Kate Lebo
Claim to foodie fame: Cook, Poet, Poetry Editor (Filter), Radio Commentator (KUOW), Pie Contest Winner, Zine Publisher (A Commonplace Book of Pie) — not necessarily in that order.
Quote: Once I almost ruined Christmas by making green bean casserole from scratch. Who knew the only thing between nostalgic gluttony and total culinary disaster was that lovely canned flavor of French's green beans and onions?
What is the first taste you remember?
Soft almondy S-cookies. That's probably not their real name — I'm pretty sure they're called S-cookies just by toddlers and mothers — but as you can imagine, they're S-shaped, sweet, and the perfect texture for baby teeth.
What is your idea of comfort food?
Apple pie. Sometimes it doesn't even have to be good apple pie. I once got that swoony, satisfied feeling from a bite of Starbucks apple streudel. Apparently, all the comfort I need is cinnamon-scented fruit and pastry.
How did your family honor food traditions in your household?
Around the holidays we'd militantly require certain foods whether we liked them or not, just because they made Christmas feel more like Christmas. Beef stroganoff for Christmas Eve, followed by pumpkin pie and a heated game of Scrabble. Cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning made by my mother and only my mother, because anyone else's cinnamon rolls were not Christmas-y enough. My grandmother makes this amazing/horrifying Jello concoction we called Christmas Jello — that one, I really like. It's a layer of strawberry Jello with mashed bananas and strawberries, a layer of sweetened cream cheese, then another layer of fruit-studded Jello.
Once I almost ruined Christmas by making green bean casserole from scratch. Who knew the only thing between nostalgic gluttony and total culinary disaster was that lovely canned flavor of French's green beans and onions? Now, when we experiment, we do it with dessert. As long as the sweet is covered in whipped cream, my family will eat it.
Who first taught you how to cook or inspired in you a love of food and cooking?
My folks are both food-obsessed in entirely different ways, and I think my cooking ethos is a mixture of theirs.
My mother eats to live. She's been on one health-food kick or another for as long as I can remember, the result of which is that she makes the best salads I've ever had and has indoctrinated me in the Church of Four Food Groups. Even when I'm attempting to cook gourmet, I have to find some way to sneak a carrot or hunk of protein or whatever the dish is missing into the recipe.
My dad lives to eat. He loves potato chips and ham sandwiches, and cooking intricate exotic foods with grocery lists the size of mail-order catalogs, and deconstructing restaurant dishes so he can make them for us at home. From him I learned to enjoy cooking as much as I enjoy eating.
Share an example of one of your family food traditions.
Though she doesn't cook for us anymore, my grandmother is always in charge of the gravy. When she visits for dinner, she even brings a slurry of cornstarch and water with her. For most of meal prep she sits at the counter with a gin and tonic while my folks cook, but when the drippings are ready, they clear out of the kitchen and let her do her thing.
What is your favorite dish or meal to cook?
Pie, of course, but I'm an extreme enthusiast so you probably could guess that. I love the tactile and delicate nature of making dough, how I have to use my hands and senses to make sure it turns out right every time. It reminds me of sculpture, or of choosing how to interpret a particular piece of piano music. My intellect lets go and my instincts take over. It's that surrender, and the sweet reward at the end. That's why I love making pie.
If you could invite anyone to your holiday dinner — living, dead, or imaginary — who would it be?
My family is very close, and it's perhaps for that reason that I don't particularly like having non-family members over for Thanksgiving dinners. We're also far-flung across the United States, with most of us in Nebraska and Iowa. I'd love, just once, to have all of them in one room together, teasing and arguing and celebrating their thanks.
Grandma Lebo's Christmas Jello
Recipe courtesy of Loretta Lebo; read the full post over on Kate's blog, Good Egg.
Ingredients:
2 to 3 ounces of strawberry Jello (we use two small packages)
3 cups boiling water
16 ounces of frozen strawberries with juice
8 ounces of crushed pineapple with juice
3 large or 4 small mashed bananas
8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/4 cup cream or milk
Sugar to taste (Grandma used two packets of Equal)
Preparation:
Stir the Jello into boiling water until dissolved. Add the strawberries, pineapple, and mashed bananas. Pour half of the mixture into a 9x9 baking pan and freeze until set (but not frozen!), about 20 minutes.
With an electric mixture on medium, blend the cream cheese, cream, and sugar together until smooth. Once the Jello in the freezer has set, spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the top. Then pour the other half of the still-liquid Jello over all and refrigerate until set, preferably overnight.
Cut into squares and serve like cake.
