Straight from the Farm

Friday Fun ‘n Flashbacks

January 4, 2008 at 2:45 pm Jennie 2 comments

So I feel kind of sheepish not giving you another recipe today, especially since I have about 10 of them drafted, just waiting to be shined up for posting.  BUT, it’s a Friday and my brain is mush thanks to the sudden drop in sugar intake after the holidays.  Instead of something wholesome and delicious, I give you something trivial and pictorial. 

Behold!  (Ok, click through first and then “Behold!”.)

This is me, all of four years old (and with quite the penchant for belly shirts it would seem), making my first pie crust.  Okay, maybe I didn’t achieve pie perfection on this first attempt, but gosh darn’it, that was the best I could do with a rolling pin half the size of me!!  For a good tart recipe from the archives, click here.

Ah, and here we have five-year old Jennie and six-year old Joe, often mistaken for twins until we hit puberty, punching down bread dough in my mom’s ancient “bread raiser”.  Apparently these funky basins were the low-tech solution before today’s bread machines.  All I know is that it was about time for me to get a new hair style!  For sure-fire success with making your own bread, try this easy recipe.  And stay tuned later in January for a whole week of bread recipes!

Okay, so I think I’m six in this picture, or perhaps I was about to hit seven since these treats were no doubt for a classroom birthday goodies.  Since my bro’ Joe has a birthday just two days before mine, it had to be one of us, especially with those giant grins on our faces!  But why are we standing on chairs??? Oh, by the way, those aren’t ice cream cones.  Oh no, no, no!  My mom was super creative with our birthday treats so those are cupcakes!  Did any of you have these as kids?? I thought they were so cool when I was younger – heck, I still do!   Perhaps I’ll get some ice cream cones soon and make beet cupcakes in them. 

Now this is the funniest picture to me.  Not only do I look like a giant dork in my footie pajamas and silly grin, but I’m also FRYING with hot oil at age eight!  This must explain the odd blotches on my forearms!   Seriously though, this picture captures one of my favorite family memories.  My family was/is regular churchgoers, which to be honest isn’t a young child’s favorite hang-out spot unless they’re giving out candy during the children’s sermon.  So on winter Sundays when we got enough snow to cancel church, we’d always spend the morning together as a family making homemade potato chips!  No church AND fried food!!  Not to mention time to giggle and relax with my otherwise overworked parents.  These days I’m not making my homemade potato chips in hot oil anymore.  Instead I’m using the microwave!  Try this method on potatoes, beets or other root vegetables for a healthier chip (footie pajamas not included).

So I hope you’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I have.  I think I was a cute kid, don’t you?  If nothing else, I certainly learned how to cook at a young age, in large part to my mom being so willing to let me have-at-it in the kitchen.   Thanks, Mom! 

Entry filed under: Extra Credit. Tags: cooking, food, memories, photos, Recipes.