I love beautiful food. Once, a long long time ago, when I was back in LA visiting my family, my oldest sister commented on how everything I made for myself or for others to eat was pretty; how she hated to make salads for herself (all that cutting!) and what a treat it was to have one of my beautiful creations. This compliment has stuck with me over the years (it was a time in my life when l wasn’t doing much that was worthy of praise) and whenever I am feeling like a failure in the kitchen (not preparing enough healthy food for my kids/not eating enough local produce/not involving my kids in the kitchen enough) I pull my sister’s kind words out and savor them. There was a time when everything I made to eat was pretty, and while the hustle and bustle of our busy household has curtailed my cooking (that and the fact that I am married to an amazing cook who has gracefully taken on the bulk of the cooking in this family), I still try to make the table pretty. And of course there is the whole baking disorder thing of mine that was recently re-activated.
I’m starting to think that there is either a pretty food gene or I have somehow managed to pass this quirk of mine along, at least to my two eldest. D has been making beautiful creations for a while now; so many in fact, that she has decided to devote her blog to her cooking (and since she will posting photos of her amazing creations, I will refrain from doing so here). She has always loved making us special drinks/desserts, and she recently started asking to plate our food for us. Right before the break she started making these elaborate after–school snacks for G, who shall henceforth be referred to as Peach. Yesterday, Peach decided she wanted in on some of this foodie action and asked me if she could prepare my desert for me. I agreed, and pulled out a few things for her to work with: a christmas cookie, a little slab of peppermint bark, and a Dove dark chocolate. She worked her magic and presented me with this tasty little treat. Isn’t it lovely?
