I have to make a confession, I hardly worked at all today. Today was "Stollen Day" at my Grandmas and Stollen is no quick bread! One of my favorite perks of a Direct Sales business is the "Flexible" workday. Many people confuse the Flexible with Optional and I know it is misleading from the front door looking in.
If you know my Grandma, you know that she is 100 years old. You'd also know that she gets around pretty good for 100 too. Making Stollen is one of the things that her Senior-Citizen- Children ask her for every year. The hardest part for her is the kneading of the dough so that is what her servant is for (that is me, in case you were wondering). My Grandma is so good she has the recipe memorized. She knows what the temperature of the "sponge" needs to be by touch. (The "sponge" as she calls it, is the foamy milk/butter/sugar mixture that she then adds yeast to.) She is so old school that her recipes call for Oleo (butter?) and Nut Meats (When asked what that was she replied "well it's the meat of the nut!" she was kind enough not to say "duh" at the end.)
But the best part of cooking with Grandma isn't learning her recipes or even eating the results. What I love the most about cooking with Grandma is the funny stories she tells me. Today she said " you know the story about cutting the end off the ham, right?" I hadn't remembered this one... So she started... "There was a lady that was making a ham and right before she put it in the pan, she cut the end off. And her husband said, "Why did you cut the end off the ham?" And she said "Because my mother always did!" So then one day her mother came to dinner and the husband said :"why do you always cut the end off the ham?" And mom replied, "Because my mother always did!" And so one day, they went to visit Grandma and the husband said "Grandma, I'm dying to know why you always cut the end off the ham!?" And Grandma replied, "Because it didn't fit in the pan!"
3 comments:
I did remember that Ham story, it's a good one! Love you lots
Love the post, and the story. I now feel guilty for not visiting my grandma as much. One on one is still good. At family gatherings, she gets too overwhelmed and tired. And I too love the old stories the best....even if I have heard them 50 times before.
So happy you nudged me to read your blog. And YES I do LOVE your grandma stories. So this blog is a regular for me. I've always loved the cutting ends off the ham story - it speaks volumes really, about why we do what we do and why we should keep asking the 'why' question :). xo
Deb
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