M.A.K.

Sometimes... oftentimes anymore, it seems that when I try and move ahead, try and reach out in life, all that I find I can do is to pause and back up again, recede...retreat...hold myself inside and quietly accept what is. So in doing so once again, perhaps a  good place to start a recipe is to reach way back, to the hands of my grandmother, M. Adeline Knott, who I lovingly knew as Granny.

She was a really wise, cheery, quiet, humble person who I greatly admired and very much loved. Always, always offering a warm hug and something to eat, I often sought out her presence and enjoyed spending time with her and did so, even as a single man in my 20's in between breaks from photographic travelling assignments. She loved to hear the stories I brought home formed in the places I was back from and would often find humor and really delight in them and the 'adventurous' career I had in her mind. A true matriarch of our family, she was a pioneering and prosperous businesswoman in her lifelong career, was a kind person beyond compare and of course, a wonderful cook. Many treasured family recipes started with her and from those that she learned from. This dish is a take off of one of them...Sour Veal and Noodles.

For my version, I substituted chicken for the veal, making her traditional sauce of sour cream and paprika along with some other ingredients and sauteed cabbage (something she also served) for the noddles, completing it with a refreshing cold kale/goat cheese side salad. The flavors took me right back to her basic, but inviting kitchen from my youth and into some fond memories of what a nice place it was to be. After sitting down to eat, my thoughts were that I would only wish to be able to sit with her again. I would like my children to be able to do so... to have some continuity in our lives. Upon this reflection, I sadly reminded myself that there are always moments in life that we wish we could go back to, times we wished we could have a little more of. I have many such 'moments' myself and today, time with her is certainly one of them.