I never cook a thing unless I’m wearing my red plaid apron. I made it a few years back out of some plaid taffeta I had kicking around and I made a tablecloth out of the remainder of the fabric. Therefore, from thanksgiving to easter I usually match the tablecloth. When I am hosting a dinner party or whatever, I usually wear basic black because it looks great with the red plaid taffetta. Very festive. It becomes my outfit for the evening. Rather like a scarf but I’d look pretty silly wearing a scarf to bake and cook and cleanup.
The best part is the big row of huge pockets that hem the lower 8 inches of the skirt. Deep, huge pockets for storing a phone, or a tissue or some werthers chewy carmels, a hair clip which is so often needed in the kitchen, a grocery list, the jewelry I take off when I mix pastry or some money that I forget about and find months later. I dance around the kitchen like I’d won the lottery for a $5 bill.
I’ve ruined many an outfit in my day by working in the kitchen without an apron so my favorite apron goes on every single time now that I’m older and wiser. It washes like a damn too. There is just something about my apron. It makes me feel so Martha Stewartish. Interestingly enough my last name IS Stewart and my apron is the Stewart plaid. I really need a new or another apron and I have miles of fabric in the basement but….this plaid. I am very temped to cut up the tablecloth to make another apron.
Oh the delectable delights I have made in my red plaid apron. I’ve made croissants, macarons, croque Monsieur, homemade pasta, pies, tarts, all sorts of cookies and loafs. Macaroons, stir fry, chicken pot pie, salmon wellington, souffle, Whole 30 fare, Daniel plan recipes, WW recipes, gingerbread houses and cakes. I’ve made cakes and cupcakes and butter cream icing as topping. I’ve made risotto with wine and mushrooms. I’ve made soups and bread. I’ve made cinnamon buns and Yorkshire pudding.
Most of the time I’m just Geri or mom or honey or darling daughter ( as my mom so affectionately calls me), but when that red plaid apron goes on I may as well be the Barefoot Contessa or Nigella Lawson. Something transpires when I’m in my red plaid apron and I start feeling I’m invincible in the kitchen, my favorite room in the house. Especially in this new house. It’s like my kitchen is the bridge of a great ship and from that bridge I can see everyone that comes or goes. I can survey the entire main floor and do not feel in any way confined. My kitchen bridge is where everyone yells as they come in the door ‘what can I eat?’ The bridge is where I lovingly provide sustenance for my family.
Very often it seems like I am the only one that can cook around here. I often dream what it would be like to come home and someone has prepared a full meal of my favorite things. Just to eat something made by someone else. If that is such a dream to me how special it must feel when my family or friends come over and I have prepared something nostalgic, comforting and nutritious just for them? I love to do this. Cooking for others. Providing good food and fellowship – this is what my red plaid apron enables me to do.
A house full of hungry, grateful people is my dream. I feel especially blessed when they sit up to my red plaid tablecloth and the bridge gets eerily quiet as everyone becomes too busy in the business of eating and savouring to speak. There will be plenty of time for talk when the food is enjoyed and sustenance provided. First things first.
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The Red Plaid Apron 