Our stack of comments got wobbly, so here we are in a new place with fresh footing...
Margaret's comment got me going. I said, "whoa": I don't think of loaves of bread when I think of Mamama, only of her non-pareil dinner rolls. And, of course, the closely related cinnamon rolls.
Other than that I really don't think of food at all in relation to my childhood at 112 Charles (as opposed to that childhood in Jefferson, which holds vivid memories of the cookie jar with paper-thin molasses cookies.( Did Mother make those and, if so, why were they never in San Antonio?) Of hand-turned peach ice cream, the peaches from the yard; and, oh yes, the malted-milk ice cream cones that have been replicated only in the Grand Place in Brussels, of all places.
Which is not to say I don't have any Jones food favorites. Fig preserves Oh, yes, hers were the best. Liver and onions? Hmmm hmmm good. I miss that still, since no one else I know has any wish for such at all. The last time I ate them was while pregnant with Sarah. D.C. had (has?) a cafeteria that served terrific liver and onions, near my office, and I used to go there once a week or so because iron was good for growing babies. Wayne and I took a long, laborious (apt word, that) from the hospital to the cafeteria in the hope of coaxing out our overdue Sarah. I was so exhausted from the difficult "false" labor (don't get me started on "false" labor!) that tears were streaming down my cheeks and people on the street must have been certain that Wayne was refusing to "do right" by me.
But none of this is what I said a couple of hours ago. Not at all. What I said before, in the post that never made it to the posting, led me to conclude that Mother didn't really have much to do with us and food. But she had everything to do with us and this blog, with our doing it, with us as adults still striving to stay in touch, to be a family. Not nothing, that.
I should start another thread since I'm inserting a bit of a turn in the conversation. But maybe not.
ReplyDeleteWhat this has me wondering about is the function of memory related to age (or not) and related to position in family. The younger ones could add a bit about that from their experience/perspective. (Because there is 10 years between me and Pam we frequently have different memories from 112 Charles Rd. In a way, we really did grow up in different families. So I've come to accept or expect our differences.)
More directly related to Twinkie's post: those gingersnaps were MeMe's--I have her recipe. Trying to reproduce them is like trying to reproduce Velda's apple cookies! And I remember fondly mom's Sunday roast beef. Yumm. Her pecan pie ranks right up there with her fig preserves. I think she cooked vegetables well, but being the first child I never liked the vegetables except for her turnip greens (with vinegar and fresh chopped onions). I do think her vegetable cooking had a very positive influence on both Twinkie and Pam--which they have sucessfully passed on to their little ones. I did not learn to eat vegetables until Jim came into the family--so Ben is the only one of my boys who enjoys vegetables. (Kenny eats his vegetables but that is because he eats EVERYTHING!)
Twinkie,
ReplyDeleteI have sooo many food memories from MaMaMa's kitchen...of course you nailed the top 3-dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls and oh-liver and onions! I would gladly eat meat again for that meal! I spent many mornings at the kitchen table with a thick slice of homemade wheat bread and preserves...but what about her pralines and her cookies and she would let me help her with her fresh pasta...
When we were in Cambridge last year we found a place that sold Chelsea Buns that reminded me so much of MaMaMa's that I was nearly brought to tears. All this food talk is making me very hungry!
I remember all of us standing over the hot bread as it came out of the oven while Mother admonished us not to cut it until it had properly cooled; well that was never going to happen! Eventually even she gave in and slathered melted butter on her hunk of heaven just like the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteI have all of the ingredients arranged neatly and politely on the kitchen counter waiting to be turned into Sour Cream Pound Cake...it will be our holiday offering to the Austin crowd tomorrow-though no one will be as happy as Claire to partake of her favorite food memory!
Dilly bread! That was the bread remembered, yes!
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