Cooking With Emily

It's been another long, quiet week.  Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but my days are starting to run together.  But spring is trying to push winter aside, and to my mind is winning the battle, despite yesterday's snow storm.  Still it was a good day to curl up with a good book, and I had few objections to Emily's desire to revisit a favourite recipe, Corn Chowder, for her night in the kitchen.  The original recipe can be found here:  http://viewfromhere68.blogspot.ca/2014/11/cooking-with-emily.html if you would like a refresher.

Unfortunately her decision to repeat a recipe means I don't have one to share with you, but I am sure we can figure something out.
Before we left for the day I asked Emily to check and see if we had potatoes and corn in the pantry.  I thought we might be out of canned corn, but I was unsure of the status of potatoes, as I am trying to cut back on carbohydrates (not really succeeding, but I am trying) and use fewer potatoes, pastas,  rice and bread.  No easy task - meals "should" be meat, potato (or other starch) and vegetables.  And if you asked me what food group I could most easily give up it would probably be vegetables.  Most meal time battles with my mother when I was a child were over some vegetable or another.  Admittedly I have learned to like many of the things we went to war over there are still some you will almost never find in my kitchen.  But I digress.
Emily said we were out of potatoes, but when I double checked I found we did in fact have the requisite number of  them buried under the onions in the basket where I keep them.  No need to go to the grocery store then.  I could pick up cans of corn at the Bargain Shop, where I am less likely to purchase extraneous goods.  I did grab a cake mix so I could surprise Emily with green frosted cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day.  ( Lunch box snacks were needed regardless.  Now if I can keep them as strictly lunch box treats...*sigh*)

Anyway, come day's end Emily was home again and once we hung up her sodden snow suit she started peeling potatoes.  I chopped an onion for her, but retreated to the living room as she assured me she could do this one on her own.  A few minutes later she asked about mincing garlic.  I was surprised, since there is no garlic in this recipe.  I questioned her, and she realized she was reading the recipe for Nacho Casserole on the facing page of her cook book.  I reminded her to rinse the potatoes before adding them to the pot and returned again to my book.  A few minutes later she came in holding a cruet of canola oil, asking if this was indeed "vegetable" oil.  Again I questioned her, as I was certain this recipe had no oil in it.  She said something about heating it, so I followed her back to the kitchen to check her recipe.  Again she realized she was referring to the wrong recipe.  We got the water onto the potatoes and onions and I again left her to her cheffery.
Her only other question was about thickening the liquid with flour and water before adding the corn and milk.  I explained she needed to make a paste of the two ingredients and to stir it in slowly so she didn't end up with doughy clumps.  She once more shooed me out of the kitchen and soon I looked up to see her putting soup filled bowls on the table.

I was impressed and told her so.  A couple of weeks ago when I had the flu she showed remarkable maturity in taking care of her own meals, and some clean up.  Once I was back on my feet we returned to our usual dynamic, of me needing to remind her to do her chores, but I can see now it we are growing ever closer to her independence.  I do believe my job as a parent is not the rearing of children but of adults, fully functioning people who can make their way in the world.  But letting them go is hard.  I want to hold her close, keep my little girl here with me....and yet I am so very proud of the independent young woman she is becoming.  We are a way away still from her cooking without some supervision, but she is getting there.  She accepts there are still things I have to teach her, despite her insistence she knows what she is doing.  I look forward to our culinary lessons, as I try to remember to tell her the things I just know after years of cooking-like stirring a little of the hot liquid into the flour & water paste to warm it before adding it to the soup to avoid clumps of flour.  We'll get there.  Together.