Anne Coleman: Food writer, recipe developer, mother of seven (seven!) children, genetically predisposed cookbook-collector, Short Order Mom for DisneyFamily.com … and kind enough to make time to share her kitchen and kitchen stories with Where We Cook. (Thanks, Anne!)
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Where We Cook Interview with Anne Coleman:
Kitchen style?
Hectic, varied and classic all at the same time.
Inspiration?
Seven children, a picky husband and a culinary diploma.
Best thing?
That it’s mine. I shared a kitchen for years with my mother-in-law and although I loved aspects of it, the fact that it was never truly my own space was difficult. Now I’m free to create as I please – and I do.
Your indulgence?
The KitchenAid stand mixer. It was given to me, but I still find that it’s not completely necessary. I spent so many years kneading my own bread and whipping my own egg whites and cream that I sometimes forget that it’s there.
What would you change?
More counter space! That seems to be the boon of every cook I know. We all need more room. Most common aromas? Garlic, olive oil and yeast.
Cookbooks?
I have a collection of nearly 200 cookbooks and I’m not sure how many booklets and magazines. My mother had a collection of over 1,500 at one time; it’s got to be genetic.
Most unusual item?
Not unusual, but very individual is the lamp over our table. It’s a stained glass version that my father-in-law made. We cherish it much as he is no longer with us. It’s like having him at the dinner table each night.
Childhood kitchen memories?
In my family, our togetherness and love was so connected to food that it’s hard to choose just one memory. Up there with the best is my maternal grandmother’s kitchen. Nothing special to look at, she even had the washer and dryer in the corner of the room, but the love there was incomparable. We spent our summers in her kitchen and on warm summer evenings with the smells of corn fields floating in through the open windows and sounds of crickets and katydids chirping, the red-ripe and juicy tomatoes from her garden tasted all the better because of where we were.
Favorite kitchen to visit today?
My mother-in-law’s. My own mom has stopped cooking because of health issues, so my husband’s mom has been the only kitchen we visit – and happily so; she is a wonderful cook who loves to try new things and succeeds well at it.
Childhood play kitchen?
We played in the real kitchen – making things that we shouldn’t and most likely wasting food my mom needed. She never scolded us, though – just let us create and learn. The first thing I ever ‘made’ was a glass of sugarless iced tea when I was all of 3 years old.
In the kitchen with you?
My oldest daughter will stand and watch me cook and chat with me while I get my work done. The smaller children run in and out asking for food and generally getting underfoot.
Kitchen playlist?
I don’t listen to music when I cook simply because I don’t have any radio etc. there. I sang when I was younger and I still do it while I cook – lots of show tunes.
Julia Child’s kitchen is now in the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Where would you like your kitchen to be displayed one day?
Maybe in a local museum because by then I’d become a local icon. I doubt it will happen, but you never know.
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About Anne:
Anne Coleman
Lehigh Valley, PA, USA
Website: http://cookingwithanne.com
Blog: http://www.athousandsoups.blogspot.com
On Disney’s Family.com: http://family.go.com/food/pkg-cheap-eats
Twitter: http://twitter.com/anniepooh
