Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Words I haven't heard in a long time.

Long ago, I used to be a really good cook. In fact, I was a "nanny/housekeeper" when I was 20-21 and used to cook the family dinner almost every night. I even used to cook for boyfriends. When I lived in Oklahoma, I used to barbecue salmon and bake things like Lemon Bars.

Somewhere along the line, probably after the condo fire, I stopped being a good cook. My version of good food is whatever Trader Joe's has ready for me to put in the oven or making a really great salad. Marlo began saying, with a sigh, "Remember when you used to make, (sigh here), banana bread?" like one would talk about a grandmother who has passed away and didn't leave behind the family recipe box.

The other day, Kelly sent over a fresh mozzarella ball that she had bought for Marlo from Costco. I asked Marlo what she wanted me to do with it. The only thing I had ever seen made with these is Caprese salad, which I love. However, Marlo would prefer to be water-boarded by the CIA over eating a raw tomato. She told me that Kelly had made a pizza for her with the cheese during the summer.

Every now and again, I actually try to please my child. So, I found whole-wheat pizza dough from Trader Joe's (there is a limit to my skill, after all), spread pesto all over it, sliced the mozzarella into rounds and added those. Then, I chopped a left-over chicken pesto sausage and zucchini and sprinkled those on top. Finally, I topped it all off with a light sprinkling of shredded Parmesan and baked it.

Marlo said it was "bomb-dot-com" and ate several slices. Finally - success!

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