Maren's Mama

What a delight it is to have a grown up daughter who is also one of my favorite people! Maren is in San Fransisco and hopefully will soon going to work once again for the Public Health Department while she finishes her medical school interviews and makes her big choice. She has been accepted so far at the University of Washington and at Boston University both and she has at least one more interview to come. We are very proud parents as you can imagine.

Over the years Maren has been an enthusiastic eater of the gourmet food that I have created and prepared for her, but rarely have I been able to entice her to join me in the kitchen as my sous chef. But recently that has changed. Since being on her own this past year, she has had to face the challenges and joys of cooking. Being a very smart girl, she can do almost anything she wants, the key is that she needs a reason and enough time to do it. Happily, since she has not been working since the start of December, she has been more willing to experiment in the land of culinary delights. (But she still wants EXACT amounts of everything written down carefully--which is a challenge for me who cooks most things without a recipe.)

Imagine my surprise last week when Maren asked me to send her the recipe for my cheesy chicken enchiladas so that they could make them for a combination housewarming and birthday party with her friends. By the end of the phone call, she had also decided to make my Avocado Chop Chop Salsa as well. I went over the shopping list with her off the top of my head and later that night dutifully typed up the recipes with helpful annotations to keep the girls on the right track and sent them on their way.

The party was on Friday night and late that afternoon I began wondering how she was doing. I knew that no phone calls meant that things were going fine. Being a cool mom, I waited to hear from her the next day. They had a blast! Although they made a mess making the enchiladas due to a less than adequate pan, they prevailed and conquered that recipe. (Yes, Stanford grads can cook, too.) The enchiladas were a big hit. Everyone was totally amazed that Maren could cook. In fact, they became so empowered that Maren called to suggest how they could modify the Chop Chop salsa next time--who knew I had a budding chef after all.

The cutest part was that the girls decided that they would all bring the recipes for the food they brought to the party. Maren said everyone was tickled to have her recipes carefully entitled, "Maren's Mama's Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas"and "Maren's Mama's Avocado Chop Chop Salsa" It's good to know that my culinary skills have a following among the 20-somethings in the Bay Area.