About once or twice a year, I embark on making twice-baked potatoes. My family does not really looove potatoes, but they do like TBP’s. Maybe it’s because it is a recipe my beloved mother-in-law, Sally, used to make. Perhaps they can feel her love come through on some deep subconscious level.
You would think that during this pandemic with crazy grocery store habits and changes, I would have planned ahead for Easter Day Meal Shopping. But no.
I went to Lunada Bay Market, to support this small local business but then STILL had to go to a big store, Pavilions. With all the masks and lines and rules, I can’t say that I am enjoying these runs to the grocery store. As of now, there is one entrance. One exit. Arrows on which way you can enter and exit an aisle. Oh yes. Pay attention, friends! Everyone in masks and gloves. TRYING to be 6 feet apart. You sit and wait for someone to finish a section of the aisle you need. The Patience of Job is required sometimes. And then I remind myself that we are in The Twilight Zone and all expectations of life before The Quarantine must be released. Which involves shopping for food, and the nonexistent TP and paper towels.
Back to the potatoes. The recipe calls for 8 baking potatoes. I pick out 8 heavy Russetts and hope they don’t break the two paper thin plastic bags I picked out.
Sour cream, cheese, green onions, bacon. Check-check.
On Sunday I oil them up and put them in the oven for an hour or “till cooked through.” Cooked through enough to cut out the middle pulp, but not so soft the whole potato breaks apart. THE FINE LINE. Where is Ina Garten right now? I make the call after forking the potatoes, take them out of the oven let them cool a couple minutes. However, the recipe does not say to really let them cool.
It should read:
“Burn your hands while taking out the pulp. You will survive. And I am sorry but some potatoes are going to break (oh…that is why they say to get 8 potatoes!) and you will have to use that pulp for the yummy filling. Then you will probably have extra filling when it’s all said and done. So google “what to do with extra twice-baked potatoes filling?” And by the way, recipe follower, once you eat one half of a twice-baked potato, you will be so full and so bloated, I hope it was worth it. They may or may not turn out like the pretty picture, all tight little oval potato bowls, but just deal with it. It is STILL DELISH.”
If you have read this far, I thank you. Here are the take-aways:
• Right now as we are all struggling through the quarantine, bringing something familiar to the table is comforting. Whether it’s a beloved family recipe or a game or past ritual, it is comforting. It says FAMILY. It says remember. It says we do this. It says, “This is us.”
• Sometimes offering a comfort to our families, brings us pain (hot potatoes!). We may feel like we ourselves need a comfort, (to hide in bed on a holiday) but we rise up and serve our families a little extra dose right now. Not in a pressure to perform kind of way. As in, for me, I really did NOT “feel” like do any extra cooking or baking for Easter Sunday. (I confess I never even got out our holiday décor.) But something in me said, “Rise Up Sister!” Rise up for your family. They need this extra bit of effort. So I suffered potato-pain to bring them a treat to savor and remember. To remember their grandmother who we lost WAY too soon.
• Sometimes our attempts for our family turn out messy (you should see the potato filling spilling over the sides in the oven LOL.) Ugly. Not as we planned. The timing was off for dinner so they are lukewarm at the time of serving. What matters is the intent. During this season of crisis-schooling and shelter-in-place lockdown, we are all doing the best we can. We are trying REALLY HARD to make the “recipes” turn out “pretty and tasty.” They will. They won’t. Give yourselves credit for trying!!
The ham is about to come out of the oven so I best go and finish up, my friends. Easter Dinner awaits!!
Jess, Laughing as I read this. When things go wrong in the kitchen and the presentation is “off” as ours normally is…I remind myself and the kids that it still tastes just as good!!! Thank goodness for grace.