Right about now I really miss my grandmother’s cooking. The last meal she cooked for the family was Thanksgiving dinner & let me tell you, for a 95 year old woman, she threw down in that kitchen!!! Maybe she somehow knew it would be our last family meal with her, maybe she didn’t, either way, she went all out for us.
Thanksgiving 2012
You would think that she would want help from the family with all the different types of dishes she whipped up, but if you stepped into HER kitchen you’d better beware of banging pots & flying silverware. She did everything at twice the cooking speed of a normal person & she didn’t want anyone messing up her flow or getting in her way in that tiny, hot, bungalow farmhouse kitchen. She might let one of us stir the gravy to keep it from getting lumpy, but otherwise we were expected to just “sit pretty” at the kitchen table & talk with her to keep her company while delicious smells bubbled out of various sized pots on her gas stove top.
Baba was of the generation where everything she prepared was generously seasoned with butter, salt & love for her family. It didn’t matter if it was breakfast, lunch or dinner – she mixed all three staple ingredients together into the perfect combination of wonderfulness every single time! This past Thanksgiving she served up turkey with stuffing, gravy, mashed squash, mashed potatoes, sauteed mushrooms with garlic & onions, green beans, two types of salads plus a lettuce salad, homemade bread, pumpkin pie & coffee……
My very favorite, favorite, favorite memory about Baba’s cooking is her coffee. No one in the world can serve coffee like hers (not even the Dominicans & I dream about the Cafe con Leche I drank in Santo Domingo just about every other night). She made it in this ancient dented percolator with an egg & of course she would toss a little butter, salt & love into the pot for good measure. She would then bring the coffee to a scalding boil before pouring it into olive green ‘50‘s style coffee mugs. Even better than the coffee were all the times when I would sit at the table & talk with her while slowly sipping my drink – to avoid burning my tongue & to enjoy the salty, butter flavors. If it was just the two of us, I’d ask her all sorts of questions like how did she meet my grandfather or did she like being married or what did she do when she was my age? The one thing that I always had to beware of was leaving my coffee cup unguarded on her kitchen table. When I did our conversation would turn into a little something like this:
Me: Baba, where’s my coffee?
Baba: I thought you were done with it.
Me: No! I was still drinking it.
Baba: Well it was cold & you left it on the table.
Me: But you know I drink my coffee slowly, it’s so good, I savor it to make it last.
Baba: I’m not so sure you like it, if you did you’d drink it more quickly. I can’t believe you like cold coffee.
Me: I love your coffee both hot & cold. I wish you’d stop dumping my coffee out.
Baba: Do you want another cup?
Me: Yes please, thank you.
For sure, right about now I really miss my grandmother’s cooking & I could totally go for a cup of her coffee!!! Treasure the moments & savor the food while they are around, because it can all disappear in a flash.
Coffee & Conversation With My Cousin & Baba
- Coffee & Conversation with my cousin & Baba
Food n Love 