: Amanda | 13 September 2011 at 21:15
Ah ha ha that pasta is BRILLIANT!
Posted by: domestikate | 13 September 2011 at 21:19
Damn, I had that book but I gave it away. One of my mad decluttering sessions. I wish I'd kept it now.
Posted by: Sue | 13 September 2011 at 21:24
A meal based around moose-shaped pasta is definitely one created with love however it quickly it comes together.
Posted by: trash | 13 September 2011 at 21:25
I have the same urges this time of year. Lots of soup and slow cooker stuff going on, even though its still hot and sticky here!
Posted by: lina | 13 September 2011 at 21:34
Oh my ... I have to surprise my lot with that pasta :D
Love the sound of the book ... off to see if Amazon have it :D
Posted by: Annie | 13 September 2011 at 21:48
I love the meals that the cooler weather brings! And I prepared a huge pot of applesauce just in time for the kids home from school. I expected to hear, "What smells SO GOOD?!?" but nothing! It's like their noses are broken!
Posted by: Laura | 13 September 2011 at 22:29
Ah, to live close to an IKEA...
And the kitchen pottering with coffee and radio sounds delightful. Still sweltering here, but the forecast is promising.
Posted by: Lynn | 14 September 2011 at 02:37
One day I two will be able to pack my three boys off to school and have time to prepare a leisurely heart felt meal but in the mean time it is lots of pasta around here - love the moose shaped pasta!
Posted by: Aussie Mum | 14 September 2011 at 04:25
Ooh yum! I just requested the book from the library.
Posted by: Rosie W | 14 September 2011 at 04:54
sigh... I wish I could get my boy enthusiastic over food. It's not for the want of trying and so many meals get pushed around the plate my days of anything other that a quick fix for our weekday dinners are over. He just wants steak or pizza.
Posted by: Dragonfly | 14 September 2011 at 07:14
You know those 3 packets of biscuits I picked up while cursing over the others that were missing? A little bird told me (OK, it was Mmichele from greetingarts) they are being discontinued, which in my book is a tragedy. Probably shifted them to make way for elk pasta and mooseballs.
It's all a conspiracy to drive me insane! And it means I need to go back and buy up their remaining stock before it's too late!
Posted by: dottycookie | 14 September 2011 at 10:19
MOOSE PASTA!!! Oh I am deeply envious!!
I must get some and I will save it for Christmas and call it Reindeer Pasta. And make a little chilli nose for one and call it Rudolph.
You can get away with that stupid stuff at Christmas right?
Posted by: mooncalf | 14 September 2011 at 10:31
Autumn brings out my urge to cook too, I picked up a slow cooker recipe book last might at a school book swap. But moose pasta sounds more exciting!
Posted by: French Knots | 14 September 2011 at 11:16
We love moose pasta, wish I'd bought more bags. But I don't love it enough to make a special trip to Ikea for it. I need to feeling very brave and strong to do that journey. Ax
Posted by: MagicBean | 14 September 2011 at 11:39
The Italian in me scoffs at weirdly shaped pasta... my boys? they'd love it. I remember my mother had almost a heart attack when she found some Bob the Builder pasta in my cupboard once!
(I'm off to my TKMaxx to look for that book!)
Posted by: Monica | 14 September 2011 at 11:53
I'm off to TK Maxx at the earliest opportunity in the hope they have a copy of that book. My oldest boy may be 4 and the youngest only 7 months now, but I've got to have one eye on the future!
Posted by: Two Owls | 14 September 2011 at 13:58
My kids (and their friends) adore the elk pasta, but then they are one quarter Swedish. I've even been known to serve it up as a smart pasta salad at our annual Swedish Christmas Smorgasbord!
Posted by: Kate | 14 September 2011 at 18:21
I could have done with a book like that when my lot were growing up although pasta always seems to do the trick!
Posted by: Gina | 15 September 2011 at 08:05
I love the sound of your care-filled cooking for your family. I'm still at the stage of "oh what on earth can I cook tonight" and don't spend the time and love that I should on preparing food. But moose shaped pasta would be a definite winner! Lucy x
Posted by: lucylocket | 15 September 2011 at 10:28
Empanadas. I had to look them up. Are they like little fried pasties? What did you fill yours with? They look very good.
My little ones are delighted when I serve up flower-shaped pasta, no matter what sauce is on it.
Posted by: Emma (silverpebble) | 15 September 2011 at 14:31
I did Bill Granger's empanadas a while back. Very nice indeed. And now I'm inspired to make them again.
Posted by: The Coffee Lady | 15 September 2011 at 18:20
Fall cooking is lovely ... especially when you have time to stew and simmer and fill the kitchen with all those lovely smells. That cookbook looks great--I wonder if would convince my Will to eat something besides mac and cheese?
xofrances
Posted by: frances | 16 September 2011 at 00:43
It is definite cooking weather recently - I've had the urge to make soup recently (still unfulfilled). I love your description of your thoughts on cooking for your boys - your quest for delicious dinners is one of the nicest ways of showing your love for them.
Posted by: Julie | 16 September 2011 at 13:21
Filled with love sounds pretty good to me.
Have a lovely weekend,
Here's dreaming of slow cookers.
Nina x
Posted by: Nina - Tabiboo | 16 September 2011 at 17:43