Weekend Cookbooks
As I was getting ready for Memorial Day Weekend it reminded me of a theme for your cookbook that you might want to consider...weekend cooking.
Here in Minnesota it is a tradition to open your lake place on Memorial Weekend. Really it is our real hint that spring has finally arrived. The crab apple trees are at their peak and the lilacs are starting to bud. The ice is finally off all the lakes! The roads this weekend will be filled with cars and cars hauling boats. When I first moved here people would tell me they were going to the lake. I thought it must be a very big lake for all those people to go and must be very crowded. Only later did I learn that each family was going to an individual lake. And years later we bought our lake place to go to each weekend. We call ours the cabin but most people here go to their cottages. Now some of the cottages that are being built are over 5,000 sq. ft. but more on that topic at later time.
In cabin or cottage country, what everyone has in common is that we eat at the lake. Some people buy all their groceries "up at the lake." Some haul everything from the "Cities." Some families eat out every meal while others may have one night that they go out. If the ride is long, they may grab dinner on the way up each weekend. I, of course, do a combination of things. I make a few things a head of time like my wild rice salad and potato salad. I might marinate some of the meat that will defrost in the cooler on the way up. Then I fill in with things from the local grocery store.
I have used recipes and cookbooks that are just for the lake and entertaining on weekends. I have made several dishes over and over so that they have become my own family's tradition. Chicken breast's sandwiches which are grilled in a mustard marinade are often served on Saturdays for lunch. If we have kids there, we might help them make ice cream for desert Saturday night. On rain days, we might even bake cookies and then serve ice cream sandwiches. These things are never made in the city. Over the last 22 years at my lake place we have built our own traditions of eating tand those recipes can be made into it's own cookbook.
When I was growing up in Ohio we never knew of "lake places." On weekends when I was young we would drive to state parks in Kentucky or Indiana along the Ohio River and have a picnic. Those things that were part of the picnic basket could be its own weekend cookbook. The potato salad my mother made has been adapted to the a bit to the one I serve now. Mother's had eggs, pickles, mayo and potatoes. The one I make today has eggs, green olives, black olives, celery, red onion, mayo, a dash of Tabasco and potatoes.
A tradition was formed in my youth but I only recognized it today as I was writing this. Think about your own growing up and what you have brought forward and how it too might have changes.
Here in Minnesota it is a tradition to open your lake place on Memorial Weekend. Really it is our real hint that spring has finally arrived. The crab apple trees are at their peak and the lilacs are starting to bud. The ice is finally off all the lakes! The roads this weekend will be filled with cars and cars hauling boats. When I first moved here people would tell me they were going to the lake. I thought it must be a very big lake for all those people to go and must be very crowded. Only later did I learn that each family was going to an individual lake. And years later we bought our lake place to go to each weekend. We call ours the cabin but most people here go to their cottages. Now some of the cottages that are being built are over 5,000 sq. ft. but more on that topic at later time.
In cabin or cottage country, what everyone has in common is that we eat at the lake. Some people buy all their groceries "up at the lake." Some haul everything from the "Cities." Some families eat out every meal while others may have one night that they go out. If the ride is long, they may grab dinner on the way up each weekend. I, of course, do a combination of things. I make a few things a head of time like my wild rice salad and potato salad. I might marinate some of the meat that will defrost in the cooler on the way up. Then I fill in with things from the local grocery store.
I have used recipes and cookbooks that are just for the lake and entertaining on weekends. I have made several dishes over and over so that they have become my own family's tradition. Chicken breast's sandwiches which are grilled in a mustard marinade are often served on Saturdays for lunch. If we have kids there, we might help them make ice cream for desert Saturday night. On rain days, we might even bake cookies and then serve ice cream sandwiches. These things are never made in the city. Over the last 22 years at my lake place we have built our own traditions of eating tand those recipes can be made into it's own cookbook.
When I was growing up in Ohio we never knew of "lake places." On weekends when I was young we would drive to state parks in Kentucky or Indiana along the Ohio River and have a picnic. Those things that were part of the picnic basket could be its own weekend cookbook. The potato salad my mother made has been adapted to the a bit to the one I serve now. Mother's had eggs, pickles, mayo and potatoes. The one I make today has eggs, green olives, black olives, celery, red onion, mayo, a dash of Tabasco and potatoes.
A tradition was formed in my youth but I only recognized it today as I was writing this. Think about your own growing up and what you have brought forward and how it too might have changes.
Comments