Lynn Salsi: Author, Storyteller, Teacher, Historian, Speaker - Lynn's Blog

Sunday

Oct052008

Finding Comfort

Sunday, October 5, 2008 at 07:37PM |

Some people find comfort in small things. The same can be said for happiness. Both are related to satisfaction.

I thought about this when I saw a news article on television relating how the current status of the federal economy has worked havoc on the stock market--except, the newsman said--for McDonald's and Campbell's Soup. Both companies had an increase in sales during September and continue doing well in October. The rise in the midst of distress was due to the fact that people embrace "comfort food" when the going gets rough. That's not going to say much for anyone's weight, however food is a retreat.

Our family is lucky that many of our members enjoy cooking. We have not felt the reversal of being denied eating out at restaurants because of the lack of fuel or because of rising prices. We've clipped coupons and shopped the two for one sales for years. Stocking up on ten boxes of cereal, ten pounds of pasta, kidney beans, black beans, ten pounds of rice, and twenty pounds of potatoes is nothing new for us. We've been engaged in eating on the cheap for years. That's not to mention that we hate going to the grocery store more than once a week. I've got a bread recipe, a cornbread recipe,and a few cookie recipes ready to go on the stove in a moments notice, along with pumpkin bread, pancakes, spaghetti sauce and hamburgers on the grill. It is nothing for our family to slop through vast amounts of Italian food, a pot of homemade soup, chili, or Alfredo sauce at the blink of an eye. If a gallon of tomato sauce is too much for a meal (depending on who shows up at the table), the rest is frozen and saved for those days I can't face cooking. That's when the warm up team comes in and proves their worth by warming up left overs.

The topic of cooking has been on my mind lately. I've been working with Amy Michels on her new Appalachian cookbook (release spring 2009). She has my food preparation habits beat by a mile. I've always been proud of my made from scratch biscuits, pie dough, cookies, pancakes, and other specialties including pasta salad and potatoe soup. But Amy makes her own molasses before she makes molasses cookies....unbelievable. But I've seen her sugar cane standing higher "than an elephant's eye" tall on the mountain ridge--at least nine feet. I've been there to see the Michels cut it with long swinging strokes. Then nothing is more memorable than watching a horse walk around and around in a circle causing the old timey cane mill to turn and grind the stalks. The juice releases into a bucket and is strained. Then it is boiled for hours to form a thick dark brown rich molasses which is cooled and poured into glass jars to later pour over homemade biscuits and pancakes or to use in wonderful rich cookies.

Oh, I forgot that Amy is also a fowl farmer and tends her chickens for the fresh eggs. It has been an entertaining and educational process learning about food preparation from when the seed goes "in" and vegetables come "out" of the ground. Amy recently said that she's looking forward to the cold weather and maybe a little snow that will give her an excuse to sit back and kick up her feet. She's due for a long winter's rest.

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Dear Lynn Salsi

After reading this i can agree that food can take you to a comfort zone. When I was younger my grandmother raised me and showed me basic life skill. I really didn't get to learn all of her, "famous recipe's". Back to the point. My grandmother would cook some amazing foods such as collard greens cooked with smoked turkey, black-eye's with okra, and many other southern meals. When my in state and in state family would come in my grandmother bonanza of food gave family member big smiles and tears of enjoyment.

When it was just me and my grandmother she would cook the most delicious meals for me. If I was feeling sad that week she would fix me a big pan of my favorite, spinach lasagna. Once i can in from school and smelled the lasagna my brain would forget every problem that I had.

When I came home every meal was promising. My grandmother had a particular schedule for what she cooked. Sunday's was pot roast with mixed veggies and your choice of rice or mash potatoes with sweet cornbread. Monday through Wednesdays always a mystery because she created a meal or found a new recipe. Thursdays was going out night and i always chose the place. Friday's was my favorite day, Fried Chicken with broccoli, collards, a starch, and cornbread. The joy that came to my soul when that smell of grease hit my nose at the bottom of the step right outside the house. Saturday's was a fat mans dream. Steak or veal chops, bake potatoes, salad, and onion rings.

When I was younger these meals made me feel happy, comfortable, and loved. Some of my grandma's cooking schedule I keep in my life but Friday fried chicken is the main comfort meal I faithfully keep.

November 10, 2010 |

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November 26, 2010 |

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Finding Comfort

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