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Welcome to austinagrodolce … My family and I garden with more intention and enthusiasm than allocated budget or overall design plan. It shows. Wildlife populations don't seem to notice our lack of cohesive design, they just like the native plants here. It seems by growing local we've thrown out a welcome mat. Occasionally, we're surprised at who (and what) shows up.



Thursday, November 13, 2008

Not Bragging - Just the Facts

Check out who was in the newspaper yesterday. Uh huh. Chef Son.His razzle dazzled recipe for Chocolate Peanut Butter Bread Pudding apparently caught the eye of Austin American Statesman food writer, Addie Broyles, and is featured here.I am not going to say I taught the guy everything he knows about cooking.

Mostly because A) He did graduate from the Texas Culinary Academy and I think they'd take issue with that, and 2) he has cooking in his gene pool.

While that would at least minimally include me, I am more talking about his grandparents.

Mostly on the paternal side. His father's mother was hands down one of the best southern style cooks I have ever had the pleasure of knowing, much less eating her cooking. She would think nothing of whipping out a lemon meringue pie, everything always from scratch, just to celebrate a family visit. Her everyday meals were feasts.

And, not to be outdone, check out his paternal grandfather in this Army publicity photo from June of 1949.Sporting some pretty snappy shorts, that is grandpa supervising "Preparation of dependant's food at the Marbo Food Service School". According to the text on the back, "Lt. Wilson said that as yet they have had no complaints, even though the meals are standard field rations.".

Marbo, as best I can make out, was the Mariana-Bonin Islands Command, a situation where the Department of the Army was in charge of training and supply for a military force assembled both to occupy Japan, and then eventually to fight again in the undeclared war against Korea. While a majority of the forces were based in Japan after the war, resident military personnel had their families shipped over in an attempt to provide a friendlier face to the defeated Japanese. Those family members, in military parlance, are "dependants". Take that, feminist movement yet to come!

Ahem! I digress.ChefSon was serious about his food experiences from early on. I guess we should have known he would end up using those gifts to create spectacular meals all his own some day. Truth is, he is one of those chefs who bring intelligence and creativity to the selection and preparation of dishes in ways that elevates the entire experience.

And yeah, I'm his Mom, but that's not bragging folks. That's just facts.

If you are interested in more recipes, ChefSon's blog is here. Enjoy!

6 comments:

PassivePastry said...

those are adorable. :)

"chef son"

i think my mom calls me "arts and craft daughter"

Addie said...

So adorable. I have pictures of my kiddo where he's all messy like that and can only dream what he'll grow up to be. You should be very proud of your son and his delicious accomplishments! It's an honor to showcase chefs like him.

Andrea Meyers said...

Congrats to Chef Son! Obviously you have something wonderful to brag about. :-)

TexasDeb said...

Thanks, y'all. We are very proud of him.

It is tricky not to get a little intimidated trying to cook for a trained chef on the rare occasions he eats at home. He has been very considerate with his comments and advice.

Which is a good thing because I do still have those baby bathtub photos....

PassivePastry said...

By the looks of the food you put on your blog, I would be over at your house at least twice a day for food.
I wish my mom's cooking was not a 5.5 hour drive away.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the glimpse!