52 Ancestors 2021: Week 5: In The Kitchen

 

The above photographs are from two separate occasions -- I believe the top photo was a summer get-together. Grandma, Uncle Charles (Grandpa's brother), Grandpa, my Mom, and my Dad. (Grandma & Grandpa are my Mom's parents). A lot of times during the summer we would have ribeye steaks, baked potatoes, and salad.

The bottom photo is from Christmas -- Grandma would always wear that sweater. You can see that it was Christmas by how many loaves of bread were there....for lots of ham sandwiches. Lots and lots of ham sandwiches.

Looking back in retrospect, I wish I had more photographs of us cooking in my Grandmother's kitchen before life threw us a huge curveball. Now my Grandparents are gone and we no longer have the house.. So many memories. So many holidays spent cooking in that kitchen. So many meals ate at that dining room table. So much coffee consumed. So many laughs, so many good conversations, and even some bad ones. 

Growing up, it was tradition to have holiday dinners at my Grandparents house. Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, for sure. But sometimes we would have little get togethers for birthdays -- mine (February 12th), was always held at my Grandparents house. Sometimes we'd get together for their anniversary (March 31st), or sometimes we'd get together on a random Thursday in the middle of August. 

We'd usually go over and have a meal with them on their birthdays -- Grandma was born June 13th, and Grandpa was born July 31st. Sometimes we'd have a meal for my Mom's birthday, January 8th.. or her younger brother, his birthday being January 11th. Sometimes we'd go over for New Years Eve. 

It didn't matter the date.. it didn't matter what food was being cooked. You could always count on a pot of coffee going, a cookie jar full on the dining room table, and a lot of good conversation leading to laughter and smiles. For my Grandma, cooking was something she picked up from my Grandpa after they married. My Grandma's Mom -- Nana -- didn't allow her children into the kitchen with her, when they were young. 

Whereas, my other Great-Grandmother -- Lorene -- allowed her children into the kitchen. Not to mention, my Grandpa had picked up some cooking skills in the Army in and around 1960, prior to marrying my Grandma in 1962. Growing up, my Grandma allowed her kids into the kitchen, and when it came time, she more than allowed her Grandchildren into the kitchen with her. 

I would usually spend the night at their house the night before a big holiday dinner. Take Thanksgiving for instance.. Grandma and I would wake up sometimes at 5 o'clock in the morning to get the oven pre-heated and the turkey into the oven in time for it to be done by 11 AM. Sometimes the last guest wouldn't leave until 10 PM and we'd be cleaning the kitchen until midnight. It just depended on the holiday and who came over. We Blanford's, well, we love to drink coffee and talk. In fact, we probably talk a lot more than your average person. Probably why our jawbones are so thick...it has to compensate for how often we wag our tongues. 

Growing up, I've heard stories of the Blanford kitchen. My Mom said they used to keep urns of coffee and urns of sweet tea going. Matter of fact, you'd have to brew multiple urns a day. In the Sandefur kitchen, you'd have some unsweet tea, because Nana's husband, Poppy, was a diabetic. 

In the Blanford kitchen, you would find Lorene making a delicacy known as Jam Cake. Every southern family (or it seems more prevalent in the south) has their own Jam Cake recipe and most women will take their recipe to the grave with them. I thankfully have my Great-Grandma's recipe. 

In the Sandefur kitchen, you would find Nana making her signature Oatmeal Date Cake, or perhaps her 7-Up Cake. She was also rather famous for her zucchini bread. According to my Mom, Nana made a blackberry cobbler that was delicious. She would also make a homemade chocolate syrup for ice cream or to drizzle over hot brownies. 

Unfortunately, Lorene passed away before I was born... but my Nana lived until I was eight years old, in 2001. So Nana would come over for every holiday dinner at my Grandma's house until she passed. Until she wasn't able anymore, she would always help my Grandma make deviled eggs, banana logs, or Waldorf salad. 

Deviled eggs and banana logs kind of became the traditional "staple" at every holiday dinner. You might have ham for Easter, turkey for Thanksgiving, and ribeye steaks for Christmas, but one thing was for sure: you were probably going to have green beans, corn, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and banana logs. 

Another thing a Blanford kitchen never lacked... brownies or pie. Blanford's are notorious sweet eaters. My Grandpa's cookie jar was never barren. In fact, many times growing up, I helped my Grandpa make homemade apple butter, apple pie, pecan pie... I can still remember the smell of the kitchen when we'd cook together. It never smelled better than when we would make homemade apple butter. It was a family affair, too. 

Another thing we'd do in the kitchen/dining room was snap beans and can. I've canned a lot of green beans in my day, and other veggies like tomatoes and corn. We shelled a lot of purple hull peas and canned those, too. 

I firmly believe that's what is wrong with today's generation of kids...they don't snap beans or shell peas with their Grandma in the kitchen anymore...and boy does it show. They haven't been taken out into the front yard and told to pick a good switch from the tree and had their rear-end lit up enough either. Grandma's were infamous disciplinarians and my, oh my, my Grandma and Great-Grandma were good at it: they had previously been school bus drivers and we all know just how little crap they take. 

I have a million other things I could talk about, when it comes to food...but this topic was specifically "in the kitchen." One day, I'll write about the BBQ's and fish frying that my Great-Grandpa Blanford would do. He also had an apple orchard and made homemade apple cider. But those are topics for another day.