Claire's Cooking

Renee Claire is putting together a cookbook of her grandmother's recipes. She has asked all of us to come up with our favorite "Claire Dishes." A simple request that is very difficult to fulfill. Claire had so many tried and true, faithful, delicious recipes that it is hard to come up with what I might call my favorites. They were all my favorites.

This afternoon I am sitting at my computer looking through the recipe box that she no longer uses since she has given up her days at the stove. I feel like I am going through a treasure trove as I read sauce-stained scraps of paper, recipe cards, and magazine cut-outs that she filed in a small wooden box. Most of the recipes bring back memories of meals at her table. Some, though, I don't remember eating; and I wonder if this is a dish I did not happen to taste, or was it a dish she was thinking about cooking but never got around to preparing. Either way, if a recipe is in this box, it is worth looking at.

Claire and Harvey married at the end of World War II. She began her cooking career at a time when the food industry was on the brink of tremendous change. Modern conveniences were hitting the marketplace and every home needed the appliances, the cars, and the processed foods that were advertised in magazines, newspapers, on the radio, and eventually, television. I keep this in mind as I read through many of the ingredients lists that call for cans of cream of mushroom soup, cheez-whiz, and cool-whip. Today I would probably just go for the real thing: sauteed mushrooms with real cream, grated hard cheese, and full-fat whipping cream. This would change the taste of the recipes, though, and if I found the change too hard to bear, I would just go back to Claire's way of doing it. After all, if we are looking for food that stirs us to remember a time when we shared a home-cooked meal prepared by the loving hands of a grandmother, the least we can do is fix it just the way she did.

On the Cooking page, I am going to begin typing in recipes from this treasured collection. They will all be under the heading Claire's Recipes. I know all of you who ate at her table will enjoy the result of your effort to duplicate her cooking. And if you didn't get the chance to eat there--well, all the more reason to try these recipes out.

The Senator

The Senator fell this week.

Several years ago I had the privilege of seeing this 3500 year-old cypress tree between Longwood and Sanford, Florida . It is believed that the tree was struck by lightening and had been smoldering internally for a couple of weeks. This week flames consumed the ancient tree.

Nature has taken its course.
The king is dead. Long live the king!

The profound effect this tree had upon me has lasted through the years. I've written about the tree on several occasions, but I could never capture the depth of awe that I experienced upon seeing The Senator. The following poem that I wrote a few years ago comes closest.

Ancient One

A millennium is nothing new for you.
You've lived through two,
And half again as much.

Ancient Monarch,
You tower above the lesser trees
And do not note my presence,
Though I tremble in awe of you.

Breath does not come easy
As I approach your sacred feet,
Made holy for having stood
So long in this same place.

You have watched generations of life
Live and die, and be born again.
Still you stand, in your silence
Knowing that what is now
Will cease to be;
And what is to come,
Will not last.

Ancient Seer,
You know the Unknowable Truth,
And speak to the Creator like a brother.
So familiar are you to Him--
--and He to You--
I have trouble telling you apart.