mom's majick mox...

Here's the real story on the box...

She loves to get that box of cosmetics every month. She has always, as long as she has been self-propelled, had a fascination with things to decorate with - putting things on her face and painting her nails as soon as she could get the containers open. I have highly amusing photos of a three year old with brilliant blue eyeshadow in copious amounts generously applied across the top 1/3 of her face. A little girl who loved to plunder in her grandma's purse with the red lip color as her goal. So when her sister discovers Birch Box and has an assortment of new products, mostly in sample size, mailed to her every month, it is an anxiously awaited Big Deal upon arrival.

In an effort to get more information, from someone who stays very busy with her job, and life in general,  decided it would be interesting/amusing to send surprises in the same vein, to possibly help with a ongoing problem (ie: not enough time to plan a meal) plus get a response. So I have been reading recipe books, and have actually been doing so cooking: a rarity at my house, as I have been on strike for several years.   Looking for good things to eat that are fairly simple, with ingredients I could send, along with the recipe for assembly.

I'd read about something similar to the Birch Box in magazine months ago, and thought: that's a great idea, since it was food related. You could sign up and get a box once every four weeks that would supply a 'hard to find' ingredient, along with the recipe for some new dish to try. Plus some music to accompany the meal.

I was profoundly unimpressed with the thought of someone else choosing the music. And equally unimpressed with the idea of paying for the one exotic ingredient (with the recipient scrambling around to get everything else to complete the dish.) And especially unimpressed with the cost of all that stuff that was both superfluous and undesirable. So: I thought: DIY (with a bit of prompting from the sister/professional chef.)

Keep reading - you will be very amused when you get to the punch line ...

I've been reading, and testing. Tried out a really good recipe for a tomato casserole. That was so tasty I've actually made it twice. Once for us two as the guinea pigs, and again to take to a covered dish dinner. And in the interest of 'inquiring minds want to know', have found several other recipes that bear further research as I have perused cookbooks in recent weeks.

The one I copied, and actually practiced at home, taking it on a test drive before sending it in a box, was a chicken casserole. So I put three cans in the mail, along with a zip bag with a cup of rice, and the recipe. The receipent  would have to add perishables: cheese, onion and celery (if one so chooses to add something she finds so objectionable as celery!).  It was pretty good when we had it at home, and make enough leftovers for another meal...which would be useful for a family of two when taking a meal in a lunch box to work, to have for grab and go.

The reason it is called 'mom's majick mox' is because the idea started with the Birch Box, but it is from Mom. And it is majick in the sense that with the addition of some perishable ingredients, it turns into something you can put in the oven, on the table, and in your mouth. Plus it does come in a box, but the word 'box' needs to start with 'm' to be sufficiently alliterative.

I think I have written before about what a treasure I have found hand written recipes to be: when I go looking in my box of 3 x 5 cards for something I want to reproduce. And find the card, with handwritten recipe, from people who are not around to write, share recipes, or the end product any longer. So - in addition to something good to eat, there is the added bonus of the little 3 x 5 card that will linger for posterity long after the writer is gone...

The punch line is that the crazy mama mailed groceries - and the expense of the postage was even greater than the cost of the canned goods. Well worth the amusement generated in the process....