Ah autumn! Its dead leaves and their colors. Its freshness and its smell. Its harvests and all the good dishes that can be cooked. It's time for smells in the kitchen!
Ah autumn! Its dead leaves and their colors. Its freshness and its smell. Its harvests and all the good dishes that can be cooked. It's time for smells in the kitchen!
I'm a foodie. I eat with my heart. Sweet and s alty, everything makes me salivate and I collect all the recipe books and magazines that are full of good cooking ideas.
Cookbooks
I have a closet that threatens not to close as it is full. I'm going to have to find a new place to house them soon. Recipe books inspire me. When I leaf through their pages, I imagine all the deities I could create. I taste and smell in my head.
My Man and I eat everything, we're not very picky. Since I have children, meal preparation has become somewhat complicated. I constantly have to think about what inspires them and what will encourage them to taste carefully prepared meals. I even got some cookbooks for children. The thing, according to these books, isto put a lot of color and camouflage the vegetables and, if this is not possible, to put a lot of fantasy on their plate. It's all well and good to say, but I'm not an artist, I'm a Cartesian who likes to eat! I like to spend time preparing meals, selecting ingredients, preparing them, cooking them, watching them simmer and finally, the crucial step, TASTING. I don't feel like creating little clowns with their pizza or making men out of their eggs.
Good basics
Well, I'm not that stupid. So, I have often tried the experiment by making red eggs (add coloring in scrambled eggs) or heart muffins. And you know what? It works, they suddenly ate their eggs. Well, my kids aren't that picky. They eat quite well; even that my last is not badly like his mother. I like to say on the other hand that it is not these crazy lunches that make the difference, but my attitude since they were born. Since I love to eat and do all the meal preparation, since they were little they have seen me having a lot of fun in the kitchen. I broke their ears so much with that! They helped me wash the mushrooms, cut the apples with their little plastic knife, stir the cake mix, simmer the soup. And they tasted their recipes. They were so proud to eat what they had prepared and they were so happy thatPapa and Mama eat everything, with joy and appetite.
Now they're getting used to seeing me in the kitchen, so they come around to see what I'm up to. They come to smell the good food and they start to be pretty good at guessing, guessing what you're eating with only their nose as a clue.
Smells
That's one thing I love about fall, it seems like it smells so good in homes! It's time to pick apples, tomatoes, squash, onions, carrots and so on. So, it smells of apple pies, soups and pâtés; my life is full of good smells. It seems to me that I could summarize the cycle of my life and that of the year by smells.
Spring is the smell of sheets on the clothesline and thawing earth. Summer is the time of coconut, sunscreen and cut grass. Autumn, that of apples and soups. In winter, that of cheese fondue and a wood fire. The smells of autumn are for me strictly culinary. It smells outside like in the houses. Walk around your neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon and you'll discover the smell of roasts and stews.
Fall for me means rediscovering the pleasures of the table and good traditional Quebec food. Exit cold sandwiches and salads. Welcome to hot and comforting dishes. We need this heat, our body is not yet accustomed to these cooler temperatures.
Take advantage of the beautiful fall days that are coming to us to choose your favorite fruits and vegetables in our public markets. Go and cook with your children good meals that they will certainly ask for again year after year.
Bon appetit with your families!
Julie Bourdua, mom
In addition to being a stay-at-home mom of 2 boys, I host story time at my neighborhood library and I am a breastfeeding godmother for a self-help group in my area. I am passionate about everything that affects the daily lives of mothers and their families. The anthropologist and sociologist in me seek to learn more and more about today's mothers. You can read me on my blog!
