I was thinking this week that I could really use a cookbook designed especially for moms or, in deference to my husband who is a very good cook, a cookbook for parents. I'm sure you're thinking that the last thing we need is another cookbook, surely every possible cuisine had been covered from every angle. (I've even seen a cookbook that is devoted to making perfect peanut butter sandwiches.)
Well, friends, I'm here to tell you that my recipe needs have not yet been met. What I take issue with in all my cookbooks is the preparation times. When the recipe tells me that it will take 1 1/2 hours to make their divine Eggplant Parmesan what this helpful information fails to take into account is the myriad of interruptions involved in cooking an average family's nightly dinner.
If you factor in the time it takes to tie a cape on one brother, turn around and tie a cape one the other brother (who wouldn't want in on that), investigate a ruckus, toss in a few admonishments to be kind and fun, try to remember what step of recipe you are on, investigate another ruckus, sort out the correction and discipline as needed, and find your place in the recipe again, well, you can see that that is easily 30 minutes more than allotted by the cookbook.
Then there are the days, like the one last week, when I want to make a dish that requires my uninterrupted attention. I know you are sniggering at me already, but I'm 6-months pregnant and I had been craving lemon bars ever since my friend, Kristina, mentioned them a few days prior.
Eggs and sugar on the stove top requiring constant stirring until the mixture reaches 160 degrees could not be set aside for a mere ruckus, a howl, heck, the licking of flames at the baseboard in the living room. "I'm still stirring. I can't help you right now."
The lemon bars were delectable.
