Welcome to Mushrooms, Etc., a blog about good food, good company, and good health

My mother had a catering business, Mushroom’s Etc. We each learned different things from her, but the most abiding lesson was that food equals caring. Making a meal with or for people you love is a sustaining and intimate act that can sweeten life’s trials and tribulations and make the challenges a bit more bearable. At the same time, raising special needs children, my sister and I have realized more and more how important it is to pay close attention not only to what you eat, but when and how. Stress can lead to bad food choices, overly fast eating, not eating at the table, and myriad other things that can end up having health implications. It’s not only the pitfall of parents of special needs children, but all parents. This blog is an attempt to reframe what it means to create meals, fellowship, family and meaning from simple ingredients. In the end you really are what you eat, but you’re also how you eat. Self-care and nurturing through preparation of shared and meaningful meals should not just be the purview of those who have time, energy and no complications. It should be how we all live.

Nothing Wrong with Comfort Food

Several years back, my sisters and I found ourselves all in town to help my Dad as he recovered from a pretty serious surgery. Having just lost our mom that past March, we knew not to take anything for granted. And so, in between visits to the hospital, errands, and the inevitable bouts of cleaning Dad’s fridge for him, we shared meals and the only things that are never in short supply, love and laughter. We convened at our old childhood home to share time and a meal. As I listened to the sounds of my sisters moving around the kitchen, chatting about a rub for the steak and how to cut the sweet potato fries, I piled Dubliner cheddar and a lovely, creamy brie onto Mom’s wooden platter with olive oil and sea salt crackers and fig spread. I should explain that I had been on a life-altering nutrition and fitness plan, just after being diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. Dubliner and brie were definitely not on my usual menu. But sometimes, desperate times and all……anyway, this was one evening and I didn’t want to count calories or worry about my waistline.

For just this one night, it was all about my siblings and comfort food. Meri had opened a great red table wine by Marietta Vineyards, Old Vine Red, and poured everyone a glass. Meanwhile, Lin was cutting large chunky strips of sweet potato with the skin on and tossing them in olive oil, salt and pepper. These would be our sweet potato fries with spicy lime-yogurt dipping sauce. Large slices of summer squash and zucchini were tossed the same way and both pans were put in the oven to bake. The steaks went out on the grill and we sat down with our cheese, crackers and wine to watch Karin mix up a batch of her famous mojitos.

Cooking in our mom’s kitchen, with the too small sink, the smallish stove and ovens, we remembered how she made it all seem so effortless. She would mix up recipes by memory and alter them each time, so that no one could ever really duplicate what she made. Sitting there, remembering her and marveling over how she managed to run a catering business out of this kitchen, we soaked in our time together. Times like this have always been too few and far apart. So even though the occasion of our mini reunion was not brought on by good circumstances, we enjoyed the time together nonetheless. This was comfort food and soul food all rolled into one excellent evening of laughing, talking, and reminiscing.

And as I made my way back to my new hometown of Nashville, I stored this memory in my heart to tide me over until the next time I got to see my siblings, hoping the next time would include my brother in the mix. Comfort food and making a beautiful meal with people I loved had been life-affirming, stress-reducing, and sustaining.