She loves it, and the scent takes me back to my parent’s kitchen. The dish takes less than an hour from start to finish. The annatto seed and tomato sauce give the rice an orange-yellow color, and the chunks of sofrito-seasoned chicken are quick to satisfy. One of her favorite Puerto Rican dishes is arroz con pollo, chicken with rice. Lu loves them, and they are easy to dress up or down. We keep three essential pantry items - pasta, rice and quinoa - for a quick meal if we’re stuck in work calls all day. The approach we’ve taken in the kitchen is to combine intricate and straightforward dishes that can last us several days. We still have to get work in during the day, but working from home has allowed us to check the oven between calls and feed the sourdough starter twice a day. It has also given us time to experiment with different dishes, not only for her but for us. This time at home has come with its challenges, but it has also given us time to witness her growth. Using her bath toys as her “ingredients,” she pretends her tiny bath cubes are eggs and mimics cracking them into the “batter.” She is recreating what she sees us doing in the kitchen. Sometimes she insists on pouring milk or other liquids, which sometimes lead to a mess, but that’s the price of teaching! I like to walk her through the ingredients so she can learn how dried pasta feels before I place it in the boiling water. I give her small tasks like shredding the cheese or tossing the veggies for her to feel like she’s part of the process. She’s now at an age that she is starting to understand how a dish comes together. As a lively toddler, I can no longer hold her down in the kitchen with a high chair. As I cook, Lu watches me, sometimes peering over her iPad (don’t judge me, mama has to work) and then lowering her gaze when I make eye contact with her. I want her to grow up with that same love not only for food, but for the process of making it.Īnyone with a pre-schooler can tell you that they are a lot of work and they are always watching. As a kid, I was always in the kitchen and it gave me an appreciation for food. We want her to be part of the cooking process. Since I am now working from home, I’ve begun to include Lu in the food prep. I began to open cookbooks that I bought but never read. I started to call my mom every day and asking her for recipes. When the future seemed so unclear, food brought me comfort. Our daycare closed, and as a travel writer, many of my pending work also came to a stop. Travel and dining out came to a screeching halt. In early March, our world changed when our country finally acknowledged the dangers of COVID-19. As long as we don’t give her mashed potatoes, we’re good! We always turn to the basics: frozen veggies like broccoli, green beans, peas, which we pair with rice, and chicken or fish cuts. We’re fortunate not to have a picky eater, which helps when you have a family that is always on the go. However, she hates leftovers, something I believe she inherited from my mother. When nothing else fails, we know we can give her a plate of red quinoa cooked in chicken broth. She turns her nose to mashed potatoes but will tear up a plate of broccoli.
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And like any toddler, an unpredictable taste in food. As she got older, she started to develop a palate. When Lu was a baby, she spent a lot of time in the carrier, taking in the scents of simmering soups and rice and beans in our kitchen. From eating Sicilian pizza in Palermo to spicy laksa in Malaysia to giant Caribbean avocados in Grand Cayman, little Lu took in the global flavors in my belly.
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Terrified with the thought of my travels coming to an end upon birth, I waddled around the globe. I am from Puerto Rico, where the food is as colorful as the blend of the multiple cultures that make up our roots. Martin is from The Netherlands, where dishes are simple but with a strong focus on the ingredients' quality, especially when it comes to dairy and vegetables. We both come from cultures that appreciate food. Here, interior designers from around the South share their predictions for what's trending in kitchen design for 2022 and beyond.My husband and I believe Lucila (Lu) was born with the foodie gene. We're turning away from big-box stores and toward vintage items-first, out of necessity due to supply-chain issues, and now, for design reasons-to add charm and character to every room in the house, including the kitchen.
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An overall trend toward celebrating the history and originality of our homes is displacing ultramodern aesthetics and sharp lines as we all look to create cozier, colorful, more personalized spaces that better suit our lifestyles. 16 Kitchen Design Trends Southern Designers Predict Will Be Everywhere in 2022 There's no denying how the pandemic fundamentally changed the world-including how we live (and work) inside our homes.