If you have been following this blog, I am sure that you have already ascertained that I grew up in a close and adoring family. We were demonstrative, fun loving and tight-knit. I often think that my husband must have thought that he had entered The Twilight Zone when he married me.
We loved to gather in the kitchen, where my mother and aunts prepared fantastic meals...move to the table where we ate and laughed and talked and sang and laughed even more. That is where I learned how to have a family ...and, how to cook. So, while I am sure that my in-laws loved their family, they were not as demonstrative and open. Their extended family was warmer but my in-laws were strictly business people who liked to follow intellectual pursuits. My father-in-law, in particular, was taciturn and aloof. While I know he loved our children, he kept a bit of a distance, particularly when they were babies. The one time he really showed me some emotion was when I prepared a meal for him...not all that strange since my mother-in-law was a far better business woman than she was a cook... anything smothered on Campbell's cream of mushroom soup was "company food" in her kitchen!
Many years ago, when our first born was about 6 months old we had been invited down to Durham, North Carolina to visit my husband's parents for a week. Armed with a stroller and a huge suitcase containing enough "baby equpmment" for a year's visit, we made our way down the stairway from the plane onto the tarmac at the Raleigh-Durham Airport. This was long before terrorism forced extreme security measures, so my in-laws stood right on the air field awaiting our arrival! We walked out to the parking area with them and saw that they had brought two cars. My husband and the baby were to go home with his mother and I was to go on "a mission" with his dad. I was informed that we were on our way to some fancy gourmet butcher shop in Raleigh. The poor man was practically salivating as he told me that he had ordered a standing rib roast, lamb chops, and several other fine cuts of meat. Of course, I was expected to cook them!
Once there, Dad was like a child in a toy store, pointing at one cut after another and asking, "How would you prepare this?...that...?" Then instructing the disbelieving butcher to "...wrap it up..."
By the time we returned to Durham it was late afternoon. I was ushered into the kitchen where Dad chose the rib roast for dinner. I found a long unused roasting pan and prepared the roast... poured red wine over roast, then pushed slices of garlic into slits I had made in the meat, seasoned the meat with salt and pepper, scored the top fat and put pats of butter on top. I slid it into the oven to roast, and went to find the baby who needed to be bathed and fed.
I got to the kitchen just as my mother-in-law was lowering the roast into a giant stock pot filled with water and onions!!!!!
"What are you doing?" I asked her. She replied that if we stewed the meat with cut up onions we would have a broth and the meat...OY VEY...how to say this kindly..."I know, but Dad really wanted it roasted...so let's just do it that way this time...!" I offered. I guess that she saw that she was out-numbered so she allowed me to rescue this 5 rib roast from total ruin. Again I prepared it, placed it in the oven and turned to return and rescue the baby from his less than baby-savvy grandpa, when they appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. The baby was bathed, shampood, diapered and in his little pajamas and snuggling into the shoulder of his beaming grandfather!
"We did it," he said as he handed my son to me.
It was a fabulous dinner we had that evening... medium rare prime rib, re-stuffed baked potatoes, fresh grilled asparagus, and Dad even opened a nice merlot!
Both Dad and I learned something...I was able to stand up to my mother-in-law and he was more of a grampa than he thought!
Restuffed Baked Potatoes
6 Idaho potatoes baked
1/2 cup of chives snipped
sour cream or heavy cream
salt and pepper
1 box frozen peas and carrots cooked according to instructions (optional)
butter
six slices of bacon cooked crisp, drained and crumbled
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1- Slice potatoes in half, lengthwise
2- Remove potato from skin and place is a large bowl, reserving the skins
3-Mash potatoes with 2 tbsp of butter
4-Add sour cream or cream until potatoes are creamy
5-Add crumbled bacon and chives (or peas and carrots if preferred) and season with salt and pepper to taste
6-With a large spoon re-stuff the potato skins with the mashed potato mixture
7-Cover top of the potato with the cheddar and place on a pan and place in a 350 degree oven until the cheese melts
8- Snip chives on top to garnish and serve with roast
Ellin, loved this, both the recipe and the accompanying story, which, of course, hit close to home. You are right, we do like our soup recipes, however, you wouldn't believe that now Durham is named by many articles in newspapers, magazines, etc. as "a foodie town." The South just ain't what it used to be. LOL
ReplyDeleteBobbie...my MIL ruined boiling water! She was a cracker jack business woman but she and her family totally missed the cooking gene. We always stopped at a restaurant on the way to visit her family where we fed the children before we arrived...My husband and I usually chose to be polite and suffer through the meal...of course our kids were dubbed "picky eaters" by them...and they were...picky enough to know what NOT to eat!!!
DeleteLOL!!!!