Food: Clam Chowder
Life Lessons: Cooking
Family Relationships: Mother-Daughter
What a Piece of Work I Am, Chapter 10:
Making chowder was the only homely skill her mother had taught her, but she had taught her everything about it, the art and craft and philosophy of it. She called her chowder pot “the cauldron,” and as she cooked she talked. The time that Ariane spent with her in the kitchen was the only time when nothing stood between them.
“It was just—the way my mother made it,” she said, since the whole of it was beyond explaining in a minute or two, to Porky, tonight.
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You can listen to the episodes on the Personal History podcast. Begin at the beginning or scroll through the episodes to find what you’ve missed. The Substack podcast reading of Little Follies begins here; Herb ’n’ Lorna begins here; Reservations Recommended begins here; Where Do You Stop? begins here; What a Piece of Work I Am begins here.
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