dinner (Marilyn from Tuesday)

dear folks -

for good reason paris is known for its food. french cuisine evolved when royalty and the nobility had large staffs to produce foodstuffs and then cook them. originally a good soup stock took three days to cook. modern cooks, of course, take shortcuts and cook their stocks now, for instance, only for a few hours. a handful of expensive restaurants with french-trained chefs still do things the old-fashioned way.

i am not a french trained cook, but i am inspired by french cooking. it isn't as much fun to cook for one or two as it is to cook for a nice crowd. given the ways carter and calvin eat, the paris forinash family constitutes a crowd. chris indulges me and carts home all sorts of good food for me. the boys and i go out on additional forays to markets, patisseries, fruiterers, chocolatiers and bakeries.

then each afternoon or evening the boys help me prepare dinner. the boys already know a few nice sauces that enhance and fancy up anything. i am helping them add to that repertoire. if we make fruit salad with fruits which will brown, we had a lemon sauce with sugar or candied ginger. tonight we'll have cucumbers in balsamic vinegar and honey. we cooked chicken and vegetables in garlic and lemon sauce.

the boys are fond of making parfaits when they visit me. plain no-fat yogurt layered with dry oatmeal and fresh fruits. sometimes topped with whipped cream. tonight we shall a variation on a yogurt parfait for dinner. lasagna. cheeses and egg in lieu of yogurt. lasagna noodles, not oatmeal. onions, garlic, mushrooms and zucchini instead of mango, melon, pineapple and kiwi. served hot not chilled. but the same basic idea - a stratified meal which is fun to prepare.

bon appetite!

and love,

m