Food memories

Occasionally I remember things about food from the past. This is triggered by something I am eating or see in magazines. I recently found some beautiful big grapefruit and have been enjoying them. I had intended to use them in a citrus salad with oranges, avocado and romaine lettuce for a church dinner. An illness interrupted this plan so I have been enjoying them solo. What I remembered about them is the way my oldest brother would eat them. Apparently he liked them as much as I do for when he had eaten all the pulp he could get from a grapefruit half, he would squeeze it and enjoy the rest of the juice in a spoon.

My sister and her husband grew their own broccoli and put it in their freezer chest. When she steamed the broccoli she would add butter and squeeze lemon juice over it. Smelling the lemon juice and the melted butter just made a lasting impression on me.

My other sister Frances went to a lot of trouble to make sandwiches for a picnic. She grated the cheddar cheese for her pimento cheese. For lemonade on these occasions she used fresh lemons and to top it all off she made peanut butter fudge. I was very young when I saw her do this and thankfully she took me along on her family picnics. These picnics with her and her husband and three children were always memorable. They had a hug tent for overnight camping, usually at Norris Lake in Tennessee. I remember seeing her making the fudge over a small camping stove sitting on a picnic table. Is it any wonder that everyone loved Frances ??

At Thanksgiving our family gathered usually at my sister Frances' home. Her husband would go hunting in the morning and we would all have the "big" meal in the late afternoon. My mother's contribution was a pineapple pear salad on lettuce with shredded cheese over it all.

Growing up most people had gardens and we were no exception. My mother raised chickens too, housing them in a large coop in the garage off the driveway. So fried chicken dinners on Sunday were frequently on the menu. We had a neighbor from our church who joined us almost every Sunday. Her name was Gladys Billips. To the meal she would always bring a large plate of sliced fresh tomatoes from her tomato plants. The other Sunday menu would be a beef roast which simmered along while we were all at Sunday service. Mom had a huge heavy metal pot called a "drip drop roaster" which she used for this meal. I suppose she learned over time just how long it took to cook a big beef roast in this pan. It had to be huge as we were ten in number and usually someone else was added to the big round oak table on Sundays.

Once my childhood friend Winifred Fore had a sleepover at her house for a few friends. In the morning for breakfast her mother had fried chicken, gravy, biscuits and probably fried apples. I remember that breakfast as I had never had such a huge meal that early in the day. At our house it was oatmeal with raisins and whole milk from the cows my father raised - his hobby ! Of course it came in handy for feeding the eight children. My mother wanted to make sure we all had plenty of milk. Her reason was personal for she lost her teeth when she was twenty years old due to lack of calcium in her diet as a child.

When I was around 12 years old my father was diagnosed with diabetes and from that time on our mother had balanced meals which he could enjoy . Big desserts were not on the menu. She would say if you want something sweet, put jam on your bread. My mother said your plate should be colorful , with something sweet balanced with something tart. Things like this stick in your memory. My food memories from the past are happy ones. I wish the same for you.