Lamb chops + pea shoots = Mother's Day

"Someone set the table." I can't begin to count how many times I heard my mother shout that from the kitchen as she finished up making dinner. Well, now as I an adult, I find myself longing for those simple days of coming home and not having to think about preparing dinner. On weekends, however, making dinner becomes a project that I look forward to all week. For Mother's Day weekend, I decided to set the table for Mom—without being asked to do so—with a dish that she loves to eat but would never make for herself: lamb chops with mint-parsley sauce.

Our new house upstate is where Mom lives full time, and Fred, Vivi, and I spend our weekends. We all went into this little "project" of living together after my Dad died and Mom was on her own. We pooled the little bit of money that we had and bought an old farm house with an attached apartment in a sleepy, little hamlet in the farm country of upstate New York. Not too far from where I grew up, but a very different way of life.

This weekend we all went on a two-hour driving tour of the farmland in search of pea shoots. I had become obsessed with the idea of having these tender little sprouts with lemon and shrimp. But then when I realized it was Mother's Day, I had to change it up a little for mom and the shrimp became lamb chops and the lemon became mint. The mint came from a patch growing like crazy in the backyard, and the pea shoots came from Little Seeds Farm via the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store. I insisted on driving all of us up to Harlemville to go to the farm store specifically for pea shoots. Well, guess what? Nobody objected, and we all went along on a little journey.

Well, the bigger journey of having three generations of my family living under one roof has been a great experience. Watching Mom teach Vivi how to plant pansies, eating dinner together at the same table that I ate dinner at when I was growing up, and going through boxes of old photos have all become memories as indelible as the original moments. Being able to share the experience of getting to know a new neighborhood and live in a new house with not only my partner and daughter but also my mother has turned out to be a richer experience than I ever thought.

So, Mom, on this Mother's Day, enjoy a table set especially for you. This meal is filled with love and appreciation of all those dinners you made for me.