A Taste of Home

I love fall break because I get to spend time with my family, relax, and enjoy all the comforts of home. But I also love fall break because of the food- specifically, my mom’s food. While I’m at school, I always miss eating fish, so on the way home the Friday of fall break, we stopped at the local fish market. When we finally made it back home, I first admired our kitchen. After several weeks cooking in a tiny kitchen in Rodin, it seemed unbelievably spacious. More than a few square feet of counter space, a big stove that can comfortably fit several large pots and pans, and a massive sink. The sink was what I missed the most. Who knew that I could love a sink so much? In the couple of hours before dinner, I also took advantage of the fruit collection in the fridge and enjoyed some Crenshaw melon and grapes. Nothing like a delicious afternoon snack!

When it was time to make dinner, there was double the excitement. First, my mom and I made the arctic char we had bought at the fish market with sautéed mushrooms and asparagus with a sauce of made from sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, and ginger. While sauteing the char, we simultaneously baked sheet after sheet of cookies. My mom had made the dough for these "everything cookies" (comprising of chocolate chips, coconut, nuts, and oats) in advance and let in sit in the fridge for thirty-six hours. A couple of years ago, there was an article in the New York Times about how to make the best chocolate chip cookies (best article ever), and one of the insights that the crusading journalistic team uncovered was that refrigerating cookie dough for at least 36 hours in advance makes for better cookies. As a result, even when we’re not making the cookie recipe from the New York Times, we always try to let cookie dough sit in the fridge. Of course, sometimes this can be really hard. When I make cookies, I normally want to eat them, not wait a couple days. However, this time I was lucky since my mom had made the dough in advance. I got to eat them on the first night home: a delicious dessert after a great dinner.

After four days of good food, I was back at school making my own meals again. Of course, I did manage to bring a few bags of food back with me, so tonight I’m enjoying a taste of home: an "everything cookie" taken from my stash in the freezer. Of course, that’s served up with a heaping side of work, but it’s delicious all the same.

The everything cookie recipe we use is Laura Bush’s Cowboy Cookies recipe. You can find it here.