1 post tagged “cooking with mommy in da kitchen”
I don't mean to brag, really. It is just that it is all so contrary to my nature. Well, at least I thought it was. There is something innate in me that while I sort of hate it, the process of creating all of these things by hand while yelling at my kids to get out of the kitchen, "I'm making pickles, can"t you see?" because it takes so much stinkin' time and effort (it is 12:20 am), I love, love, love seeing the work of my hands sitting on my pantry shelves or taking up room in my freezer. Tonight, I made pickles while lovingly pointing out the fine art of making brine and attaining the perfect seal so as not to cause us all to die of botulism, to my kids. Homeschooling is a joy to all involved. They are dill, in case you are wondering. Are there any other varieties worth spending 6 hours on? I think not.
When I was a kid, we had a babysitter who made everything homemade. She had a huge pantry, which I think she called a "utility room". Her name was Molly (as in homemaker) and it was fitting, at least until she divorced her husband 15 years later and took up an "alternative lifestyle", but I digress. One of the things that I remember about her utility room was the jars of dill pickles that lined her shelves. It seemed somewhat magical yet foreign in that utility room. All that homemade food made by her. It was weird to a child who had never seen or experienced such things. It was like going into your own private grocery store. (Those mormons are on to something with that whole "putting food by" concept. Molly fit that catagory as well, back in those days at least) But, the best part was the day that us convenience food eatin' daycare kids gathered around a big jar of those homemade dills. Oh, the wonder! I have never had another homemade pickle, but I can still conjure up the taste from that day. In 6 weeks, if we can hold out that long, me and mine will make a memory of slurpin' sour dills straight out of my own private grocery store. (Which, I believe will be known as the utility room from this day forward. As James likes to say, where else can you go and grab a box of cereal and see all of your dirty clothes in one place? Utility room, I like the sound of that.)
~Tasha
Pickle Making Mama
