A Bit O' Nostalgia

I'm prepping stuff to make chili beans tomorrow. My grandma's recipe. While sorting the beans, I drifted into nostalgia, of course. Nothing too sad, just some fond memories of her puttering about the kitchen. The woman knew how to cook, and she expressed her love by feeding her family quite well.

Since she was pure Okie, she stuck mainly to the Midwestern classics, which included fried, fried, and more fried. Nah, she actually did make stuff without frying it. Some stuff. A few things.

I remember during the holidays, I would hang around the kitchen and watch her work. She would make EVERYTHING. Sometimes she would allow her daughters to help, but not always. Yet she always let me help her. Go figure. Maybe she realized that I would be an awesome cook someday. I still remember the time she let me make a homemade chocolate cake with chocolate frosting for Christmas dessert. I honestly didn't think it tasted that great, but my grandpa ate it. Maybe he was just being nice.

Then there was the time I made the pumpkin pie and it didn't set right. I was so disappointed, but my grandma didn't even care. She just made me make it over again. And this time, it worked. Now I make pumpkin pie like a champ.

Then there was the time that I burned the curd for lemon meringue pie. Didn't faze her. She just scrapped the curd and made a chocolate filling for it instead. I think she'd be pleased to know that now I can make lemon meringue pie without killing the filling, and that it's so good, I have to make two of them when we're in California, one for my husband and one for my dad. They'd go into steel cage death match mode if they didn't have their own separate pies.

She also made the most delicious fudge ever. That is one thing I have not perfected yet, but I'm still working on it. For the past couple of years, I've been trying to replicate the recipe, but I always wind up with chocolate sludge. Delicious over ice cream, and tastes exactly like what she used to make, but it won't set. Ah well, I'll get it one day or die trying.

It wasn't all sweets, though. Like I said above, I'm making her chili bean recipe tomorrow. With cornbread. She made some killer bacon gravy that is fantastic over biscuits. Fried okra, bread (oh, how I loved her bread), quick baked beans (fuck yeah, bacon!).....the list just goes on and on.

I'm glad I can reminisce about her now without crying. Right now I have a big smile on my face, just thinking about her in the kitchen, cooking enough food to feed a freakin' army. I guess it makes sense that she was so attached to food and cooking. Her life had not been easy (survivor of the Dust Bowl and the Great Depression), so food was no doubt a source of comfort for her. I remember that she would make three full meals a day. No wonder I was such a fatty when I was a kid. I'm sure the making of random snacks and experimenting in her kitchen didn't help.

But I wouldn't trade those memories for all the skinniness in the world.