Living Artfully by Sandra Magsamen

Author:Sandra Magsamen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Atria Books

Create a place in your home that feeds both the body and the spirit. It has often been said that the heart of the home is in the kitchen. People gather there more than any other room, in part to nourish the body. Along with our bellies, our spirits are fed there, too. Warmth and aromas from the stove provide comfort and contentment. I often sit in my kitchen with a friend, drinking tea, and working out a problem in this spot. It’s also where I learned to make fried chicken with my mother, as she shared the stories and lessons of her life. It’s where I taught my daughter how to use a measuring cup and to count on herself, and where I’ve spent many hours alone, sipping a cup of coffee as I greet the day and myself. If you search your memory, you, too, will find delicious moments spent in the kitchen with family and friends. Savor those memories and bake up a few more.

have come to realize an important fact about myself: I don’t eat to live, I live to eat. I have also come to understand that I am not alone in this. The foods, family recipes, traditions, comfort foods, and culinary delights we share with one another add flavor to our memories, and help to make our lives delicious.

When I explore my memories of meaningful times, it is hard to not think of the food that was served. When I think of people whom I love and who have enriched my life, I often think of the moments and foods we shared. It seems that food and memories are as linked as hot dogs and ketchup, salt and pepper, and strawberries and cream.

When I was a child, my mom made chicken fricassee with dumplings. This delicious dish of chicken and gravy served over white rice with huge flour dumplings was my favorite dinner. I confess that it still is (forgive me, Dr. Atkins). Chicken fricassee with dumplings was not reserved for special holidays or birthdays—not this warm, delicious tummy filler. No, it was served often at our home. I will always cherish my memories of all nine of us around the kitchen table passing mile-high bowls of dumplings.

My sisters and I were recently talking about our favorite foods that Mom made when we were growing up. I had mistakenly assumed that chicken fricassee with dumplings was everyone’s favorite, but we all had different ones. Karen loved Mom’s chocolate cake with three-minute icing. In our homes, it simply is not a birthday without that chocolate cake with white icing. Donna loved grasshopper pie. (There are no actual grasshoppers in this pie, but crème de menthe gives it its green coloring and its name.) Lisa loved the shrimp dip Mom would make on Wednesdays, although we were only allowed a spoonful of this delicious treat, as the rest was reserved for her bridge club later in the day. Susan loved Mom’s chocolate chip cookies made by

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