One of my favorite pastimes on a rainy Sunday afternoon, even as a young girl, was to sit on the couch with my mother, flipping through cookbooks perusing the recipes, “oohing and aahing” over shiny photos of deliciousness. We would discuss what we would leave out or how we might tweak it to somehow make it even better. We would talk about what was growing in our family garden and what dishes would go well with that abundance. We may have only prepared a small number of these recipes, but the hunt was part of the fun.
In later years as my mother’s health, memory, and mobility declined, this rainy Sunday afternoon ritual continued and became even more important as a familiar link to the past. She may not have been able to recall the faces around her but she knew a good recipe when she saw it. I will always be grateful for those special memories.
I thought about my mother as I sat on the couch yesterday morning listening to the rain, flipping through cookbooks to add new recipes to our repertoire at Isaac’s Café, given our recent expansion. I thought about what was coming up in the Edible Garden and how we could best serve this bounty to our patrons. As I “oohed and aahed” at the color photos on the pages, making notes and planning how to tweak each recipe to fit the mission of Isaac’s Café: local, sustainable and of course, delicious, I could feel my mom beside me.
Our new spring menu will soon be up in the Café and also available on our website. We will continue to feature fresh soups, sandwiches and salads and will be offering a daily $6.95 special featuring many of these new recipes. Give us a call or come by today and see what’s cooking.
DAILY SPECIALS
Monday: beef stew with cornbread and side salad