by Ann Pearlman
“He loves them,” I reassure her.
The twins made gingerbread men with raisin eyes. Sky made sugar cookie cutouts of stars and hearts, decorated with red and white frosting and sugar sprinkles.
Everyone loves how cute our snowmen are. “Levy invented them,” I say, “and we tried to give each of you ones that represented your families.”
“Who’s the fourth one in mine?” Sky asks.
“Mom. We gave you Mom and we took Sissy.”
“Guess that’s fair,” she laughs.
I shake my head and chuckle, “Still trying to make it all fair.”
“And who is this cute dude?” Brooke asks.
“T-Bone,” Levy says.
Brooke showers us with her laugh. “You got that right.”
I whisper to Levy, “Your cookies are a big hit.”
And then there’s a knock on the door and Mom, Sissy, and Allie bring in bottles of wine and boxes of pizza. “We were in the neighborhood and hungry, so we’re crashing your party,” Allie says.
“But we brought our own.” Mom grins. Levy runs to her and she gathers Levy and Rachel in her arms, picks them both up, and plants loud smacks on their cheeks.
“Nana,” they squeal.
And then Levy runs to Sissy.
“Come see my snowmen,” Levy says, “My ’vention.” And displays a box of the cookies that Mom pronounces “soooooo cute.”
I haven’t seen Allie since the end of our tour and I give her a big hug. Her hair is pulled into a bun, tendrils frame her face, and she’s wearing a purply-blue wrap sweater and the multicolored dangly earrings that she wore that night she told us about her Nazi aunt. “I’ve missed you.” I realize how lucky I am to have Mom and two second mothers, Sissy and Allie.
“I’m right here. Let’s get together, have lunch. Go to the DIA.” Levy clings to the hem of Allie’s sweater and she picks him up and swings him, kissing his fat cheeks and tickling his tummy.
Mom says, “I know this is your party. We didn’t want to intrude, but we had to come and see this. My party has always been girlfriends. This one has men and is about families.”
“It’s our generation.” Sky shrugs, “Postfeminist, not so much separation. We’ve had co-ed dorms.”
Just then Aaron and the crew return. Levy runs into Smoke’s arms, and Rachel presents one of her cookies to Red Dog. “We wanted to come to the party,” T-Bone says, but he says it looking right at Brooke, so my sense is that he wants to party with her.
She hands him her glass of wine as though to acquiesce to his desire. And the gesture is so casually assuming that I realize they’ve been seeing each other. And just then Molly comes in from watching TV in Rachel’s bedroom and says, “Hi, T.”
“Hey, she’s not calling all men mister anymore,” I say, and immediately realize he’s the only one she’s called by name. Who would have thought it? Brooke is older and not at all into hip-hop. A total square, while T-Bone is the evolution of cool.
“Well, we got to get going,” Andy and Marissa and Jennifer and the twins already have their coats on. “Let’s do it again next year,” Marissa calls, “this was too much fun. We should make it an annual event.” She has a shopping bag of cookies in one hand. “And all my Christmas baking is done.”
Robin and Sandy announce they’re meeting some dudes at a new bar in town. Paul has an important meeting early the next morning.
And then it’s just us. My family.
Mom brings out a bottle of champagne and fills ten glasses. “Thought we’d celebrate your new cookie club,” she laughs.
I meet Sky’s eyes and we smile at each other. She reaches for my hand and I squeeze hers. My eyes fill. Mom smiles at us. Levy and Rachel are in the middle of our circle. Molly and Tyler and Brooke and T-Bone cluster. Molly holds T-Bone’s hand. Maybe he could become the father he never had.
I kiss Aaron’s cheek, on the other side of me, and whisper, “Next year, we’ll be married. And buy a house.”
“Write more songs,” he says. “Have another baby, a daughter.”
We raise our glasses. “To life,” Allie sings.
“To this tight remix family,” Smoke laughs.
“To tomorrows,” Sissy says.
“To us.” I lift my glass. Aaron and Levy and I are with Sissy, Mom, Sky, and Rachel. We have formed a new family. And I belong.
