Judy Sku the Gourmet Chef

This weekend was pretty low key.   I went to the gym, had lunch with my old college roommates and caught up on the NBC show Parenthood (which I love and sometimes wish I had a big family like that, dysfunction and all).  

When I left on Saturday to have lunch my mom, a.k.a Judy Sku, had taken out the Christmas decorations.   When I got back almost 4 hours later she was still putting up decorations; this time with a glass of wine in hand.  

Me: How’s it going?
Judy Sku: Okay.  It’s stressful.
Me: Then why are you doing it?
Judy Sku: I don’t know.

I’m not sure why but I don’t find joy in Christmas decorations.  You will never find me “oohing and ahhing” over a Christmas tree.  I’ve seen the infamous Time Square tree in New York and I wasn’t all that impressed.  My old roommates Kelley and Shannon LOVED Christmas decorations.  They would put on Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas is You” and would put tinsel all over.  Me being Scrooge, I was usually found in my room with the door shut.  I never understood why.  Maybe this was inherited and I’m only now realizing this at the age of 28?

Anyways, after the decorations were done it was time to make minestrone soup.  It was a soup recipe her and I had used during my semi-retired summer.   (For those that like to cook you can find the recipe here.)    This time she was on her own and she hates cooking.  It's also not one of her strengths.  Macaroni&Cheese out of the box has ended up in the garbage with a subsequent trip to McDonalds.  

Judy Sku had just finished her second glass of wine and was about to have an amaretto on the rocks.   I decided to grab a beer out of the fridge so she wasn’t drinking alone.   

It was time to dish up.   I looked in the pot and noticed green pods.  I didn’t think anything of it at first assuming it was pea pods.  Weird, yes but it just didn’t register that it would be anything different.

I sit down and begin to eat when I take a closer look at the pea pods....they are edamame in the shell!  (For those that maybe don’t know edamame are soybeans.   I’ve mostly had them in Japanese restaurants as an appetizer.  You definitely do not eat the shell.)  What happened next went something like this:

Me: Are these edamame?
Judy Sku: Yep.
Me: MOM, you do not eat edamame in the shell.
Judy Sku: But you told me once that you like edamame in the shell so that's what I bought.
Me: Yes.  For an appetizer not in my food!   You don’t eat the shell!!!!
Judy Sku: Well, but that’s what you told me!
Bob (a.k.a my dad):  Is that what this is?

I look over and my dad is making this horrible face and is spitting out the green shell.  He continued for the next few minutes picking out every shell and laughing.

A home cooked meal with the Skusters.   You know you're jealous.  I would be.