The overwhelming guilt that my son (and the rest of my poor family) have never experienced succulent dishes (okay, so it's not JUST turkey) prepared by his mother is only matched by the sheer excitement that my dismal cooking skills could be the very thing that propels him into becoming a great chef besides a great pianist. Then, it wouldn't even matter if I didn't like to eat turkeys, I could still enjoy the festivity of the entire day of turkey preparation smiling and complimenting his delicious cooking. It would be lovely...No, it would be perfect and then like every other Canadian family, I could brag about the delicious Thanksgiving dinner I had...blah, blah, So, for the past couple of years, I have started to watch Beethoven carefully to see if he is exhibiting any signs of talent in the kitchen using food items and frankly, I'm starting to panic. At age 13, Christian does make terrific pancakes, a spectacular creamy Kraft dinner, and perfectly grilled hot dogs but aren't these the three go-to dishes of any bachelor???
So, on this beautiful Thanksgiving weekend, I am grateful that Beethoven has yet another year to hone his cooking skills so I will remain hopeful. But most of all, I am grateful that I married man who is a better cook than me...okay, he's never tackled the turkey as yet, but he does make me lovely coconut pancakes so he's the right guy for me!
However, our family are abundantly blessed!
Beethoven may just have to figure out this Thanksgiving dinner thing by himself!
So, two years later and there have been some updates! Christian filmed a Toyata commercial with lots of enormous pumpkins (see pictures) and Beethoven Boy is significantly taller than me now and I suppose I should rightfully be calling him my Beethoven young man.
He has updated his cooking list substantially and makes the most creative smoothies, delicious pancakes and steel-cut oatmeal with just a hint of vanilla.
However, the most significant change, is that my Beethoven Boy discovered that he loved baking and the very act of baking brings him a feeling of peace...a zen like calm.
Christian has started baking with quite a passion and in fact, is so incredibly keen to bake that sometimes, it doesn't even matter to him if we actually have some of the ingredients in the house.Today, in fact, he started to make some delicious vanilla cookies only to discover we had just one egg, not two as the recipe called for, was missing lemon zest and then assembled things a trifle out of order. Disappointment grazed his face as he studied the incredibly flat white blobs willing them to still rise. Sadly, although the hint of vanilla still made the kitchen smell delightful, the cookies (if we actually use the term cookies) looked almost the same as when Christian put them in the oven except for a dark brown edge around the outsides. We decided to sample them together finding it rather difficult to bite through.
"What are these called again," I said chewing with great effort.""Vanilla Crisps," Christian answered also expending a rather large effort to eat his treat.
"Well," I said with a wry smile," There are certainly CRISP!"
With that, we both started to giggle and pretty soon were bent over with laughter at the mere thought of Christian offering his special dessert to his Thanksgiving dinner host.
"You should take them as a joke," I gasped!
Christian shook his head emphatically, "No, I'd be too embarassed if they eat them!"
"No," I frowned," No!! Of course, don't let them eat them!!"
Once again, we collapsed in laughter and I thought what a wonderful Thanksgiving Day it was to be able to laugh with my son!!
So, now Beethoven Boy is downstairs baking pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and we triple checked that he had ALL the ingredients before getting down to task. Christian promises me one if they turn out since I rescued him from using baking powder instead of baking soda. He thought they were similar enough but I reminded him of the white flat cookies from his first batch and finally agreed that it would be better to follow the recipe exactly.
So, now the baking side of things seems to be sorting itself out for future Thanksgiving dinners, I turn my attention for the main course to Beethoven's sister, Malia. My hope for a chef in the family picked up steam when Malia - at age 10 - began watching cooking shows with the same intensity of an Olympic athlete in training. Her attention to detail is unparalleled when watching "Chopped," "Master Chef," or any other Food Network show she could tape without me noticing. In only one year, Malia's vocabulary to describe dishes on the show was quite impressive."Mommy," she would note excitedly, "the presentation's a bit off but so long as his flavour profile is still there," OR "That dish was too spicy, it didn't have anything sweet to balance the taste," or my favourite high pitched shriek "JUST GET IT ON THE PLATE!"
I smiled with inner delight, it was evident to me that it was just a matter of time before Malia would transfer her passion for her cooking shows to...well, actually COOKING!! I have been very patient but it has been almost two years, and she still enjoys eating cereal for dinner if she is allowed. The fact that Malia still wants her Dad to pour her milk and cut her cheese slices should perhaps be alarming but I am optimistic that one day, there will be magic happening in the kitchen. At least, Malia certainly suits the old-fashioned Prairie look so the wardrobe aspect is taken care of.
I say we meet again two years from today and hopefully, I will be one step closer to the Thanksgiving dinner of my dreams. However, the one thing I have in spades is Autumn blessings with a wonderful family, two new little weiner dogs (to make a total of four dogs),
and friends that I have recently reconnected with.
Life is good and I am thankful, extremely THANKFUL!
Besides, even if Christian and Malia never pull off a spectacular Thanksgiving dinner, I will always have the BEST DINNER MUSIC EVER thanks to my Beethoven Boy and his sister!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
