Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

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



Monday, February 18, 2013

In Heaven. Cooking.



The ranch cook. With Chris and Jerry.
Mom could make anything taste good.
And it didn't matter what she had going in her life, meals were always plentiful and on time.
She would serve a full, cooked breakfast of ham, eggs, pancakes and oatmeal, with lunch simmering on the stove and dinner baking in the oven so both meals could be produced quickly as soon as she finished the gardening, cleaning or chores, got back from driving us kids to school, picking up whatever was needed from the hardware, the feed store, and the grocery, and attended one of her numerous Herefrord club meetings or quilting or sewing bees.
Sometimes I think about the scheduling nightmare that her life must have been.
Just thinking about it makes me tired.
She was amazing.
But back to the food . . .
When Mom was 10 years old, she went with her dad and brothers up to the Berg family's 'other place' to cook while Grandpa and the boys brought in the hay crop.
She often described the little wood stove she used for her meals. “It had the littlest oven,” she told me, “just big enough to fit in one pie.”
She was making pie???!
At ten years old???!
By herself???!
Okay, 'amazing' just doesn't quite cover it.
By the time I was ten, I figured I was doing extremely well because I knew how to eat pie.
But I digress . . .
So, at the age of ten, she was doing all of the cooking for her father and three older brothers.
Well, she certainly learned how to cook.
Mom could open the fridge (that same fridge that one of us kids had just looked into and pronounced, 'empty'), and produce a hearty, rib-sticking meal.
In minutes.
And totally without the aid of a microwave.
Okay, she had all the modern conveniences. Electric stove. Running water.
Toaster.
Cheese Whiz. 
But still, the meals she could produce.
Mmmm.
Her roasts were works of gustatory art.
Her pastries and pies had to be tasted to be believed.
Even her vegetables were unsurpassed by anything available in the vast dining world.
Mom could take cauliflower that she had grown and preserved; then cook and serve it in such a manner that not a scrap was left over.
I tried it with my kids.
Somehow, when I prepared frozen cauliflower, it just came out . . . soggy.
And disgusting.
Oh, Mother, where art thou?
I did learn how to make her pies.
But that is all.
To this very day, my siblings and I contact each other regularly, asking if anyone knows the recipe for . . .
No one does.
When I cross over to the other side, it will be with a pen and paper in hand.
The first thing I will ask Mom will be, “What the heck is your recipe for your angel food cake topping?”
Notice I said 'heck'. That's because you can't use anything stronger in Heaven.
Where I know Mom is.
Probably cooking.
Sigh.

8 comments:

  1. Those angels are going to be soooooooo fat.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Okay for most of it. Mom was a great cook but she kind of missed the boat with parsnips and liver. But then, maybe it was that I didn't (and still don't) like parsnips or liver.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am convinced cooking is something you've got or you don't :) Your mom's meals sound wonderful. I can hardly imagine a ten year old doing all that cooking. That's amazing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When I was ten, all I knew how to do was eat! Mom is my hero.

      Delete
  4. Such a shame that your mum didn't pass her recipes to you kids. I've written down mine and the kids already use them.
    Frozen cauliflower should be thawed at least partly, then steamed for only a minute or two. Or steam slightly longer from frozen, as soon as you can get a skewer through the stems which should be still firm, it is done. Any longer and the heads will be soggy.

    ReplyDelete

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