I have always enjoyed eating. Bessie was a great meat-and-potatoes cook, as well as mac and cheese. My daughters-in-law are gourmet cooks, so I have been blessed.
My mother made navy bean soup. She let the beans soak all night. She made homemade bread. The loaves were enormous. The bread was cut an inch thick, and the slice would cover a dinner plate. We would cover the bread with soup, then cover that with ketchup. It was great stuff. For my 90th birthday party, my descendants sent for Mom’s navy bean soup recipe from my brother Ken. The others had bowls for soup with bread on the side, but I had mine on a plate with the soup spooned over the bread. It was very, very good.
When Mom baked bread, she would take extra dough, fry it in bacon grease, and coat with sugar. It was called fried bread. It was great, too.
This morning I was eating a very good crispy, juicy Golden Delicious apple, and, as my custom has been for the last eighty years, I ate everything but the stem. I can only remember one exception to this. The summer of ’48 I was on the USS Coral Sea in the Mediterranean. When I was a kid, any body of water was an invitation to throw or skip rocks. Here was the whole Mediterranean Sea, and no rocks to throw. So I saved up my apple cores just to throw them into the sea. I sacrificed one pleasure for another.
I am not a tea or coffee drinker, but I enjoy sweet iced tea with lemon. However, after I drink the tea, I eat the lemon rind. It is so good.
In July 2012, Luke Mays and I were driving back from southern California along the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped at a fruit stand and bought a honeydew melon. I cannot describe it. It was far better than any melon I have ever tasted before or since.
My favorite food is pot roast of beef with mashed potatoes and gravy. Bessie’s self-adopted mother, Mrs. Mother, had the best pot roast of beef. (It is hard to cook this dish poorly, so I am pleased with nearly all I’ve had, but hers was the best.) My second favorite food is Bessie’s beef stew—it was great! I have eaten so much of each that it was probably sin.
Here are a few other favorites:
• Slow-cooked oatmeal cooked with raisins, eaten with milk or whole cream and brown sugar
• My Aunt Annabelle’s eggs fried in a very hot pan in bacon grease
• Eggs over-easy, seasoned in the pan with pepper and salt
• Corn on the cob, picked immediately before it is in put in boiling water
• My mom’s potato soup
• Heather’s potato corn chowder
• I make the best spaghetti.
Almost five years ago I was in Omaha with my nieces’ families. We went to a steak house called the Charleston. I have never had a steak so good or a baked potato so good or a salad so good. It might seem hard to improve on a baked potato or a salad, but they did it.
On the whole, I am not fond of Italian food, but I had lasagna in a private home in Bellevue, Nebraska. It was wonderful. I do not think I would be able to say that about any other Italian food, because it is generally my least favorite.
When I was visiting Gospel Recordings, Don Eckels took me to a French restaurant in Hollywood. I ordered soup. It came in a big tureen. I have no idea what kind of soup it was, but it was great.
At present I eat very little, regardless how good it is. I thank God for it. If your cooking did not make my list, I still thanked God for it.
My mother made navy bean soup. She let the beans soak all night. She made homemade bread. The loaves were enormous. The bread was cut an inch thick, and the slice would cover a dinner plate. We would cover the bread with soup, then cover that with ketchup. It was great stuff. For my 90th birthday party, my descendants sent for Mom’s navy bean soup recipe from my brother Ken. The others had bowls for soup with bread on the side, but I had mine on a plate with the soup spooned over the bread. It was very, very good.
When Mom baked bread, she would take extra dough, fry it in bacon grease, and coat with sugar. It was called fried bread. It was great, too.
This morning I was eating a very good crispy, juicy Golden Delicious apple, and, as my custom has been for the last eighty years, I ate everything but the stem. I can only remember one exception to this. The summer of ’48 I was on the USS Coral Sea in the Mediterranean. When I was a kid, any body of water was an invitation to throw or skip rocks. Here was the whole Mediterranean Sea, and no rocks to throw. So I saved up my apple cores just to throw them into the sea. I sacrificed one pleasure for another.
I am not a tea or coffee drinker, but I enjoy sweet iced tea with lemon. However, after I drink the tea, I eat the lemon rind. It is so good.
In July 2012, Luke Mays and I were driving back from southern California along the Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped at a fruit stand and bought a honeydew melon. I cannot describe it. It was far better than any melon I have ever tasted before or since.
My favorite food is pot roast of beef with mashed potatoes and gravy. Bessie’s self-adopted mother, Mrs. Mother, had the best pot roast of beef. (It is hard to cook this dish poorly, so I am pleased with nearly all I’ve had, but hers was the best.) My second favorite food is Bessie’s beef stew—it was great! I have eaten so much of each that it was probably sin.
Here are a few other favorites:
• Slow-cooked oatmeal cooked with raisins, eaten with milk or whole cream and brown sugar
• My Aunt Annabelle’s eggs fried in a very hot pan in bacon grease
• Eggs over-easy, seasoned in the pan with pepper and salt
• Corn on the cob, picked immediately before it is in put in boiling water
• My mom’s potato soup
• Heather’s potato corn chowder
• I make the best spaghetti.
Almost five years ago I was in Omaha with my nieces’ families. We went to a steak house called the Charleston. I have never had a steak so good or a baked potato so good or a salad so good. It might seem hard to improve on a baked potato or a salad, but they did it.
On the whole, I am not fond of Italian food, but I had lasagna in a private home in Bellevue, Nebraska. It was wonderful. I do not think I would be able to say that about any other Italian food, because it is generally my least favorite.
When I was visiting Gospel Recordings, Don Eckels took me to a French restaurant in Hollywood. I ordered soup. It came in a big tureen. I have no idea what kind of soup it was, but it was great.
At present I eat very little, regardless how good it is. I thank God for it. If your cooking did not make my list, I still thanked God for it.
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