THE END
Recipes
Here are a few recipes that Sky and Tara’s family ate on the long road home. Spontaneity is a pleasurable part of family life and creating meals together part of that joy. The fruit of serendipity is apparent in these recipes turning the dishes into new family traditions. Please, adjust these for your own families. And enjoy cooking for each other and together.
Special Intent’s Omelet
Aaron’s mom, Sissy, found out she had type-2 diabetes when Aaron was fourteen. As a nurse, she knew what she had to do: change what she ate and how she prepared it. She pledged to decrease sugar and fat and increase fresh vegetables and fruits. She walked up and down the stairs in the hospital and joined a Weight Watchers group there. Sissy lost thirty pounds, and her diabetes was held in check without medication.
She used Egg Beaters when she could. Aaron picked up her habit, and this is how he made breakfast for his family:
First, he sprayed a nonstick pan with cooking spray. He added a teaspoon of olive oil, and then some slivers of sweet onion, turned the fire down, and let the onions slowly brown. He didn’t always use onions. Some mornings he added spinach. Sometimes he sautéed peppers or mushrooms in with the onions. If there was leftover broccoli or asparagus, he put that in, too. But this morning, he was hungry and in a hurry. He had to get to the final practice. He turned the heat up, sprayed on more oil spray, and added the Egg Beaters, about 1¼ cups for the three of them. (Figure ½ cup per adult.) He sprinkled the eggs with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and tarragon.
After a few minutes, he lifted up the cooked edge with a spatula and tilted the pan to let the uncooked eggs run under the firm ones. He did that several places around the pan.
Then, he sprinkled the eggs with cheese. This morning he used light Havarti cheese. He cut the cheese into small cubes and placed them on half of the eggs. He flipped the other side over the cheese, lowered the heat, and sprinkled a bit of parmesan on top.
He put a lid on the pan and turned the fire off to give the cheese a chance to melt, just in time for a few good-morning kisses to Tara and Levy.
A day had begun!
Sky’s Crunchy Granola
Granola was Sky’s favorite cereal. She sprinkled it on yogurt and fresh fruit for added crunch. She used it as a topping for fruit crisps, and as a quick snack. And of course, it was a great breakfast. This is how she made it:
First, she sprayed a large baking pan (15" × 8") with cooking spray. And preheated the oven to 300 degrees. Then in a bowl she added:
5 cups rolled oats (not instant, not quick cooking)
½ cup raw wheat germ
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup flax seeds
And then she stirred in:
¼ cup reduced-fat margarine
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup honey
In a small pitcher, she mixed ½ cup of water and 1 teaspoon of flavoring. Sometimes Sky used vanilla and sometimes she used almond. She added this mixture to the grains a bit at a time and mixed until crumbly.
She stirred it up, placed it in the oven, and put a timer on to ring after ten minutes. This was crucial, because Rachel might distract her and the granola would get burned. When the timer rang, she stirred and flipped the granola. She did that three times, as it had to roast for forty minutes. The parts that were brown, she shifted into the middle. The last time she stirred it, she made sure it was golden brown, turned the oven off, and left the door ajar.
When it cooled, she packed it in a canister.
This was a generic recipe. At breakfast, Sky added fruit and nuts. She liked cr
ystallized ginger cut into small slices and almonds. Rachel loved walnuts and cherries. Troy preferred apricots and dates, though he sometimes switched up to something else. Sometimes they used fresh berries. Sky added exactly what each member of her family wanted and what was in season.
Tara’s Super-Easy Honey-Roasted Peanut Butter
Tara loved honey-roasted peanut butter and, when the market where she bought it went out of business, she decided to try making it. It was simpler than she’d ever imagined. Tara bought some honey-roasted peanuts, opened the plastic bag, and threw most of them in the bowl of her food processor. She kept a few out because she wanted it chunky. Then she pushed the ON button and watched the peanuts whirl.
At first it didn’t look like it was going to actually make peanut butter, just paste. Sky stopped the machine, pushed the paste down into the bowl with a rubber spatula, threw in the remaining nuts, and turned the machine on again.
