Tasting my past

After my initial anger at mom's death and her not being here for the baby, I started to miss her cooking. I've always wanted to know exactly how she made some of my favorite dishes. Yet, I always kept myself in the dark, so that I'd always have a reason for her to make them for me. Who doesn't crave their mom's home cooking?

Thankfully, I took it upon myself to begin to learn how she makes enchilladas. She never really made a lot of things with a recipe, so it made it tough for her very analytic daughter to learn how to feel and taste a recipe and not go at it like a chemistry experiment.

One food item I've been craving since mom died was her banana pudding. I don't think she had made it for me in years, but I guess nostalgia took over my stomach. So I bought the ingredients that I remembered mom used. I knew it was a simple recipe as well. So a few nights ago, I scoured the internet for a recipe. I found one that looked right and was simple. I tired it out last night (with the necessary diabetic exchanges) and yum! Not as good as mom's version, but will anything?

After Paris arrives, I think I may attempt to recreate her apple pancake. Gawd, that was one thing I use to ask over & over for. I think she made it for me at Christmas, the last time I really saw her. I now know it's a killer meal - diabetically speaking - but it's just too good and I must learn to make it for Paris. It's not like the apple pancakes you get at IHOP. The apples are baked into a pancake. One huge mother pancake in a skillet. A deep skillet. You slice it like a cake and then smother it with butter & syrup. *drooool* We've always been a huge breakfast family. My dad's pancakes will sit on the bottom of your stomach for hours. I'm still attempting to get Swedish pancakes down, heck regular pancakes would be a good start too.

I think this is what the black community calls Soul Food. How food is the link, the witness, the memory of a certain day or a routine. Now for me to recapture them all.

Oooh...I think I found a recipe for the apple pancake! Damn that I have to wait to try it.