By Mia is eight months old and crawling. Angela reports this with the particular exhaustion of a mother whose child has discovered mobility — the house-proofing, the constant vigilance, the particular physics of an eight-month-old who can move but has not yet developed the judgment to avoid the things she's moving toward. Mia crawls toward everything. Mia crawls especially toward the kitchen, toward the sounds of cooking, toward the steam and the sizzle, the baby Santos drawn to the kitchen the way all Santos are drawn to the kitchen — magnetically, inevitably, genetically.
Lourdes is delighted by the crawling. "She's coming to the kitchen," Lourdes says every time Mia crawls kitchenward. "She knows where the food is." The interpretation is Lourdes's: the baby is not exploring; the baby is navigating to the food. The food is the destination. The crawling is the journey. The kitchen is where all Santos journeys end.
I made arroz caldo and brought it to Angela's house — the ginger rice porridge, the baby-adjacent food, the porridge that Mia can't eat yet but that fills the kitchen with the smell of ginger and warmth and the particular Santos atmosphere that Mia is absorbing, even at eight months, even before she can articulate what the smells mean. The smells are the first lessons. The lessons are the inheritance.
Arroz caldo is the thing I made that day, but this corn pudding is the thing I keep coming back to when I want the kitchen to smell like something soft and warm and worth crawling toward. It’s the same idea — simple ingredients, a little patience, and a dish that turns the whole house into a destination. Mia can’t eat this yet either, but she’ll get there, and when she does, I want her to already know what it smells like.
Old Fashioned Corn Pudding
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 2 cans (15 oz each) whole kernel corn, drained
- 1 can (15 oz) cream-style corn
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 1 box (8.5 oz) cornbread mix
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven. Set your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
- Combine the wet ingredients. In a large bowl, stir together the drained whole kernel corn, cream-style corn, sour cream, melted butter, and beaten eggs until well combined.
- Add the cornbread mix. Fold in the cornbread mix, salt, and pepper, stirring just until everything is incorporated. Do not overmix.
- Pour into the baking dish. Transfer the batter into the prepared dish and spread it evenly.
- Bake until set and golden. Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the center is set. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
- Rest before serving. Let the pudding cool for 10 minutes before scooping. It will firm up slightly as it rests.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 340 | Protein: 7g | Fat: 19g | Carbs: 38g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 620mg