She ignored it for a few minutes.
And then, voilà! Peanut butter. She tasted it, let Levy lick some from her finger, and both of their eyes widened with glee.
It was easy for Tara to get some honey-roasted peanuts from one of the mom-and-pop stores on the Venice boardwalk and make some peanut butter before wrapping up Sky’s Cuisinart.
Marnie’s Best-Ever Raspberry Jam
On a warm fall day, when the leaves surrounding the fields were shifting from that almost-black August green to October’s scarlet and yellow, Sky and Tara’s mom, Marnie, would take her daughters to pick raspberries. The berries fell easily into green fiber containers, though almost as many ended up in the girls’ mouths as in the baskets. In recent years, she often bought the berries at the farmers’ market and spent the rest of the Saturday afternoon making jam. One year she made three batches: regular, low sugar, and almond flavored. The almond flavored was pronounced The Best Ever!! Here’s how she did it:
Marnie followed the recipe on the pectin she bought, which was Ball or Certo. She started with 2½ pounds of berries, or about six 6-ounce containers, and crushed them lightly. She put the berries in a large saucepan and added pectin and ½ teaspoon of butter or margarine, and, stirring frequently, brought it to a boil that couldn’t be stirred down. Then she added the 6½ cups of sugar and continued the hard boil for another minute, stirring constantly.
She removed the jam from the heat and skimmed the foam. Then she added Torani almond (orgeat) syrup, starting with a tablespoon. She stirred it in, taking a taste after blowing on the spoonful to cool it. She wanted a stronger almond taste and so added more, tasting after each teaspoon until it was perfect. Then she ladled the jam into her sterilized, hot canning jars, wiped the rims and threads, put on the lids, and tightened the rings. Marnie placed the jars into a canner already half filled with boiling water. When all the jars were in, she added a bit more boiling water to cover them by an inch. She put a lid on the pot, brought the water back to a gentle boil, and let it process for ten minutes.
Then she removed the jam jars and set them on her counter. A beam of light hit the jars and turned them to red jewels. A few minutes later, she heard the reassuring pop of the jars sealing.
She gave her jam to her daughters and friends. And, of course, ate lots herself.
While Marnie, Sky, and Tara were packing Sky’s condo, it was easy to spread bread with the jam and peanut butter to make a great PB and J sandwich.
On-the-Road Trail Mix
Lunches on the road can be hard. You don’t want to take the time for a sit-down meal, yet you don’t want to fill up on fast-food junk day after day. Tara made bags of trail mix that the crew and her family loved. She simply went to a grocery store and bought dried fruit and nuts, mixed them in a bowl, and then put portions in ziplock bags. Here was what she put in the bags:
Raisins
Dried cherries
A can of pistachio nuts
Dried apricots that she cut in pieces
Dried pineapple and bananas
Walnuts
Cashews, because Aaron loved them
Sometimes, she add crystallized ginger that she cut in slivers, especially if she knew Sky would be eating some of it.
At Love’s or ampm, the convenience stores connected to a gas station that seems to dot I-40, Tara grabbed some apples and beef jerky sticks. Sometimes she was lucky and found turkey jerky sticks. Aaron chose some cheese and crackers. Or string cheese.
Sky made her absolutely disgusting coffee. She loved the coffee counters that served various flavored coffees and creams. (“They take their coffee seriously,” she said. “They don’t take their coffee seriously, they take the additives seriously,” Tara told her.) Sky filled a tumbler with hazelnut coffee, then added hazelnut or vanilla cream from the small plastic containers until it was a beige color. It took about five. Then she grabbed a handful of Equal or Splenda, ripped the packets open all at once, and dumped the powder into the drink. She stirred with a swizzle stick.
Her coffee tasted like a dessert drink. Almost everyone scolded her about this: Troy, Tara, Marnie, and Smoke. But she loved it!
Marnie, Sky, and Tara’s Girl Scout Stew
Tara joined the Brownies when she was in second grade, and they had a final potluck dinner at the end of the first year. She generously signed Marnie up to bring a main course, not thinking that Marnie needed to be consulted. Tara came home thrilled that they were going to make the entrée.
