Literary Madeleines from Martha

Planning a writers conference in one's back yard is like embracing a large bunch of mint in your hands and taking a deep breath inward to allow your mind to bask in the invigorating essence of bliss. (I bought fresh mint at the farmer's market yesterday just for this purpose). As I read the bios of the individuals possibly slated to attend the event next year I'm in awe of the great number of people who write for a living, edit for a living, and/or represent writing for a living. Actually I do not have to look beyond my back yard to find contemporaries living here in the Lowcountry...there's Margaret Shinn Evans editor at the Lowcountry Weekly, there's Teresa Bruce an author/screenwriter, and then there's Kami Kinard a young adult novelist (not to mention some nationally known authors like Pat Conroy, Cassandra King who enjoy the salt marsh as much as the rest of us). Up until last year writing was simply something I did well and it always was connected to my occupation. Now it is what I must breathe to live a literary life. I found a recipe in a 1988 edition of Martha Stewart's Quick Cook Menu: 52 meals you can make in under an hour to align the literary journey with the kitchen...Coconut Madeleines & Persimmons with Tequila and Mint. (Scroll through the link I've provided to page 221 for the recipe...love it when cookbooks are online for the blog). There's a caption to a photo of this dish in Martha's text indicating that Madeleines have literary glory and cites that they play a memorable role in Marcel Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. "But when from a long-distant past nothing subsists, after the people are dead, after the things are broken and scattered, taste and smell alone, more fragile but more enduring, more unsubstantial, more persistent, more faithful, remain poised a long time, like souls, remembering, waiting, hoping, amid the ruins of all the rest; and bear unflinchingly, in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence, the vast structure of recollection." Indeed, life through taste and smell serves to recollect, but it also creates.

Dad's two favorite things at Christmas

My dad's two most favorite food products to receive and consume at the holiday times are fruitcake and eggnog. We are talking obsession, has to be bought, has to be consumed, has to be enjoyed. Though our household went many years without celebrating Christmas (my mother essentially suffered a massive heart attack on Christmas eve 2001 and died 2 days later) we both have learned over time to embrace our sorrow, but not let our enjoyment of the season suffer in the process. Most especially the food components of the holiday. It is fair to say that neither of these particular holiday foods capture my full attention, but that has not stopped my dad from ordering fruitcake made by the monks at Gethsemani Farms and insisting that Pet Dairy eggnog be stocked in my refrigerator. This year I'm taking the plunge to make the eggnog from scratch. This Martha Stewart version has enough adult beverage in it to warrant a disclaimer for my beloved nondrinkers, but worth sharing with those that won't shy away from a bit of jolly juice. Enjoy!
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/favorite-eggnog