Podcast 83: Kitchen Stories with our Moms

Recently, we spent the day touring ten interesting and unique kitchens in Melrose, MA (that’s where Janice lives). The kitchen tour was a local fundraiser, and we decided to invite two very special guests to tag along:  Janice’s mom Carol, and Liz’s mother-in-law, Joy, who was visiting from England.

After the tour, all four moms went back to the Meal Makeover Mom studio to record an episode of Cooking with the Moms. It’s amazing how our collective childhood memories revolve around the kitchen table — or in the case of Carol, the iceman and Joy, her 500-year old cottage with a flagstone floor and a stone sink. We had a lot of laughs teasing Janice about the dream kitchen she hopes to build one day and poking fun at Liz’s gourmet kitchen that could use an extra helping of feng shui.

The Meal Makeover Moms chat about their kitchens of the past and of the present with Carol and Joy.

Janice’s dream sink: She could wash dishes in it all day … and all night!

One of our favorite kitchens on the tour. Talk about feng shui!

Our day with our moms ended on a delicious note thanks to Janice’s dad who invited us over for his famous grilled asparagus risotto topped with chunks of fresh Parmesan cheese.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Janice’s parents plating Dad’s risotto and their contemporary kitchen.

We’d love to hear all about your childhood kitchen memories and/or the best part about your kitchen today. Do tell …

3 Responses to “Podcast 83: Kitchen Stories with our Moms”

  1. Christyn on December 3rd, 2009

    My favorite part of my kitchen is that my husband custom designed it just for me! My countertops are taller than average (I’m 5′10″) and each cabinet and drawer, while ordered from a manufacturer, was ordered and placed just where I wanted it. When we moved into our house it was a typical 1940’s ranch, and the kitchen (8′x12′) had only 2 lower cabinets, around the sink, and two full size upper cabinets and 2 of the over-the-refrigerator cabinets (one of which was actually over the stove). I lived with that kitchen for 5 years, and while our one car garage is no longer functional to park cars in since I claimed the back 8 feet (really it was too narrow anyway!) I know have my dream kitchen at 8×20, with everything right where I wanted it! We’re constantly tweaking it- I’m adding a tile backsplash around the sink, my husband pushed the wall out behind the refrigerator so it would sit flush with the cabinets. It truly is the kitchen of my dreams!

  2. Meal Makeover Mom Janice on December 6th, 2009

    Hi Christyn:

    Would you send your husband to Melrose to help design my kitchen!! Wow, yours sounds awesome! I’ll keep your tips in mind when we get to the design of my kitchen. I love the taller countertops (though Liz might need a step stool when she cooks here)! It will be a fun project but I’ve promised Liz not to even talk about it until our second book is finished. Shhh…

  3. momgateway on December 8th, 2009

    What a lovely post! My favorite kitchen story happened when I was 13 years old and I decided to bake an angel food cake topped with royal icing for my baby brother’s birthday. It was my first time to bake a cake and it was lopsided. One side had the texture of angle cake and the other side was dense like a pound cake. Surprisingly everyone loved it because my older brother loves dense cakes so he was pleased and my sister likes light and fluffy cakes so she was pleased as well. My baby brother had fun poking into the royal icing which was pretty good and a labor of love since I did not have a whisk then. I made the royal icing using a fork to whisk up the eggwhite!!! It took forever but was delicious> I’ll never forget the surprised look of everyone when they saw I made a cake all by myself— alopsided cake at that!!!

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