A Poppin Fresh Dinner! My Dough Boy Days.

"THE GRASS IS NOT, IN FACT, ALWAYS GREENER on the other side fo the fence," writes Robert Fulghum in It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It.  "Fences have nothing to do with it.  The grass is greenest where it is watered.  When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass whereever you may be.

Today, I read in the Washington Post about the lady from Texas winning the $1Million for her recipe for stuffing using frozen waffles in the annual Pilsbury Cooking Contest.  In her interveiw, she referred back to her childhood when she would spend time in the kitchen not being very productive other than making messes - big messes!  With her saying that, I reflected back on the time when my mother, who worked very very hard - at the level which I would be physically unable to sustain - had to work on a particular Saturday at the laundry/dry cleaner.

I wanted to relieve her stress and pain from such laborious toil so bad.  I knew that this particular Saturday she planned to come home after work and cook us a meal.  I wanted to help her out, so what I did was I proceeded to cook for her when she got home, she'd be surprised, not have to worry about cooking, etc...  She could just relax.  Well, I "attempted" (attempted being the operative word) to fry chicken, make gravy, mash potatoes, and make biscuits from scratch. I was probably all of 12 years old and knew nothing about cooking.  But I tried.  I truly tried to help mother out.  My help was a monstrosity of a MESS!  Chicken, Flour, Potatoes, Butter, EVERYWHERE and it all was a TOTAL disaster.  On top of this, I baked a cake too.  It all was rather non-esculent, the cake over run into the oven because I had filled the pans to full.  The chicken was burned.  The gravy was lumpy (like wallpaper paste) and the biscuits were sad. 

I remember so well when mother pulled into the driveway, I ran out to tell her I'd done something special for her.  .....I'd made dinner and supper.  I was so happy.  She donned this distraught look of excitement on her face.  She walked in the house to smell the burned food, and walked into the kitchen to see the MESS.  She was lovingly pissed. 

This memory brings back tears of joy, happiness, sadness, and innocense.  But most importantly and above all, it brings back love.  Love, something I never got much of, by the standards of popular practice. However, she gave me love that few others received...TRUE MOTHERLY LOVE!"