Friday, August 18, 2023

YOUR MAMAS KITCHEN

YOUR MAMAS KITCHEN: I watched CBS Morning the other day. A lady was explaining that she had not written a cook book, The title was a question she commonly asks when she is interviewing them. What did you mama's kitchen look like. Well then. My mother's kitchen was perfunctory, sturdy and well stocked. She cooked on electric. We have some favorite recipes and some childhood abuse foods. We did not appreciate fried calf brains nor liver and onions. I have since enjoyed fresh venison liver fried quickly in bacon. Yum, pass the onions. My Grandmother Berglunds kitchen was usually filled with chaos. She used a pressure cooker for most meat, usually pork roast which Mom thought was greasy. I thought it was tasty. Nellie bustled about the kitchen eating off peoples plates while clacking her loose dentures. She only canned raspberries and she was diabetic. I remember seeing the vials of insulin when I was a kid. Grandma Horn's kitchen was geared for farm life and hard work. The stove was electric. Beneath the sink were large half round containers that held 100 pound of sugar and flour. I was small enough that I could crawl inside the cupboards and hide. Grandma made fabulous pies, my favorite was pumpkin. Her spending money consisted of eggs and butter. Ollie would bring a five gallon bucket of milk. Grandma would skim off the cream until the milk was blue. The eggs and butter went to Albertson' in town. Her favorite fryng pan was electric. She used the cast iron skillet to make popcorn. She had a Paul Revere sauce pan used for Hawaiian Penuche. My mother in laws kitchen was built on a scale to fit her, she was nearly six foot tall. The stove was one of those wonderful fifties white enamal things with a warming oven for plates and two ovens. The counters were done in tile and when she washed dishes she let them drip off befoe wiping them down, saved on water, no harm was done. Lot of venison steak cooked on that stove. Grandma LaVann's kitchen was a wonderful farm house in the woods design. Her son Phil purchased Philco fridge and stove right after WWII. The table had tin barrels that contained 100 lbs of sugar and flour. Her first husband was a baker in the Navy during the Spanish American war. The table was his design. The rolling pin was rather dainty dowel. I loved that thing. The cupboards held gun in one section, rifles. The largest gun was an over and under combination shotgun, rifle, Would love to know how much that thing is worth. The dining room was built in cupboards to hold Franciscan ware, I believe it was Apple Blossom pattern. Lovely. Lots of venison cooked on that stove as well.