I’m Doing a 31- Day Blog Your Own Book Challenge

So busy writing about cooking there’s little time to cook

I’m so busy writing about cooking that I hardly have time to cook. I mean, we had to eat lobsters the other day with a leftover green bean and lemon salad (recipe at the end). Come on, how unfair is that?

For one thing, this memoir is happening in real time in public, kind of like sitting at all of your kitchen tables and talking about my memories.

I have been roaring my way through a retrospective of my life in cooking terms. One day it’s baby pictures and puppies, the next day I’m getting married and starting a business. I purposely left these posts out of the Medium paywall so everybody, all my friends and relatives, could enjoy them.

This is a very different way of putting together a book than when I wrote Dear Milly last year. For one thing, this memoir is happening in real time in public, kind of like sitting at all of your kitchen tables and talking about my memories. Different things come to mind, I make it funnier, or more snarky. And I’m careful not to offend you, but maybe tease or push more than I’d be doing if I were alone with my thoughts. Or I tease myself or confess things. Very different anyway.

I want to mention each of the first week’s posts so you can catch up on any you missed. Also, let you know which ones harbor recipes.

Day One-Jeans in the Kitchen:

The introduction to the series, the story of my startup catering business.

Day Two- Cooking Began in my Imagination

The story of my first cookbook and lessons learned from it

Day Three- A Sandpile Bakery Got me Started

Early cooking experiments and a recipe for Milly’s Walnut Cake

Day Four — Daddy’s Almost Here

All about cooking and eating and where we hid the dull peas and a recipe for Fried Tomatoes with Milk Gravy

Day Five-J & G Catering Service

Jean and Gail’s Sunday Dinner cooking business with recipes for CrissCross Potatoes and Corn Flake Crispy Chicken.

Day 6-Christmas at Our House in the ’50s

A puppy, Santa on the roof and one too many dolls under the tree. Recipes for Jeanie’s uncooked fondant and Daddy’s Fruit Cocktail

Day Seven- Nesting: I was in love

The story of a difficult summer and the my torment with Lime Marmalade. Recipe for Sunshine Strawberry Preserves.

Day Eight- After a Long Engagement, Finally We Did It

”you call this a wedding?”

The story of my wedding, yes that’s what we called it, thank you, along with my favorite, more updated chicken salad recipe.

So that’s the first week. Now I’m already deep into the catering stories. Please visit my publication’s home page, Jean’s in the Kitchen (find it by searching on Medium or clicking on the little icon at the top of each story)to see other stories about cooking that aren’t in this series. Such as this one

Green Bean Salad with potatoes

We’ll make this easy cause I’ve got to get back to writing the next story

Steam or boil a pile of green beans til as tender as you like. Make a nice vinaigrette with olive oil and lemon juice, a few smashed garlic cloves and salt and pepper. I usually just pour on a generous amount of oil and squeeze a half or whole lemon-minus seeds- into the bowl if beans, depending how many beans and potatoes I have. Cut up a skinned and seeded tomato or two and a few boiled new potatoes, cubed. Season with salt, pepper and maybe some fresh herbs, oregano, dill or chives are nice. Mix together and taste to get seasoning right. At the end, put the empty lemon halves into the bowl and nestle them down and refrigerate til ready to use. Some of the unique flavor of the lemon rind will add to the pleasure of flavors in this dish. Happy Eating.Follow me at jeanfeldeisen.com

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