Good morning. It’s Mother’s Day weekend for all those who celebrate, which is many of us, even if she’s been gone a few years now and didn’t like the holiday anyway. Mom’s getting younger, in memory, and we’re getting older to meet her at the pass. The relationship’s deepening. It’s easier to understand some of her tics and motivations now, her points of view.
For instance: What a bother this holiday is, with its forced cheer, overpriced restaurant mimosas and saccharine greeting cards. Better to stay home, look at old pictures and cook delicious things. We’ll get to tea sandwiches and cucumber sandwiches for Sunday brunch. In the meantime, though, how about a platter of three-cup chicken (above) for dinner tonight?
This is Taiwanese home cooking of distinction, simple and flavorful, easy to riff on and excellent alongside a pile of fluffy rice. (The name comes from the three liquids used to flavor the dish: sesame oil, soy sauce and rice wine.) Take a look at the comments readers added to the recipe. My favorite: “I made a mistake by reading everyone’s notes first to see the variations and suggestions. I finally followed the original recipe and all I can tell you is that I can’t wait to cook it again. One of the best!”
Featured Recipe
Three-Cup Chicken
Then, come morning, you can deliver mother breakfast in bed. Doing so on Saturday as well as Sunday is a pro move: She won’t see the first one coming, and the pleasures of that are uncommonly fine.
In this endeavor, Melissa Clark’s French toast protocol is worth following. Go shortcut-style on Saturday, with her brown sugar sheet-pan French toast, crisped at the edges, and then follow it up the next day with her spectacular showstopper version of the same dish: lemon soufflé French toast. It’s just one man’s opinion, but both should be accompanied by fresh berries and oven-crisped bacon.
Other things to cook this weekend: a curried roast chicken with grapefruit, honey and thyme; fresh and wild mushroom stew; bulgogi-style tofu; and a strawberry and cream layer cake for dessert on Sunday night, after, say, a Waldorf salad. Here’s to you, Mom!
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Now, it’s a far cry from anything to do with rhubarb or molasses, but my Dennis Lehane kick continues. I thought I’d reread his 2001 crime novel, “Mystic River,” but doing so made me realize I’d actually never read the book, I’d only seen the 2003 movie, which I loved. The novel’s great!
Also on the criminal beat, “Deliver Me,” a new limited series on Netflix that’s set in Sweden. Children in deep trouble, adults trying to help (and harm), with lots and lots of “[tense music builds slowly].”
The artist Frank Stella died last week at 87. Peter Schjeldahl wrote about him for The New Yorker. “What you see is what you see,” Stella famously said. Here’s Schjeldahl on that: “His was a formalist gospel, forbidding interpretation.”
Finally, there’s a new Miranda Lambert single, “Wranglers.” It’s classic Lambert. She sets those jeans on fire. (They take forever to burn.) Enjoy that while you’re cooking and I’ll see you on Sunday.
