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#79 At Grandmother's Table
It's April Fool's Day and at my Granny Berta's Table it was always a day of much anticipation. Would Granny fool Papa again? The same Granny that I mentioned in post number #76 was just about as cute and sweet as they come, Papa wasn't. Some in the family were down right scared of him and we always wondered how she put up with him, but she did for 364 days out of the year. Then came April Fool's Day and a bit of passive-aggressive behavior would surface. Not in a mean way, a lesser woman might have been tempted to bean him with a fry pan but Granny had her plan. She would make her pancake batter and then as one side of the pancake would cook, she'd place a neat round of cloth on the wet side and patted it into place. When she turned the pancake it was neatly hidden inside. Then she would add the doctored cake to the stack and wait for the old coot to take his place at the table. I don't know if he forgot from year to year or if he just decided she could have this one small victory. Anyway he always seemed surprised and then amazed when he couldn't cut the cakes. It was great!
This is a neat book, in it 68 women share stories of their grandmothers and each concludes with a family recipe. Wow, do we have a lot of Granny Berta stories we could do a whole book just on her. I already mentioned how she drank 4 to 6 cokes a day, well that kept her bubbly. She was fun to be around. Granny like my Mom would take the temperance pledge every time she was asked but unlike my Mom she would raise a glass of beer to her lips the same evening to celebrate the occasion. She had great little sayings that I think were unique to her. If she got a new dress, she always said, "it was just to put on and wear." Nothing fancy. Her grandchildren were NEVER naughty, we were "just confused". She could recite poetry she had learned 80 years before. There was one about, would you rather run a mile or suck a boil, she used this to get the young ladies screaming and running through the halls at her college.
Granny drove her big old car downtown to the drug store for a coke everyday, a distance of 3 or 4 blocks, and would pick up a friend on the way. There was only one left hand turn on the trip but one day she must have been stepping on the gas because when she looked over Lucille had slid out of the front seat and was sitting back at the corner by the side of the road. Poor Lucille was "just confused". So the cookbook for today is #79 At Grandmother's Table, edited by Ellen Perry Berkeley.
#76 Soda Pop! From Miracle Medicine to Pop Culture
According to the calendar of events I've been using, today Coca-Cola was invented. Now I was all excited because I have a few Coke recipes but something didn't seem right. My Granny Berta was born the same year Coca-Cola was invented and I was pretty sure it was in the same month. She was born in May so something didn't add up. So I looked on Coke's website and found it was May 8th, 1886 when Dr. John Pemberton mixed up that first batch in Atlanta, Georgia. I figure they should know.
This is terrible, does that mean March 25th wasn't really Lobster Newburg day and is April 19th really Garlic Day. I had been so confident of my facts, after all the calendar I have been using is put out by a group that practices home schooling. All these people are teaching their kids at home and they can't get the date right for Coke? Wow, just wait till their kids take their ACTs and they find out all the stuff Mom was teaching them is bogus. I feel I should write someone, are they using Wikipedia as their encyclopedia too? Shame on them!
Anyway the reason I was pretty sure today wasn't the day Coke was invented was like I said, my Granny Berta and Coke were always linked. She was born just 13 days after Coca-Cola and if there was any one who loved Coke it was Granny. The first thing she asked when you stepped in the door at her home was, "do you want a Coke?". Not just any Coke either, the cute little 6 oz. green bottles that she'd get in a red wooden Coke crate. She had these little stretchy knit jackets that she would place on your bottle and when they were empty, she called them dead soldiers and really seemed to mourn their passing. She drank at least 4 to 6 each day and I don't remember ever seeing her with a glass of water in her hand. I swear she could tell you within 50 miles where it was bottled just by the taste, she was a real connoisseur. Also, you know how all that Cola is suppose to be so bad for you, well she lived well into her 90s!
With all those Cokes around you would think she would have tried the French Onion soup with Coke or the easy Cola Chicken, I don't think she ever did but I do somewhat remember a Coca-Cola Cake. I'm not sure it was this same recipe, I don't remember miniature marshmallows. I should give it a try, my drink of choice is now Coke Zero and there's always one at my side. So to all those little home schooled kids, this one's for you, #76 Soda Pop! From Miracle Medicine to Pop Culture by Gyvel Young-Witzel and Michael Karl Witzel.
