Thirty Years Later

Imagine my surprise when I opened today’s Post to the Food Section and saw a name from the past. I had heard that Molly Marino had established herself as a successful private chef, but my memory of her was from long ago.

One of the first things we did when moving to our current house in 1977 was to join the neighborhood pool. It was a wonderful escape from the DC summer heat and it was still a time when I loved to lie out in the sun.

That first summer we often parked ourselves on the grassy area up near the deep end. We watched as a very determined toddler with “dogears” went off the diving board over and over and over again until she had perfected her jump. Each time she would dog paddle over to the side, jump out, and do it again. That was young Molly Marino, age 2-1/2.

As she grew older she would embrace swimming with a vengeance, with the often loud encouragement of her father who virtually ran the neighborhood swim team. From her earliest years, Molly and her older brothers excelled at swimming. She still holds records at the Arlington Aquatic Club and at Swarthmore College. I was not surprised to see that in 2007 she ranked 9th in the country in the 1000-meter freestyle for women age 30-34.

But somewhere along the way she went to culinary school and has obviously done extremely well with her education. Her interest seems to be in making healthy food that suits people’s likes and lifestyles, even catering to special surprises in the children’s lunchboxes.

I can imagine a typical day finds her at the market early selecting fresh food for the day’s menu, going to the pool for a few thousand meters of workout, and then heading back to a fabulous kitchen to make dinner for an adoring family.

Kudos to Molly for her ability to find a path that combines things she loves to do!

Meanwhile I’m dying to try her black-eyed pea hummus (even though I vowed never to eat another such pea after I left the South), sweet potato salad, toasted tortillas, and sparkling limeade! Recipes on page F8 of today’s Post.