Food, Glorious Food!

The lyrics of the song from Oliver say it all:

Food, Glorious Food!
What wouldn't we give for
That extra bit more --
That's all that we live for.
Why should we be fated to
Do nothing but brood
On food,
Magical food,
Wonderful food,
Marvelous food,
Fabulous food,
Beautiful food,
Glorious food!

I enjoy food. I enjoy shopping for it, I enjoy cooking it, I enjoy eating it, and I enjoy serving it. I even enjoy serving the cat and the birds, food. The cat’s favorite food is cantaloupe. My favorite movies feature food. I love to read recipes and even though I enjoy cooking I enjoy eating out too. Kay and Gary are great cooks and my mouth waters when I think of some of their dishes: Gary’s crab cakes, Fried Cow (I have forgotten the real name), appetizers and main dishes and side dishes and desserts. Wouldn’t you know that I am married to someone who doesn’t enjoy eating out and maybe even eating? Do you think that contributes to his slenderness?

My brother-in-law, David, was a great cook. His kids still talk about their favorite dishes, even though he has been gone for 11 years now. He cooked – and ate – with gusto. We say about David, he lived to eat whereas many people eat to live. I am in David’s camp. My mother and all of her sisters were great cooks. They didn’t have a lot to work with but they made the most of what they had. My sisters and I remember those wonderful dishes they made: Pluma Mose (sort of a sweetened fruit soup), rolls filled with a poppy seed filling, Kuchen with apple slices or other things, borscht, Rible soup, wilted cucumbers in a cream dressing and so many other favorites. My sister wrote from Japan this week, “We had a borscht and rhubarb lunch at the store. . . The soup wasn’t as good as Mom’s (no dill) but the pie was good.”

Mom put up meats and vegetables and fruit and pickles and jams and jellies. She made cheese, both cottage and what we called “stink cheese.” We all loved Mom’s chokecherry jam and syrup. Of course this is after we went out with long sleeves and hats and picked the chokecherries in the breaks. Mom made pies and cakes and bread. She rarely used a recipe. I can remember her making spice cake without a recipe at all. I almost have to have a recipe to boil water. Until mother’s later years she sent us boxes at Christmas with homemade popcorn balls and fudge. She would make taffy too and she always seemed to have something special for us when we came from school.

I wonder why I tend to be overweight.

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