My mother stayed with us during her recent visit from back east. She
emerged early each day from the back bedroom in need of coffee. In the
kitchen she would find me up to my elbows in three-grain biscuit dough
or in the midst of mixing a large oven baked pancake, or perhaps
dropping oatmeal scones onto a cookie sheet. I was always in the midst
of something made from scratch, time consuming and terrifically messy.
A ritual that was met with a quizzical look and her quiet reproach, as if I couldn’t hear her say, “Nu? Whats wrong with frozen waffles?” My childhood breakfasts came straight out of a box from the freezer in the cold mid-western kitchen where I grew up. My mother taught in downtown Detroit, and early morning school days were mostly about getting up and getting out. Yet, somewhere in between the up and out part, I remember a breakfast ritual that my mother and I shared, just her and I, before she left for work.
I love a good fish sandwich and it has been a while since I've had one. I came across this recipe using tilapia, a firm, forgiving and inexpensive fish. I loved the idea of piling coleslaw over the fish and using pulverized almonds as part of the crust, making it somewhat reminiscent of sole almondine.
I don't know if Mae West ever ate a Cobb Salad, but I bet she would
have loved it. After all, she was the one who said "too much of a good
thing is wonderful". A Cobb Salad begins with a bed of Romaine lettuce,
think of it as your basic crunchy blank canvas.
Resting on the greens are strips of toppings – luscious chunks of
avocado, juicy fresh tomato, crumbles of rich blue cheese, hard boiled
eggs and chunks of chicken breast. Frankly I've always found the
chicken to be superfluous, but maybe that's just me.
We're not sure who makes these decisions...