Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Saturday, July 7, 2018

With Just a Little Love

Mmmm . . . love.
We were invited out to dinner one night.
Our hostess served us Turkey a la King.
And fresh, warm muffins.
With a crisp spinach salad.
Everything was absolutely delicious.
Which is usually the case when someone else cooks.
But as I was eating my salad, I suddenly remembered the spinach of my youth . . .
My Mom was a terrific cook.
Really terrific.
I can't remember anything that she made that I didn't like.
From her breakfasts of pancakes or waffles or bacon and eggs, through to her suppers of roast beef or shepherd's pie or veggies with cheese sauce, and everything in between.
Terrific.
But Mom had been raised by her Mom to believe that everything . . . everything . . . needed to be well done.
Meats.
Carbs.
Even veggies.
All had to be baked or fried or boiled to 'within and inch of their lives'.
Or at least until they had lost whatever colour they originally had.
It wasn't until I was married that I discovered the joy of 'medium rare' and 'tender crisp'.
And sometimes . . . raw.
I remember the first time someone served a mound of fresh, crisp cauliflower.
Uncooked.
With dipping sauce.
I stared at it.
Weird.
Cauliflower was suppose to be served steaming hot.
With cheese sauce.
I didn't even try it that time. Merely having seen it was sufficient for me.
Shortly afterwards, I did.
Try it, I mean.
I found it delicious.
And it opened a whole new world for me.
A world of colour and taste and texture that I never knew existed.
Back to the spinach.
Do you know how my Mom always served it?
Boiled.
Not steamed. Boiled.
I kid you not.
Then serve it as a glop on our plates.
With vinegar.
And you know something else?
We loved it.
Slurped it down like it was our last food on earth.
My point here is that I love food the way I prepare it now.
But I loved it equally as well when Mom fixed it.
I guess it all just comes down to how much love is served with it.

5 comments:

  1. Enjoyed - I love your memories and humor!

    ReplyDelete
  2. My Mom boiled spinach, too! Yes, served with love. Thank you for the memory.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nope. My mother served brussel sprouts boiled to a nasty greyish slop. And there was no doubt love involved. But none of mine.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I don't remember ever eating spinach as a child, but everything else we ate was boiled, or roasted. The only raw foods we ever ate were fruits, mostly apples and bananas, even then the apples were more likely to have been cooked with rhubarb and served warm with vanilla custard, or made into apple strudel. I do remember brussels sprouts as little green "fairy cabbages" and feel sorry for EC who got them as grey slop.

    ReplyDelete

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