COOKING FOR FAMILY

They stand head and shoulders over me! On the left is my son, Daniel, then his two sons, Nico, 15, and Lucas, 18. On the far right is my son, Benjamin, and next to him, his son, Leo, who is 19. All five are 6-foot or over. 

 Are these giant people really related to me? My two sons are six-foot and a fraction. Two of their sons are six-one and a fraction and, the tallest, six-five! It can’t all be genes (my sons’ father was not a tall man; the mothers of my grandsons are not especially tall women). 

Good nutrition? I grew up short, in Illinois, in the post World War II years. My kids grew up tall in the 70s on Spanish food. The grandsons are still growing, one here in Spain, the other two in Atlanta, GA. They’re all eating at my table this week. This is both a joy and a chaotic, frantic scramble to keep sufficient quantities of food on hand and to keep up with all the comings and goings of busy teens. 

Lunch: tuna-mac with Daniel and his wife, Eli. 

We are seven at table. “You never cook enough food,” said Ben, my younger son. “Cook twice as much as you think you need, then add rice, pasta and bread.” Here's how it's going.

Day 1. For lunch, a huge bowl of tuna-mac, pasta salad with tuna, but dressed with ponzu instead of mayo. For dinner, one of my go-to dishes, arroz con pollo, chicken with rice. I did the prepping while everyone was napping away their jetlag. 

Arroz con pollo.

Day 2. The whole gang spends the day at the beach. They send me pictures on WhatsAp of the grilled octopus and sea bass they're eating at a beach chiringuito. I’m allergic to sun, so I stay home and roast four chickens—with the air conditioning going during the hours when electricity rates are lowest (3-5 in the afternoon).  I vary the herb rub for the chickens. This time it is za’atar, lemon, garlic and olive oil. Once cooled, I slice the breasts to serve with pita bread, tahina and cucumber tzatziki.

I make sides of my favorite Moroccan eggplant dish, zeilouk (pictured at right),  and a heap of cous cous taboulleh.  For dessert, not-Basque burnt cheesecake, stored in the freezer because no one was here to eat it a month ago. 

Day 3. The family meets me in town after my aerobics class for breakfast at a café in the plaza. For lunch, I’m so glad when Ben steps up to make lunch—nasi goreng, a fried rice dish he learned to love on surfing trips to Indonesia. After spooning on super-hot sambal, they are all soon breathing fire. They have dinner at a friend’s house. I happily eat leftovers and enjoy the silence.

Day 4. Daniel does breakfast for everyone. Eggs fried in pairs, or in Nico’s case, threes, plus bacon, toast, tomatoes. They’ve just gone through more than a dozen eggs! I put eggs on the list. Eli cuts a watermelon into chunks for everyone to help themselves. Breakfast is late enough that it can serve as lunch.  And, off to the beach.

I’ve got the whole afternoon to make meatballs in almond sauce, albóndigas con salsa de almendras (shown at left), using almost 3 pounds of ground chicken thighs. I will serve them with rice as well as fries, a big salad and a side of chard with pine nuts.

Finally, the evening is cool enough to eat on the terrace.  From the left, Nico, Lucas and Leo, waiting for food to be served.

Day 5. Nico and I make poke bowls for lunch with tuna and wakame salad. Leo and Nico go off to shoot hoops in the late afternoon and Lucas goes to soccer practice with the local football team. (Lucas, a goal keeper, will play with the Amherst College team in the fall.) A heap of chicken legs and other leftovers will assuage hunger when they finally get home. 

Days 6 and 7. The family of four goes off to Sevilla, where Lucas will meet up with some friends from his high school. Nico, Daniel and Eli use the hotel pool and spa until late evening when the streets are cool enough for strolling. Sevilla reaches 42ºC—almost 108ºF in the afternoon! 

Day 8. Hectic comings and goings. Eli to Málaga for shopping. She  meets up with Lucas at the train station. He returned from Sevilla on the high-speed AVE train. I’ve planned a big taco dinner with pulled pork and chicken with homemade taco sauce, salsa with homegrown jalapeño, guacamole, beans, rice, etc. But I forgot about soccer practice. They return in shifts. I sit down to eat with the first round and leave all the food out for the rest, who don't return until after 11 p.m.

Day 9. After a week off, Ben returns to his job at Puerto Banus and shows the family around the marina. Daniel drives Leo back to his mum’s house in Sotogrande. I might not see Leo again before he goes off to Plymouth University next month. The family has lunch at a venta, a roadside eatery, serving a menu del dia—starter, main dish, dessert—for about €11.00. Not bad for Marbella’s Golden Mile.

Day 10. I am preparing turkey kebabs marinated in hibiscus BBQ sauce (recipe from New York Times Food) to cook on the grill. But, plans change. The family is off somewhere. Daniel grew up in this village and so has lots of friends to connect with. Lucas has one more soccer practice before he leaves. Ben and I eat kebabs.

Day 11. I make tomato gazpacho using ground almonds instead of bread as a thickener. We all sit down to lunch with gazpacho, kebabs, rice, salad, kidney bean-corn salad, sliced ham, fresh bread, watermelon. The AC is keeping us cool on a very hot day.

Dinner out tonight! We go to a nearby venta converted to a grill restaurant, Los Condes, with extended family we're a table of nine. We enjoy everything from salmon, to lamb chops to ibérico pork to duck breast to entrecôte. 

Day 12. Packing. I fix breakfast for Lucas and Nico. Roast chicken again tonight for whomever is home. It’s sure going to be quiet when they leave! I wonder how much they’ll grow before I see them again?

On a previous visit, in 2013.

Same guys, 10 years later, summer 2023. (From the left, Lucas, Leo, Nico, Ben and Daniel.)

More cooking for family:

2010 Food Critics, Junior Division.

2013 Kid Stuff.

2016 The Churros Gang.