Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Sunday Dinner at Memma's House

You know, I don't know how Memma did it.  She got up on Sunday, got dinner started, went to church, came home, put a skillet or two of cornbread in the oven, finished dinner, and fed people all day long.  I can remember back in the day, Memma chasing a chicken around the yard, wringing its neck, plunking that chicken into a pot of boiling water, plucking the feathers and then cutting it up with a sharp butcher knife, batter it and fry it up and serve it on a big old platter.  Lord, it wears me out just to think about doing all of that.  And, just know that everything was cooked in a wrought iron skillet. She made two pans of cornbread and her cornbread was the best because she melted the grease in the skillet first, then sprinkled cornmeal in it, put it back in the oven to sizzle a minute before pouring the batter into the pan.  When the bread was done, the crust would have that sizzled cornmeal stuck to it. 
After church, Memma would get everything ready, set the table and guess who got to eat first?  I can see her now, with wiping her hands on her apron as she walked from the kitchen to the living and said, "you men folk come on, the table is ready.  Yawl come on in here and eat."  She probably had two or three "settings" of people to the table to eat.  On Sunday, everyone went to Memma's for Sunday dinner.  Memma's kids, their kids, cousins, aunts and uncles, and Lord only knows who else.  When I was a teenager I always took friends in to eat.  Those pots were never empty.  I don't know how she did it but there was always enough food. Depending on the time of the year, the vegtables were either fresh from the garden or canned from her garden.  Gosh, what I would give for some speckled butter beans, coleslaw, fried corn, fried okra, fresh tomatos, fried squash and banana pudding.  After dinner, the men retired to the cane back chairs on the front porch, while the women ,,,,oh yes, we washed dishes for an hour.  But, it was well worth it.  Memma was the best cook in the world and I have lots of her recipes and canning recipes that I will share.  You are in for a treat.

 And, though Memma is gone, the tradition lives on because my Aunts cook like Memma did.  And, during the summer, they are busy as ever canning.

Sunday's at Memma's ---those were the days...those were the days and I thought they would never end.

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