By Chemistry midterm grade: A-. Not an A, but the distance between B+ and A- is the distance between last semester and this one, and the distance was traveled by effort. I called MawMaw Shirley. She said, "What happened to the other point?" This is her brand. I love it. I told Priya, who got a B+, and she said "How?" and I said, "Dr. Nguyen's office hours," and Priya said, "I am going to every office hour for the rest of the semester," and she did. She will. Priya is a woman of her word.
I have started thinking about next year — sophomore year, fall 2023 — and specifically about moving off campus. The dorm has been fine. The dorm kitchen has been essential. But I want a kitchen that is mine — not communal, not shared with forty people, not closed for pipe renovations. A kitchen with a stove that does not tilt and a counter that can hold both a cutting board and a toaster simultaneously. This is not a luxury. This is a requirement. I am a cook. A cook without a kitchen is a doctor without an exam room. The space is the practice.
Mama said she would help with the apartment search in the spring. Daddy said, "How much?" which is Marcus Robinson for "I love you and I am worried about money and those two things live in the same sentence always." I told him I would work more tutoring hours. He said, "Good." The conversation lasted four sentences. All of them meant everything.
I made shrimp étouffée in the dorm kitchen — the full version, MawMaw Shirley's recipe, three hours of work in a kitchen that does not deserve three hours of work but received them anyway because the recipe does not lower its standards for the venue. The smell traveled through the third floor and into the second floor and a girl I have never met knocked on the kitchen door and said, "Can I have some of whatever that is?" I gave her a bowl. Her name is Latrice. She is an art major from Opelousas. She ate the étouffée and closed her eyes and said, "This tastes like home." I have never been to Opelousas. But étouffée does not need a specific home. It is home itself, portable and democratic, and anyone who eats it is, for the duration of the bowl, from Louisiana.
The étouffée was the star that night — it always is — but MawMaw Shirley never sent you to the table with just one thing, and every bowl of étouffée I have ever eaten in her kitchen came with something to press into the sauce, to slow down the eating and stretch out the good. Cornbread is that something. I made a pan of it right alongside the étouffée, because a cook without a full table is only halfway done, and because Latrice from Opelousas deserved the whole meal, not just the bowl.
Sweet Cornbread
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 25 minutes | Total Time: 35 minutes | Servings: 9
Ingredients
- 1 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 2 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat oven to 400°F. Grease an 8x8-inch baking pan or a 9-inch cast iron skillet with butter or cooking spray.
- Combine dry ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until evenly combined.
- Mix wet ingredients. In a separate bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, eggs, melted butter, and honey until smooth.
- Fold together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined — a few small lumps are fine. Do not overmix or the cornbread will be tough.
- Pour and bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Bake for 22–25 minutes, until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Rest and serve. Let the cornbread cool in the pan for at least 5 minutes before slicing. Serve warm, ideally alongside something saucy that deserves a good piece of bread to go with it.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 220 | Protein: 5g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 31g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 210mg