Hello Foodie Friends! This past week both my wife and I celebrated our birthdays (having a birthday one day apart from each other was one of the many reasons I married her!). Recently I found a birthday card that my mother gave me for one of my milestone birthdays. I lost my mother in 1999. However, I think about her every day. Back to school time brings back memories of my childhood and the chaos of getting five children to do their homework, eat dinner, brush their teeth, and get to bed every school night. I often reminisce about the work my mother had in raising three boys and two girls. In many of my articles I have talked about growing up in an Italian family. I was reminded by one of my customers that Italians are a matriarchal nationality. It’s the women who carry on the traditions and hand out the majority of discipline, wisdom and nurturing to the children. As a child, every room in the house where I grew up included constant teaching and training by my mother. The bedroom task was making your bed, dusting furniture sweeping the floor or vacuuming the rugs and organizing your clothes. The bathroom was to be kept clean at all times and the living room was “keep your feet off the couch”! The kitchen was the most intense training yet! Washing and drying dishes to cleaning and setting the table. When we all sat at the kitchen table, our family discussions were learning times. We shared everything from how our day went to how to pass the potatoes. We learned manners, how to hold a fork and at the beginning of the meal watching how much Mom did to prepare the meals and us for dinner. Her words before every meal were to “wash up before you sit at the table” and “don’t forget kids; hands, face, neck and ears”. Why all the extras? With three boys and two girls who all played in a wonderous place that does not seem to exist today, called “outside”, dirt was a constant appearance on our bodies. Yes, even my sisters had a layer of dirt on them that was unacceptable at the dinner table. We looked like we came out the mines coming in the door. However, at the table we were cleaned up nice or she sent us back for more washing. At one such dinner period, my father, who was working two jobs at the time, asked for silence at the dinner table. This was very difficult for five kids but we were doing ok until the whistle! My Dad was exhausted and he had congestion in his nose. So it whistled while he breathed through his nose as he ate. The only thing I can compare his whistle to is a Navy Whistle called a Boatswain’s call pipe. It was all hands-on deck as the whistling continued, but, my brothers and I could not keep a straight face and we snickered. My dad could hear the whistle but he did not realize it was he who was whistling! Dad then ordered the whistler to stop or to bed they would go! The whistling continued and we tried to freeze our faces but it would not work and I burst into uncontrollable laughter and proclaimed; “Dad it’s you”! He questioned my sanity and I was off to bed for secret whistling. My brothers and sisters were mum on the subject. I then laughed all the way to bed. In the end, there is absolutely no rule Dad could make that my Mom was not allowed to break if she saw fit (Mom broke me out). To this day, I smile when I think of it or when I have dinner with my brothers and sisters bringing up that time that dad whistled.
One of my mother’s favorite cooking tools, and is my wife’s favorite, is the wooden spoon. My mother used a wooden spoon for all her daily cooking tasks. She would let us “taste” her sauce using a wooden spoon. There were wooden spoons for frying the meatballs, stirring the sauce and one that would sit at the kitchen table while we ate.
At Compliments to the Chef, we have Tools for Cooks. Stop by and shop our line of Beechwood and Olivewood wooden spoons and instantly take your culinary, dining, and entertaining experience to the next level. The wooden spoon was a primary cooking utensil used by Julia Child and other great chefs around the world. Each of our Beechwood and Olivewood spoons are made in France where they are lovingly handcrafted to standards of unsurpassed quality. For centuries, wooden spoons and wooden cooking utensils have been preferred by chefs for their numerous advantages. Unlike metal or plastic, a wooden spoon can be left in the pot without the risk of melting, burning your hand, or ruining a temperature-sensitive dish. A wooden kitchen utensil will not change the taste of acidic foods the way metal will. Wooden spoons, such as our 18” heavy spoon are incredibly durable and can be used to stir thick batters for easy cake baking and other recipes, while at the same time gentle enough to scrape out every last morsel of food without scratching the bottom of a pan (wood utensils are non-stick safe).
Wooden spoons are versatile! Treat yourself to a utensil set of our top quality corner spoons, slotted spoons, regular wooden spoons, and wooden spatulas in sizes ranging from 8” to 22” for almost every dish imaginable.
Beechwood and Olivewood cooking spoons are easy care! Simply wash your kitchen utensil with warm soapy water and allow to air dry. Restore your wood utensils to their satiny finish by treating them with a little mineral oil or beeswax compound.
As we all are working through our hectic schedules, remember that family time is the most important time. Eat together as a family. Share stories, talk about your day, listen to each other, enjoy good food, compliment the chef, and even whistle (if Mom will let you). Bring your family together for at least an hour a day. Meal time is family time! Compliments to the Chef will reopen by October 1st. in our new location of 33 Railroad Place, in between The Bow-Tie Theatre and Price Chopper! Also, we will be right next door to our new friends at Greenhouse Salad Company in Saratoga Springs New York. So please keep in touch and read updates as we get closer to that date. Paula and I are so happy to be back downtown!
Remember my Foodie Friends: “Life Happens in the Kitchen”.
Take care, John and Paula
