The Spoon - Remembering our Ancestors

Funny how some small thing can take your mind back to childhood - and before.

For me it is the spoon - an old silver tablespoon. Well, it used to be silver, but now it's only partially silver, because it's been used so much that the plating is worn off the bottom and the edges of the bowl.

It doesn't look like the new spoons in my drawer, because it's a funny shape - sort of squared off on the the right hand side. My Mom used that spoon, my Grandmother used it too, and now I use it and think of them. But of course I don't use it often because I use teflon spoons on my non-stick cookware.

But tonight I cooked in the cast-iron dutch oven, so I used the spoon and thought of my family.

The funny shape is from wear - and I think of how many days and nights my Mom and my Grandmother stood stirring a pot over a wood stove - and then later over an electric stove - until the side of the spoon wore down. I don't know for sure, but maybe my Great-Grandmother used that same spoon. If not, she used one just like it. When I was a little kid, I thought that was the shape of stirring spoons - because my Grandmother had several of them.

How many pots of soup, or stew, or sauce must you stir to wear off the side of a spoon? I don't know, but it's plenty.

I think of the stories Mom told about her Grandma standing at the stove stirring with one hand and holding a book in the other - and of how I do the same thing. I think of being a kid and sitting on the tall stool next to the stove, talking and watching Mom or Grandmother stirring. I wonder if they wished I'd go find something to do so they could hold a book in the other hand?

If they did, I'm glad they didn't shoo me off. Those talks are good memories. And when I use the spoon, I feel like they're all here with me. So I put down the book and spend some time with them...

I wish you good memories,
Marte

Ever try a carrot sandwich?

Today I volunteered to help out at a ladies' fashion show and tea fundraiser, and I came home with a new recipe.

All the members of this group brought tea sandwiches and/or treats to serve to an audience of about 60 ladies. I've never before seen so many calorie-laden goodies get eaten so fast! From tiny cherry tarts to cream cheese stuffed strawberries with chocolate, to old fashioned brownies and cornflake/peanut butter balls - the goodies were abundant.

But what was more interesting to me (because too many sweets make me queasy) was the variety of sandwiches - including one I'd never seen before. It wasn't very pretty, but talk about good! Served on whole wheat bread, the filling consisted of nothing more than cream cheese filled with finely shredded raw carrots.

We don't serve tea sandwiches around home, but my bet is this would make a great spread on crackers.

Thinking about goodies prompted me to add a new page to our "Carl Cooks" website - so as of now you can find the banana bread recipe that's been used in my family since a friend shared it with my mom some time in the 1940's. You know it's good, or we'd have found a new one by now!

So you can enjoy it too, here's the direct link to Mrs. Lydia Falk's Banana Bread recipe.

Wishing you a happy Memorial Day week-end...

Marte

I suppose I should be fair...

My husband did cook now and then - if I looked like I might keel over, or on my birthday and Mother's Day. So he wasn't completely new to the kitchen.

And of course, he cooked on camping trips. Sometimes I thought the menu was the most important part of the planning. He'd spend a good week or more making sure he had everything, and of course all his buddies loved to go with him because of the feasts they enjoyed.

But getting him to take over cooking at home took a bit of time. He's been doing it for a couple of months now, and I did have to laugh at him a couple of nights ago.

He was sitting outside enjoying one of the few warmish days we've had, and he said he just didn't know what to cook that night. He told me it was hard to think of something and asked me what I wanted. I told him "I don't know," and he complained - said I wasn't helping a bit.

I said I didn't feel at all sorry - that I'd been trying to cook "I don't know" for about 40 years now and it was his turn.

Anyone have a good recipe for "I don't know?"