Tagged: spring

What I Learned From My Mom: Jazz Hands and Fisticuffs

by Aida Mollenkamp —

Strawberry and Rhubarb Shortcakes from www.aidamollenkamp.com

My Mom has a language all her own. Well, for all the etymology geeks out there, it’s not so much a language as a vernacular or even a jargon. No matter how you categorize it, it’s a sort of word pizzazz that’s distinctly hers.

Over the years, we’ve collected these terms with the goal of someday making a bound thesaurus — a Mom-saurus if you will. (Though, on second thought, that may sound more like something from the Paleolithic era than a word reference). Semantics aside, it’d be packed with turns of phrase, idioms, and sayings that just might be on an endangered words list were it not for my mother.

A few of the real gems include terms like: ravs instead of ravioli; sconces for, well, sconces but used at a rate higher than that of true sconce sightings; fisticuffs for any sort of run-in, but, when said, it must be accompanied by the action of spinning clenched fists under your chin in the manner of the Fighting Irish mascot; and excessive use of the word traipsing, as in, “the cat was traipsing about the garden with no regard for the orchids I had just planted.”
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Road Rage And Other Little Things

by Aida Mollenkamp —

Seared Lamb Chops with Green Harissa from www.aidamollenkamp.com

It’s the little things. Like, say, no traffic on the way across town.

In a city like Los Angeles, that only comes a few times a year and means that gridlocked commutes become breezes. This last weekend was a kismet intersection of Passover, Easter, and Spring Break that allowed the traffic gods to look kindly upon those of us who stayed in town. And I’m not complaining about staying in LA because this city is a whole other animal when you have it to yourself (or you and only 1 million other people, but who’s counting).
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Bringing It Back 80s Style

by Aida Mollenkamp —

Little Gems Salad with Green Goddess Dressing from www.aidamollenkamp.com

This salad is at its most simple a great big excuse for me to make Green Goddess Dressing. I’m a California girl through and through and Green Goddess is too.

Though this dressing is just a tad bit older than me — it has been around, by some accounts, since the 1920s when a chef at the Palace Hotel made his West Coast version of the classic French sauce verte. If you grew up out west, you probably remember that Green Goddess was all the rage right about the time Madonna came out with Material Girl and Regan was our commander in chief. But, with time, this dressing went the way of shoulder pads and scrunchies and became all but obsolete. 
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Urban Legends And Eggs

by Aida Mollenkamp —

Aida-Mollenkamp-Pretty-Easy-Eggs-Header-1020

So, I’ve got a thing with eggs. I could eat them for any meal, at any time, and any number of ways. There’s a culinary urban legend that the number of pleats in a traditional chef’s hats is directly correlated to the number of ways to cook eggs and, while I’ve never found concrete evidence backing that claim, it’s fair to say there are at least 5 kajillion ways to make eggs.

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