Hello

I cook stories for my three grandsons.  I’m Grummy and my 3 handsomes are 2, 3 and 5 years old.

We get to spend a few hours every couple of weeks together, so those hours have become so very special to all of us. I had to find a way to play, entertain, and just plain love them and still be able to walk upright the next day.  (As they tell me often, I’m ooooold).   I’m particularly fond of books and cooking, so I thought up a way to combine the two in a manner that would capture the boys’ imagination and interest while sharing my happy thoughts with them.

 Every couple of weeks, I pick a book that I think they’ll enjoy, often based on input from the boys … Grummy, you could find a story about monster trucks and give us each one … Grummy, I really like stories about cupcakes … Once they’re a little older and not so prone to grabbing at the book, potentially destroying pages, I’ll take them to the library to pick out the books, but until then, I’m buying the books.  I try to use locally owned bookstores because the owners and workers there love to discuss each choice with me.  I come up with some really great ideas from these discussions.

 What I do is find a book and plan a meal that will highlight aspects of that story.  For example, if the story was Little Red Riding Hood, I might serve the dinner in little baskets, and include some big eyes (cherry tomatoes, because everyone knows wolves’ eyes are red) and some big teeth (corn kernels, or potatoes cut to resemble teeth).  It’s really easy to find ideas in the books.  Look for something that is repeated in the text, hidden in every drawing, a goal that’s a part of the plot. 

 Sometimes the boys help me make the dinner; sometimes I make it ahead of time so I can surprise them with some special dish.  Some of the best outcomes from all of this have been some really lively dinner conversations (more about these with each meal and book I’ll be describing), an interest in eating the foods they’ve helped prepare, and suggestions for new meals and new books.  I can’t explain how happy it makes me to meet they boys at the playground and have one of them say to me “Grummy, remember ….”  followed by a fantastic discussion about one of the books we’d read or meals we’d eaten.  This happens with ALL of them, from the 2 year old on up to the 5 year old. 

My best tools in putting together these fabulous dinner parties are the bookstore/library staff, cookie cutters and a good (easy) pasta recipe.  Until I learned to make pasta, I used cooked lasagna noodles and cut them with the cookie cutters, or used pasta shapes that would mimic a part of the story, but I have to tell you, it’s so darned easy to make pasta that I do that all the time now unless there’s a really good shape that would be harder to create myself – like shells.  Here’s an easy recipe:
 

Pasta:

2 to 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour 3 eggs 1 tsp salt

Blend all ingredients and knead until flour is incorporated and dough is elastic.  Put in plastic bag and let rest on countertop for about ½ hour.  Dust your countertop liberally with flour and using a rolling pin, roll out the dough.  Flip the dough and flour it so it doesn’t stick, and continue rolling (turning/flipping as needed) until the dough is as thin as you can get it (it plumps when cooked, so you want it thin).  I try to get it thin enough to see my hand through it.    Use cookies cutters, knives, pizza cutter, etc. to achieve desired shapes.  In a large pan, bring a couple of quarts of water to a boil.  Salt the water. Stir the water and drop in the pasta shapes, continuing stirring for about a minute so the shapes don’t stick together.   Cook for 4-6 minutes, testing for doneness.  Drain and serve.

Just a note about this recipe … I use a flour blend, Italian Blend from King Arthur Flour Company, but All Purpose flour works as well.  I also often add dried herbs to the flour before mixing and kneading.  I’ve even been known to add spices like nutmeg or cinnamon to the water when boiling the pasta.  It doesn’t add too much flavor, rather just a hint.

 

Well, now that I’ve introduced myself and shared one of my favorite recipes with you, I’m going to go organize the notes and pictures from some of the book and dinner nights.  I’ll be sharing the book choices, the menu and the reactions and results of the meal.  I’ll include photos of some the preparations as well as a brief synopsis of the story.  These are our Grumm's Fairy Tables.