I confirmed with the managed of Stone Hearth Pizza in Needham Center about potential allergens yesterday, and he told me that the only eggs in the whole place are in their cakes, and the only nuts are in the pesto and potentially some desserts. So it is safe for Mark, and any potential readers with food allergies, to get tons of toppings on pizza. Yay! Yesterday Mark and I shared a broccoli and caramelized onion pizza and two lemonades. Yum!! Stone Hearth Pizza also has options for gluten-free, dairy-free, and lactose-free meals, plus you can totally get a vegan meal or a locavore meal. I cannot recommend this pizzeria enough! You really must try them. They have several other locations around MA as well. Here's a link to their website -- be sure to check it out! http://stonehearthpizza.com/
Our egg-free year together is drawing to a close. I started teaching Ben and Mark at their house last September, and in 2 weeks, I start a "real" job -- teaching preschool. The kiddos have been at overnight camp, and we haven't seen each other in a couple weeks. I realize that it's the longest we've gone without seeing each other since February, and I miss them. I couldn't imagine myself saying that back in February. I would've thought a vacation from the kiddos was a nice idea -- my high energy, silly kiddos. Now I'm thinking, I guess we'll be cooking together sometimes on the weekends because if I miss "that egg-free life" while they're at overnight camp, teaching preschool isn't going to be enough to fill the space in my heart that is occupied by kids for the next year either. I realize that I have truly come to embrace cooking without Mark's allergens. Sometimes I get frustrated when I think that Mark will probably never eat an omelet. But mostly, we have cooked more delicious food this year than I have made in my entire life, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world.
I started off my cooking career just baking, and baking egg-free was totally do-able because the only ingredient I was cutting out was eggs. The camp I worked at where Mark went to day camp already had a nut-free policy. This year, I learned to cook dinner and snack and a multi-course Passover meal free of all the allergens. Some highlights of our egg-free year: Learning to use a chef's knife. The three of us worked on our knife skills, staring at Anne Burrell's hands, staring at whoever was cutting anything on Chopped, trying so hard to cut fini, fini, fini, to replicate, to cut an onion the right way. We did it. We all conquered the chef's knife this year. It is a mark of how much I trust Ben and Mark that I let them use chef's knives. It is a mark of how much they have grown up that they have kept this trust and never, ever been truly unsafe with a chef's knife in one hand. We roasted a chicken for Passover. How many 23-year-olds do you know who have roasted a chicken with a couple of teenage boys and had them invite their friends over to eat it? One of the strangest things I have ever done is said the prayer over the sparkling grape juice while Chef Anne's recipe for roast chicken was covered in foil, shining up at me while a handful of boys sort of fidgeted, and we all smelled the aroma of the chicken and were glad the prayer was short. The latkes. Oh the latkes. I am confident that between the two of them, the kids can now make latkes without adult supervision. We have made a lot of latkes. That was one of the easiest substitutions I have ever come up with, y'all -- applesauce works as effectively in latkes as a single egg does to keep the batter sticking together. TRIUMPH IS OURS. Our friend Rob. Rob is another counselor at the kids' day camp, and he has been a real sport this year coming over to do silly stuff with the kids and I. We've been to Roller Kingdom (a roller blading place) and all rented roller blades. We've gone out for ice cream and frozen yogurt multiple times. I have enlisted Rob to drive us on drives that I've felt less confident on because he is a good driver. I've really enjoyed hanging out with Rob this year and having him be another role model for Mark and Ben. Mark's first donut. Channukah fell on Thanksgiving this year, and Mark and Ben's mom had to work the day after Thanksgiving. Agreeing that a day spent playing Minecraft was not anyone's idea of a good Channukah, their mom and I decided that I would babysit. I brought over my donut maker (it's a donut-shaped waffle iron) and a new recipe for apple cider donuts. And Mark had his first donut. Boy is this a delicious recipe!! Apple cider donuts are by far one of my favorite discoveries. And so for the kids birthday, I got them a donut maker. We've used it together, and I hope they will use it without me as well. Getting to know Mark and Ben's mom, Arlene. It never occurred to me just how much work it is being a single mom until I met Arlene. When I think of parents who are every-day superheroes for their families, I think of Arlene. Mark and Ben have so many opportunities and experiences all the time because Arlene takes the time to take them to a theatre production or temple youth group or an amusement park... In addition to being a loving and thoughtful parent, she is an incredibly fair and caring and thoughtful boss. She is understanding, has reasonable expectations of me and the kids, and goes out of her way to make things as enjoyable for all of us as possible. It is really bittersweet to be starting a preschool job where Arlene is not my boss. The kids and I owe the success of our egg-free year in part to Arlene's orchestrating the whole thing. My egg-free life: I have always had a lot of compassion for Mark's allergies because I have allergies too, and I have had a lot of health problems as a teenager and younger adult. I didn't get to go away to college like a lot of kids, I had to stay home with my parents and go to a state college that I didn't like. I'm graduating in two weeks, and I can't wait for the next chapter of my life to begin, the chapter where I am a preschool teacher and not just a lowly college student. I think of my teachers over the past couple years, and who comes to mind that has imparted the most knowledge to me is not so much the professors I have had, but people who have taught me about cooking and about life. Mark, Ben, their mom, Chef Anne, Bobby Flay, Alex Guarnaschelli, Giada de Laurentiis, Damaris Phillips, the Worst Cooks in America, the Next Food Network Stars, Gina and Pat Neeley, Aartie Party, my own mother and father, my sister the vegetarian, Ellen, Aviva, and my coworkers and campers That was my college experience -- doing school work on the internet, while Anne Burrell hacked up a pig's leg on my television in the background, then running out to spend three or four hours with Mark and Ben. Anne Burrell was excellent company, but nothing compares to the memories that the kids and I have made -- like the kids throwing lemons from the sink to the kitchen table, the entire length of their tiny kitchen -- that's what's going to stick with me as I prepare to make lemonade ten years from now. I don't know where life will take me, if I'll go to culinary school or pastry school one day so I can teach cooking to lots and lots of kids with allergies. What I know for now is that there are few things more satisfying than loading up the dishwasher while the sounds of Chopped and Minecraft mingle in the background, and everyone is cheerful and tired after sharing a really excellent meal, cooked as a team. |
AuthorAlison's favorite recipe is the apple pie. Ben's food-love is bacon. Mark's favorite recipes are apple cider donuts and carrot bread. Archives
November 2015
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