“Do I have to come?” Sky rolled her eyes.
Tara glanced at her shoes and then watched Marnie’s face.
“No, you don’t have to. But that’ll be our dinner tomorrow night and we all can make the stew tonight. It’ll be better the second day.”
So Marnie seasoned three pounds of stew chunks with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Sky cut up three big onions in chunks. Marnie browned three cloves of garlic in a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil and added the meat, browning the cubes on all sides. When brown, she put the chunks in the largest casserole dish she had.
She turned the oven to 300 degrees.
Then, she added the onions to brown. She gave Tara a colander and told her to put a pound of mushrooms in it and wash them well. The onions were browned, so they went into the casserole while Tara watched the mushrooms sauté.
Marnie put a packet of beef onion soup mix, some parsley, and a bay leaf in the casserole. Then the mushrooms. She added some water (if this wasn’t for kids, she would have added wine) and scraped the browned bits of meat, onions, and mushrooms from the bottom of the pan. That went into the casserole, too.
“Okay, what else for our stew?”
“Ketchup!” Tara loved it and squeezed some in.
“Yeah!” Sky said. “And mustard.”
“Fine.”
Sky put in a heaping tablespoon.
This is going to be some stew, Marnie thought. She had never done that before. “How ’bout some molasses?”
And she poured a bit of that in, stirred it all up, and added some water. And then got a spoon to see how they thought it tasted.
“More ketchup.”
Marnie agreed, and more ketchup went in.
“Carrots,” Sky said. “And potatoes.”
So they took three large carrots, scraped them, cut them in chunks, and threw them in, too.
“We’ll put the potatoes in later,” Marnie said.
“How ’bout some honey and soy sauce?” Tara asked, and that went in, too.
They put it in the oven and let it bake for an hour, and then added small red-skinned potatoes and let it bake for another hour. That night, after the kids were asleep, Marnie tasted it and thought it was the best stew she’d ever made. Partly because it was so much fun for each of them to add whatever they thought would taste yummy. But mostly because their ideas made a wonderful blend. There’s no exact way to make a stew.
The Brownies and their families loved it, too.
Aaron’s Flavorite BBQ Chicken
On the way back from the helicopter ride over the Gra
nd Canyon, Aaron, Tara, and the crew passed a grocery store. Aaron bought sweet potatoes, tin foil, chicken pieces, charcoal, a lemon, olive oil, seasoning salt, Italian herbs, barbeque sauce, and hot sauce.
He squeezed the lemon, added olive oil, sprinkled the chicken with the seasonings, and placed the chicken pieces in two bags. In one, he poured some Hennessy from the table where Red Dog, T-Bone, and Smoke were playing cards. “This is the adult one,” he said. The chicken marinated in the bags for several hours. Meanwhile, he played in the pool, then got the fire going, and started the sweet potatoes.
When the coals were warm, he placed the chicken pieces on the grill and turned them, watching them closely. Aaron would rather cook than play poker. He flipped them consistently, checking to see that there was no longer any pink in any of the pieces. When the fire threatened to get too hot, he cooled it down with water. It takes focus and concentration to cook chicken entirely on the grill and catch that point between cooked and dry. You can do this part in an oven and when the chicken is baked, put it on the grill for just five minutes. When the chicken was finally cooked, he dipped each piece in a bowl of barbeque sauce. The chicken was returned to the grill, and after ten minutes of the sauce baking into the meat, it was finished. Fork tender and delicious.
Sissy’s Sock-It-to-Me Cake
Tara, Aaron, and everyone else who tried it loved Sissy’s Sock-It-to-Me cake. She didn’t know where she found the recipe, but she’d been making it since the 1970s, before Aaron was born. One of the wonderful things about this cake is that you can change the flavors, using milk, lemon, or rum glaze. You also can use a cake mix, or start from scratch. Here’s the from-scratch recipe:
CAKE:
10 tablespoons butter
1¾ cups sugar
2½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1¼ cups milk
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs
One 8-ounce carton sour cream