“I think careful cooking is love, don’t you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who’s close to you is about as nice a valentine as you can give.” ~Julia Child.
Every Sunday morning I do a special post on my Facebook page – Sunday morning coming down – where I tell what I’m seeing out my window and sometimes what’s happening for me that day. This morning I said I needed to be cooking because I was fixing a birthday dinner for my son and his family. Then I listed some of the menu. Meatloaf, oven roasted potatoes, green beans, macaroni, broccoli salad, fruit salad, homemade rolls, bosenberry pie, and no-bake cookies. It does sound like a lot when I list it all out. But that’s how country cooks do. They cook up everything they can think of that they might have in their kitchens.
Anyway one of my Facebook buddies asked if I’d write about how I got it all done before I went to church. So I thought, why not? Then I thought I don’t really have much to say that would help anybody out. First off, it was one of those “no make-up and wear whatever you grab first out of the closet” kind of days. One of those “not going to make it in time for Sunday school” days. A “wish my church had early services” kind of days. A “hope I didn’t forget to turn off the oven” kind of days.
But I suppose I did do some planning. I like birthdays and I always enjoyed cooking special meals for my kids when they were growing up. I let them pick their favorite foods and dessert. Now only one of my children lives close enough that we get to have a special birthday meal every year so I still let him pick the menu if he wants to. That’s why we had meatloaf and pie and no-bake cookies. Those were his picks. As to the rest – the corn pudding because it’s one of his favorite dishes; the oven potatoes because they’re easy; the macaroni because the kids like it; the broccoli salad with bacon and sunflower seeds because I like it; the green beans because you have to have green beans after you canned them in the summer; the rolls because I’ve been making sourdough bread forever; fruit salad because well, everybody likes fruit salad; the bosenberry pie because I have bosenberries in the freezer. That was my menu planning. The shopping was just go buy out the grocery store so maybe you’ll have everything you need.
I used to be able to whip up a meal like this and make it to Sunday school. But I’m getting older and I’m not as quick as I used to be. One of the older ladies at church told me this was going to happen. So Saturday night I made the cookies, got the meatloaf ready for the oven, and started the broccoli salad. The rest I did this a.m. by getting up a little earlier than usual and skipping breakfast except for a cup of tea and a piece of toast. I didn’t read the sports page which is hard for me after my team wins a basketball game. I watch the game, of course, but then I want to read all about it too. Today I didn’t even read the comics!! I cooked and it all turned out pretty good. The best thing is there are leftovers. That’s good for my husband, because I don’t plan to do any cooking tomorrow.
But we had a good time and plenty to eat. That’s the way we do celebrations of life down here in the south. We get together and eat. And I cook the way my mama cooked. She used to fix my favorite dessert for my birthday too.
What do you do to celebrate a birthday? Any special birthday desserts for you or that you cook for your family?
Remember you can get a chance to win a copy of Scent of Lilacs by leaving a comment here or on Jocie’s blog before March. Each comment on a new post gets you a new entry. And I’ve really enjoyed hearing from you the last couple of weeks.
So thanks for reading.