I’m a homebody. Not just somebody who just likes to stay at home, but who likes to feel home. Note, I’m not saying here to feel at home. Does that make any sense? The concept of home is a thread that will consistently be woven through the fabric of The Modern Bee because there are oh, so many intersting and comforting definitions of what constitutes home. This week, we spoke with Rachael all the way in Dubai about how she created a new home halfway around the world from her original one, and a strong community of supportive women within it. This week, home, especially what feels like home, has been on my mind and in my heart. I decided to think about the ways I feel home throughout my life, wherever I am. Food is an easy place to start. I mean, there’s a deep history with people bringing a taste of home to a new part of the world, right?
One of the things I always missed as a kid as summer came to an end was the corn. My mum loooooves corn in the summer, so pretty much with every dinner come summer, you’d find us sitting outside with our ears of corn. With the little plastic corn shaped dishes. And complete with those little corn shaped spikes tacked into either end for easy eating, devouring fresh, hot summer corn. Sometimes, she’d boil it inside and smother it in butter, otherwise, it was eaten au natural, grilled in its husk. I can honestly say, I never tired of it. Corn was not exclusive to my mother’s house, but at my dad’s it came in the form of cornmeal. He is “famous” for his cornbread, only made and served at Christmas and the occasional Easter. His recipe is a secret he guards closely, leaking only that it’s, “all in the salt.” So there’s not much I can say about it other than it. is. EVERYTHING.
For my birthday this year, my husband bought me a CSA share, which essentially means we own a share of the produce bounty from a local farm. We are currently enjoying the last of a very corn-heavy August. The farm sends a weekly newsletter with recipes and earlier in the season there was a recipe for corn fritters, which made me think of my mum’s fresh corn and my dad’s cornbread. We have been making these fritters on the regular, enjoying them with a little local honey for breakfast, with a side salad for lunch or as a side with some protein at dinner. As we near our one year anniversary, call me corny (ha!) but I love any little traditions we create as we build a home together and “Fritter Friday” has become a little tradition in our household. I will take a little nugget that makes me feel home wherever I can and it helps that these little guys are tasty, tasty.
What do you make (or order) when you want to taste a bit of home?
–Michaela
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