Food Memories

Some of my favorite books have been books with recipes on them. It is fascinating the way an author uses food to reveal a character's personality, soul and history. Well, who has not been shaped up by food or the lack of it.

I was raised by my grandmother while my mother would work and her cooking was exceptional. Simple recipes with simple ingredients. Staples on the everyday menu were of course, beans and flour tortillas. The best flour tortillas I have ever had; freshly made for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. She would not make us eat a reheated tortilla. If for any reason, a couple were left from the previous meal, she would try to slip them on the stack of freshly made ones but we always could tell them apart. Reheated flour tortillas smell and taste different than fresh ones (a connoisseur is talking here). No food was ever wasted; her second attempt would be to fry them and put beans on top. We loved them like that. My grandmother would be cooking flour tortillas and bringing them to the table from the stove as we were eating. She never sat down with us to eat. She would eat at the kitchen, standing or at the table after all the family had eaten. I probably asked her once why wouldn't she sit with us and she probably brushed me off with a comment of how she preferred it that way. My mother now does it with her grandchildren but she sits with the adults after she is done cooking.

My grandmother could whip up a meal for 5 with one egg, a tomato and plenty of "chile piquin" (those tiny red hot peppers) from her chili plant. I remember that she would make a very hot sauce and add it to the scrambled egg. Now, I laugh of her resourcefulness. We would dip our tortilla on the "egg salsa" and spoon some beans with it. We would say "esta picoso, guelita" and kept eating. How I miss her cooking, specially those tortillas.

Some books with recipes I have read:

-Like water for chocolate. I have prepared the "Codornices en petalos de rosa"

-Afrodita by Isabel Allende. A collection of memories and recipes.

-Secrets of the Tsil Cafe. A novel about a boy growing up around his mother's and father's cooking; includes 26 recipes.

-Hallelujah! The Welcome Table. This is more of a recipe book with stories. Love the banana pudding, caramel cake, braised cabbage with ginger and the best one of all, smothered chicken.

May 1927 Needlecraft Magazine Recipes

Ok, time to share some recipes from my personal stack of old magazines. The article is titled Special Recipes for Simple Foods and they list recipes with potatoes, apples, rice, etc. Pretty simple ingredients, ah?
A Potato and Onion Soup, Full of Food Values
1 cup chopped onion or leeks
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons bacon fat
2 large potatoes
1 bay leaf 1 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoons tomato catsup
1 stalk chopped celery
1 quart cold water
salt and paprika to taste
Cook onion or leeks in the fat for five minutes, but do not brown. Add the cold water and seasonings, cover and let simmer for twenty-five minutes. Add tje potatoes pared and diced and cook until they are soft. Then pour in the milk; thicken with the flour smoothed with the cold water, and stir until smooth. Serve with toasted whole wheat bread, and stewed fruit and cookies for dessert and you have a supper fit for a king and so good for a child!
Apple Indian Pudding
2 cups quarted apples
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/2 cup molasses
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups milk
cinnamon and nutmeg
Scald the milk, and pour it over the cornmeal; add the remaining ingredients, mux well, pour into a buttered baking dish and cook in a slow oven about three hours.
This last recipe makes me think of winter. I love the smell of cinammon and nutmeg during Christmas and it sounds like a great way to warm the house when is cold outside. I have to believe that up north days are still cold during May bacause there is no way I am preparing this recipe here in Texas where our days run in the 90's F. at this time.
Now, this next one sounds not very appetizing to me; never mind an adolescent. Yes, I remember how selective I was with my food.
An Iron Soup for Adolescents
Put three slices of graham bread, two heads of lettuce and a slice of onion through the bread chopper. Simmer for half an hour, covered, in four cups of water or meat stock. Thicken with four egg yolks well beaten (do not boil) heat over a low flame for 2 minutes. Just before serving add the stiffly beaten egg whites, salt and pepper and half a lemon sliced.
If you try it, let me know how it turned out.

Happy Mother's Day!

I've decided to take the blogging matter easy. I will post as I feel comfortable. It is certainly not easy to find interesting things about what I do all day. Mostly is taking care of my two princesses. I am as many may say an overdoer on the mothering role. I believe in constant supervision, I mean constant. I wish I was not the anxious kind and be more relaxed but I am working on it. My poor first child was never put on the floor until she was almost 9 months. I was affraid she would slip and bang her precious little head. Her pediatrician had to tell me "She will be fine." But I most say in my favor that, eventhough my heart is constantly jumping, I decided a long time ago to evaluate and observe until they get into a not so safe situations for me to interfere. That I've become good at. My wish of wanting to transmit confidence to my children is greater than my fears.
I want to wish a very Happy Mother's Day to all blogging Moms which I must say inspired me to start my own blog. Also, Feliz Dia, Mama! Te quiero y tus nietas tambien.
I am proud to say I was raised by two wonderful women. My grandmother, Lupita and my mother, Juanita. My grandmother was a lady with strong convictions of what she wanted for her children, specially her daughters. She had 5 daughters and 2 sons. She learned to earn her living since she was five from her mother who was not exactly a loving or kind woman. She was poor and overworked for a good portion of her life. Living in a time,place and class status, where everything would stand against a woman, she managed to provide trades and education to all her children. A natural born economist, she always provided plenty of food,clothes and shelter to all. She worked from home making flour tortillas (the best I've ever tasted), bread, sewing, washing clothes, ironing (yes, coal iron)and anything that could make a decent peso. My mother remembers that my grandmother would often miss school presentations because she did not own a good pair of shoes. Poor and with so many needs but she never sent her daughters to clean other people's homes where they could be abused and molested by the owner. A risk she would not take.
My mother is my other hero. A woman that inherited her mother's strong convictions and honesty. Add to that generosity and servitude and you have a woman with a big open heart. She helped her mother to provide education for her younger siblings from the time she was 15 and started studying to become a teacher. A hard working woman who had her share of struggles thru life but decided to always present a brave face to us, her children.