But if you ever come this way, look for me.” I can’t tell you how to get to the Castle Yonder because I don’t know where it is. I get plenty to drink too, so don’t worry. It is made of salami and that is my favorite. Every day I eat a mop, twice on Saturday. I am very experienced now and very famous. You are not surprised, are you? I’ll leave you with this note from the end of Higglety-Pigglety Pop!Īs you probably noticed, I went away forever. As far as Maurice was concerned, the food could be fancy, it could be plain, it could be sweet or sour…it just had to be good and as often as possible, shared with the people who matter to you.

Maurice loved roast chicken, pasta with arugula and lemon, apple cinnamon pound cake, and Leonidas chocolates for any occasion-he was happy to make one up if need be.įood is how we show care and attention and trust without having to say a word. There were tuna salad sandwiches scarfed down on the 30 block walk to the Met and the long trek down to the Flat Iron area to get pastry-wrapped Kosher hot dogs and knishes. I don’t remember much except that the waiter was intimidating and we had Grand Marnier Chocolate Souffle for dessert. In the thirty years we were friends, many of our visits together centered around food. You are not surprised, are you? This is the man who brought us In the Night Kitchen with its warm cake and cool milk and remember “mix it once, mix it twice, mix that Chicken Soup With Rice? And of course, after the rumpus and the roars and the sailing across a day and weeks, what does Max come home to in Where The Wild Things Are but his supper, waiting for him, still hot! Maurice firmly believed that food = love. Jwould have been Maurice Sendak’s 85th birthday, so let’s talk about food because Maurice loved food with a deep and abiding love. I asked his dear friend Toni, who knew him so very well, if she would share some of her delicious memories with us.

So much as already been said about Maurice that I will only add that in addition to creating some of the most brilliant books the world has ever seen, he made it impossible for me to ever have a bowl of chicken soup with rice and not think about him and smile.Īs you may know, we lost him just about a year ago, and it’s still hard for me to believe he’s not out there, sitting at his kitchen table with his faithful German Shepherd at his feet. “Sprinkle once, sprinkle twice, sprinkle chicken soup with rice”….read the wonderful book by Maurice Sendak and then make this easy recipe for chicken soup with rice!Īmong the many amazing people I have been lucky enough to know, two of the most amazing are my friend Toni Markiet, and the extraordinary Maurice Sendak.

Chicken soup with rice board book