My friend, Kelly, posted this picture today. I want to give her credit for inspiring today's gratitude. She posted memories from all of her Grandmother's kitchens. I want to do the same.
They are rich memories, right? They bring us back to our childhood sights, scents, flavors, and even the textures around us.
(I'd love to see your memories in the comments.)
Grandma Elaine Bess - my bonus Grandmother - that woman could make the best cabbage rolls I have ever tasted. I remember her amazing homemade noodles drying around the kitchen. It meant we were in for a special treat. And... her Taco Salad was "modern" and delicious. We were always surrounded by Cousins, Aunts, and Uncles. That made everything taste better.
Grandma Opal Maxine St. John Bess Watson was Mama's mom. I was her first grandchild. Her mother died when she was a small child and her family mostly lived in California. She and my Grandfather had seven children. They didn't have much. Grandma Opal Maxine knew how to stretch a dollar and her food was always delicious. The foods I associate with her kitchen are hamburgers and hot dogs with chips. It was the standard meal at her house.
At the holidays, Grandma Opal Maxine made amazing oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies we called "Pride of Iowa." It came to her from Grandma Guttendorf's side of the family tree. We still make those cookies in our family. The chocolate chips can be changed to butterscotch. With or without pecans - I always want pecans. The secret ingredient is coconut. Even those who swear they do not like coconut seem to like it in "Pride of Iowa." I can still hear my Aunts singing in the kitchen as they washed and dried any dishes.
Grandma Mabel Daschner Lindgren died when I was two. I have strong memories of her. That kitchen had the strong scent of a percolator coffee pot and a frying pan that was used daily to fry eggs and meat. Those scents continued after she was gone.
Grandma Marjorie Brown Lindgren was Grandpa Lindgren's happily-ever-after. She was a gentle soul who loved to set a pretty table and believed in manners at the table from all of us. We loved it. Dad and Uncle Mel tolerated her demand for decorum. It was good for them. Grandma Marge was an excellent cook. She often made "Seven Layer" salad. The thing I remember most were the tea parties with "Friendship Tea" and cookies and sleepovers with cousins when her grandchildren visited with highlights around the kitchen table with the Formica top and the Harvest Gold barrel swivel chairs. Grandpa Lindgren would bring up the Schwann's Maple Nut ice cream as a treat. The memories are sweet.
Great-Grandma Hulda Guttendorf Bess was the queen of her kitchen when they lived in Cape Girardeau, MO. Great-Grandpa Alva grew up in Lutesville, MO and they returned to that area for a season. They took care of a sweet, elderly man who was blind. It was a big house in my memory. We all went down one time for a big family gathering. The kitchen was a place for women to gather and work together. Flour sack towels were used daily. I do not remember the meals. I do remember the fellowship of family.
Reflecting on the memories, I am reminded how blessed I was to have these women in my life. They mentored their daughters, granddaughters, and great-granddaughters for all the days of their lives. They taught us how to cook and showed us how to love.
As Mama Ina Mae would say, "The secret ingredient is love."
I was going for another verse, but my "verse of the day" seems perfect:
"Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us." -1 John 4:11-12
His love is brought to full expression in Grandma's kitchen.
Today, I am grateful for memories of Grandma's kitchen.
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