entertaining

may 2003

My memories of Mother's Day are some of the sweetest of our young family's life. It's hard to forget the hand made cards, burnt toast for breakfast and over-sized cards hastily bought by my husband as he rushed home from hospital rounds to take us all out for dinner. As sweet, are my memories of making a special meal for my mother on Mother's Day. My younger sister and I routinely got together to serve a special meal for the family. These meals in the days when butter and cream ruled were European treats that frequently took days to prepare. And then healthy cuisine became a part of the family as well as my diagnosis of diabetes. Today, I will share with you a menu we actually made for my Mother some years ago. It was the last meal my sister and I made together before her auto accident, so it is very important to me. To tell the truth, it is simple. I had to fly into the city with two children in tow and then shop for the ingredients as well as the flowers.

First, we went to the nursery to purchase geraniums. These were to be planted in the flower pots on my parents' balcony. This was a yearly gift from us so my mother, when well enough could sit out side and enjoy her favorite summer blooms. We also bought the inpatients and begonias that would fill in the planters as well as ivy and other greens. Some we planted right away and some went into baskets for the center-piece. Next, we called others who asked to help and gave recipes for other parts of the menu. It's good when relatives want to help and we took advantage. We made sure we had the proper wines and a bottle of champagne to toast Mom. She could not drink it, but she never failed to sip from my father's flute. Watching them together was the best lesson in marriage that I can imagine and their one dance together at each family event brought tears to eyes around the room. Our next trip was to markets. If we wanted fresh fish, we had to drive closer to town to the same fish monger my parents has used for years. It was like driving back into time. Fresh produce was next and we were ready to set the table, and start to cook. Our menu, as stated before is a simple one. We have brought it up to date. We certainly didn't know about bruschetta 20 years ago, and I know we would not have used sea bass. We would have used sole, which would still be a very good choice. You can also use cod or even salmon. Just follow the rule that the fish must be fresh. Feel free to double or triple the recipe for a large family meal. We would have served this dessert because the local produce was excellent and very available. You'll find the recipe for the cake in our March Entertainment article (and adult birthday party). Make just one layer. You need only half of that layer, so freeze the other half for future use. The meal is not time consuming to make because it was a family affair, and it took hours to fly home and I know I wanted to see my siblings and extended family and not be stuck in a kitchen. While we were finishing the meal we served crudités and hummus of low fat dip. Look for recipes in our cook books. They are wonderful, or just mix fat free sour cream with your favorite herbs. Easy!   Baked Chilean Sea Bass on Bruschetta with Provençal Salad Fresh Roasted Asparagus Genoise Cake with Fresh Berry Parfaits (for the recipes, click on the individual recipe above) BSP