cook

I adore fresh peas but must admit, I didn't grow up eating them.  Since moving to Los Angeles inthe 70s, my mother's idea of luxury was being able to stock the GE freezer with frozen vegetables and meat.  No one we knew in Japan owned a refrigerator with a big freezer.  The norm was to shop for fresh foods everyday.  But as soon as we moved into our new surroundings, we adapted rather quickly to America.

We found going to the supermarket a real adventure.  I was in awe with the frozen foods section. Stocked with a variety of ice creams and popsicles in bright  colors of blue, yellow, greenand orange. Pizza, TV dinners, pies, fish sticks and frozen vegetables.  I helped mother load up the shopping cart.  When American people invited us to their homes, they often took us on a tour of their house; some people even showed us what was inside their freezers.  Our next door neighbor kept meat of a half a cow in their basement freezer.  She told us you could order the meat of a whole cow if you wanted.  My mother was thrilled to live the American dream.  She went all out frozen.  (she also went all out Campbelll soup but that's another story).

Frozen vegetables became mother's indispensable food item. A whole box of green-giant often went straight into the pot or wok and there it was  a lovely vegetable soup or fried rice, ready to be eaten by her five hunger children.  Flavor? They didn't taste much like real vegetables but my mother's frozen peas into the fried rice actually enhanced the dish. The fried rice was put together so quickly that the peas were never given a chance to fully defrost. Sometime I'd bite into a still frozen pea and it would sting my teeth.  As awful as this may sound, I rather enjoyed the cold sensation. Fried rice with frozen peas was my favorite after school snack. 

Of course, you cannot compare fresh peas to frozen peas. I was invited over to my friends, Russ and Kathy's for dinner the other night and they served us a bowl of beautiful fresh peas with home grown miniature carrots. I am sure they spent a good hour or more shucking the peas. They must really love us. I kept asking for another helping but soon they ran out. Wanting to replicate the fresh peas dish, I went to the farmer's market the next morning and bought several pounds of fresh peas.  I am in good shape for a week. Lots of shucking to do.