I never mind the coming of autumn, the season made as a chilly little excuse to snuzzle under four generations of family quilts patched with memories – my childhood, my parents’ courtship, and other bits of cloth that have long ago become arcane, the alchemy of legacy changing them forever.
Winter is always for work in our household. There’s a lot of cooking and visiting and telling of stories and playing of games. Engagements are traditionally made in the winter. Babies are conceived. Projects are begun. Goals are achieved. But more than any thing else, there’s an enormous amount of eating.
My mother is a serious and intense woman with a very strong sense of loyalty to family and friends and very specific feelings about pretty much every issue in the world. She has an articulate and sharply justified opinion about, basically, everything and everyone. She’s spooky into anything from stocks to politics to religion to biotechnology. She was always the mom that the other moms called with problems. I never saw her stumped. Her mother, my grandmother Raye’sol, was the only person who could rattle her and Grandmother took great pleasure in doing so (often winking at me in the process). Grandmother knew that I, in turns, admired and butted heads with my mother, and was always trying to prove that I should choose my own path by showing me that my mother’s path wasn’t as perfect as it appeared. In the end, I learned that neither one of them were infallible and that both of them are a proud legacy for me to follow.
One of the areas where my mother did and continues to excel above all others in my family is in the kitchen. While she’s quoting politicians and sharing her own foreign policies, she can create a meal that is unforgettable. I’ve asked her again and again to do a cookbook with Windstorm but she refuses to write any recipe down. “I cook with what I have,” she tells me firmly, implying that nothing ever goes to waste and every ingredient is precious.
I have started to secretly write down some of her most successful dishes just so I can entertain friends myself (when she doesn’t insist on cooking) and I thought I might share some of my favorites here because a blog is such a safe and secret place. If you try these out and discover, as I have, that they are the tastiest treats under the sun, please credit my mom when you share the recipe, okay? Her name is Pahmela Angel (said Pah – Me – La, though lots of people mispronounce it “Pamela” or call her “Pam” which she puts up with but which my father and I can’t stand).
Here’s her absolute basics that just so happen to be three of my absolute favorites:
“Sunday Morning Satay”
a recipe by Pahmela Angel (as shamelessly stolen by her daughter E.J. Angel)
3 cups sweet white rice, cooked
3 oz coarsely chopped maple sauage
1 cup creamy soynut butter with honey (tastes like peanut butter)
1 cup dark raisins
¾ cup plain soymilk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon all spice
½ teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon chili pepper flakes
2 teaspoons sugar
Place all ingredients, in the order listed above, in a pre-heated, lightly buttered (Safflower margarine) frying pan and fold into each other until the mixture is uniformly distributed and golden brown from the melting of the soynut butter. Heat to desired temperature – should be warm throughout – and serve. Feeds three.
“Coffee in the Morning, Coffee in the Evening”
a recipe by Pahmela Angel (as shamelessly stolen by her daughter E.J. Angel)
4 tablespoons freshly ground espresso roast
(Mom uses Starbucks French Roast)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
Using a Bialetti Mocha Express stovetop espresso maker (9 oz) – or, if you must, a French Press – brew the above mixture. If using a French Press, steep for four minutes.
“Rice Pudding aka The Ultimate Comfort Food”
a recipe by Pahmela Angel (as shamelessly stolen by her daughter E.J. Angel)
3 cups sweet white rice, cooked
1 ½ cup dark raisins
1 1/2 cup plain soymilk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon all spice
1 tablespoon sugar
Cook all ingredients in a pot until smooth and hot. Serve immediately. A pinch of extra cinnamon on top after spooned into bowls gives this perfect “comfort” food an earthy and natural flavor that will make and later inspire wonderful memories.
E.J.
