"...Pride Goeth Before the Fall..." (or...never take yourself too seriously!)

In 1971 we were living  in a beautiful home in the gorgeous suburburb of Westfield, New Jersey.  

 I just loved my beautiful old house, the friends I had made and the town we lived in.  I had just begun my interior design career and I was expecting our third child...I was complete...I was happy...I was settled...(I was completely over confident!!!!)  Then the other shoe fell... my husband came home and told me that he had been offered a much better job in Philadelphia. Philadelphia!  I just could not leave this place I loved, at least not until after the baby was born.  So, my husband commuted...2 hours each way to his new job.  After our beautiful 10 pound, blond and blue-eyed son arrived I still procrastinated about leaving all that I loved so much to go to a place so very strange to me.  My parents had been coming out to help with the children and I had finally found a woman I trusted to watch the little ones while I saw clients when my folks were not available.  Who could I trust in Philadlphia?  When at last, my husband's boss called and asked me why we had not yet started looking for a house I finally had to give up...

We decided on Cherry Hill, New Jersey...just over the bridge from Philly( and no new driver's licenses for us).  It was a brand new area bordered on both ends by  huge shopping malls.

                                                              

There was no main street or town center...just little strip malls that sat on the main highways... and lots and lots of home developments springing up all over with names like Woodcrest, Timbercove and Eagle Oak.  There was no Bloomingdale's...there was no Bergdorf's...there were no Mets...and in case I was to die there, no Riverside Memorial Chapels...indeed, a strange new land berft of all that was familiar.  So, I decided we should build a home in Eagle Oak.  This would buy me more time in Westfield and I could design a home in Cherry Hill to my own specifications.  Now we had a plan.

                                                                
Home built, move made, and there we were in Cherry hill. Once established, I  met a new neighbor who also was a designer and we became partners.  What a time to be doing interior design! We approached a builder who had us decorate all of his model homes in three of his custom developments, and from that we got many, many design jobs. We were working a lot and while my two older children were in school, I still had the baby at home.  What to do?  I tried mother's helpers and baby-sitters but I needed more.  Our business was really taking off.  My partner hired a live-in housekeeper and suggested I do the same.  Leave my home and children in the care of a stranger?  How could I?  But I was in the front lines of a new army...Working Women With Families...so again I bowed to forces outside of my own desires and began interviewing women...and naturally, could not find anyone suitable.  The employment agency kept sending applicants and I kept finding fault with them.  But one day I opened the door to the smiling face of Miss Loretta.  As soon as she began to speak I could hear the music of her native Trinadad dance from her lips.  The baby took to her instantly(and in time to come,  he too would develop a distinctly West Indian accent!) and the two older children were in her lap before they even knew her name.  The Era of Loretta was about to commence!

What a treasure I had found.  She cooked, she baked, she cared for the children and she kept the house so clean and neat I hardly recognized it! The children, who called her "Ledda," absolutely adored her.  She was smart, sweet, funny and caring.  I was so lucky.  I felt like a queen.  My husband was doing well, I was doing well...we had a custom built home... and we had live-in help! I began to feel like The Lady of The Manor...

Loretta approached me one day and said she would like me to get her some uniforms.  All the other housekeepers on the street had uniforms, and she was used to working in a uniform. Remember, this was another time...another era.  I asked her what kind of uniforms she needed and she replied that she needed white when with the children, she wanted pink or grey for cleaning and being indoors and if she was to serve when we entertained, a black with a white apron would be nice.  WELL... INDEED! Then uniforms it would be!!!

                                                                

    I called my newest and bestest friend Gail and off we went to the uniform store.  I breezed in and collected two of each requested color in size 16 (the black was size 18 because it ran small)...then I, the size 6 Lady of the Manor placed the uniforms on the counter, and with my best haughty air said, "I will take these..."  and the sales clerk immediately responded... " AREN'T YOU GOING TO TRY THEM ON?"  ...so I grabbed my uniforms, wiped Gail off the floor and headed home...much diminished in the process!!!!






Loretta loved to cook and bake.  Among the favorites we got from her... Fried Plantains and her wonderful Mac 'n Cheese.

Ledda's Mac N' Cheese
1 pound box of elbow macaroni cooked al dente and drained
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1  cup sour cream
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/4 stick butter
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup milk or cream

1-add butter to hot pasta till it melts then add cream cheese, sour cream  2/3 of cheddar, and milk (if it is very thick add a bit more milk) and mix through and season to taste with salt and pepper
2- Pour into an oven safe casserole and top with reserved cheddar.  (You can add breadcrumbsto topping and dot with butter but Ledda liked a plain cheese topping)
Place in 350 oven about 20 minutes until it is bubbling

Leddas Fried Plantains
2-3  ripe  plantains (they have a reddish skin) sliced on the diagonal into 1/4 inch slices  sprinkled lightly with salt
oil
sugar
1-Heat about a cup of vegetable oil in a heavy pan
2- when oil is heated drop in plantain slices and fry until crisp and golden on both sides (the longer they fry the sweeter they get so keep oil at med-hi)
3- Drain on paper towels
Serve with eggs. pancakes, waffles or even fried chicken.!  My kids would sprinkle them with cinnamon and sugar  then and eat as a snack... or with ice cream!