When I was a young boy, my mother taught me how to cook. We had a small kitchen but it was filled with the latest and greatest stuff because Mom was a serious cook. She had attended cooking for school for years and was known in the neighborhood as someone who really knew what she was doing around the kitchen.
Whether it was Chicken a la King and Flaming Cherries Jubilee on New Year’s Eve or the daily meals that we had promptly at 6:00 p,m, each night, we never had to worry that we would go hungry. Mom was an artist in the kitchen. But her favorite thing to make was her Cranberry Bread each Christmas season. In fact, those memories are some of the first that I recall. I was a very young boy when I joined her in the kitchen and learned all about how to measure flour, chop walnuts, wash and sort cranberries, use a mixer, heat an oven and all of the other things that one had to know in order to make an awesome specialty bread.
In fact, you might wonder why Mom even needed my help if she was so great in the kitchen. Well, each Christmas season, she pretty much cooked non-stop – baking at least 50 loaves of bread for the employees at the local grocery store, the milkman, mailman, our school teachers, neighbors, friends and anyone else who knew us or who had heard of Mom’s fantastic creation.
After the loaves were baked and cooled, each one was wrapped in aluminum foil and tied with a festive ribbon. Our fridge and freezer were packed with loaves so that we would not run out if there were several unexpected people Mom wanted to take care of. In addition to sorting and baking, I also learned to wrap them as presents.
Clearly, you can tell that I was deeply involved and these were some of the best times that Mom and I had together. I loved cooking with Mom. And the thing that I remember most is her Kitchenaid mixer that I grew up with. She got it right around the time I was born in 1953. We would make several batches of bread together each time and then clean up. I even remember when we finally got a dishwasher…boy, that made things easier.
Anyway, I inherited Mom’s mixer when she passed away in 1998. It had been out of use for years before that. And, frankly, I hadn’t made cranberry bread since Janet and I were married although Mom carried on for a number of years as long as she was healthy. I have other things of hers as well – spatulas, spoons, J. A. Henckel knives and a host of other unusual gadgets but the Kitchenaid was my favorite.
Six or seven years ago I got the urge to start making Cranberry Bread. Out came the mixer and it still ran like a top… I have used it each year since to make bread in the tradition of Mom. We give it to the kids – and dear neighbors of ours who really like it as well. Whenever I start to bake, memories of cooking with my mother come flooding back.
But the sad part is that I recently started using the mixer for grinding small cuts of meat for my own smoking hobby. I thought about leaving it on the shelf but opted to break it out for helping me make sausage mixes. Well, yesterday it started to make a funny sound and the speed control quit working. I was able to get through the chore, but after 70 years of use (and never needing a service call), my beloved Kitchenaid bit the dust. I was crushed.
I haven’t decided yet, but I may try to send it in and see if it can be repaired. I hate to part with it. In the meantime I am investigating new ones. It won’t quite be the same, but I have come to believe that the memories are the important part of my experience with Mom – not which mixer she used. Oh, it would be better with the same mixer, but that won’t stop me from continuing to make Cranberry Bread in her memory.
I have continued the kitchen lessons by teaching our son, Andrew, about the yearly Thanksgiving preparations and our grandson, Drew, helps me make beef jerky, pulled pork and brisket. So the lessons continue. I certainly hope that I have done Mom and Dad proud as I pass on the traditions of the family in the kitchen.
Our verse for tonight is from Solomon’s book of Proverbs. This book of wisdom is full of great advice for us. In Proverbs 23:24-25, we are told, “The father of a righteous man has great joy; he who has a wise son delights in him. May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice!”
My encouragement this evening is that the Lord loves it when we spend time with our family and strengthen our relationships, even while cooking together! My prayer is that we will continue to pass on the things we learned in our youth – even if we rely on memories and no longer have as many physical reminders of days long past. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…