A Mother's Day Tribute

This afternoon we will celebrate the life of my grandmother, Una Provence.  She passed away Friday morning at the age of 95.  As I look back and trying to tie some memories into the topic of this blog I remember some favorite foods from her house.  The one thing I will always remember is the fried apple pies.  I am sorry to say I never got to watch her make those pies.  She really didn't like people in "her" kitchen while she cooked.  But those pies were made with apples dried during the summer on old screen doors.  I remember getting yelled out many a times for sneaking some of those apples while they were drying.  It was hard work peeling and slicing all those apples.  The hard work was well worth it, those pies were incredible.  The pie crust light and flaky. Wished I had learned to make that too.

And I can't forget to tell stories of my other grandmother Irene Olive either.  Although she has been gone a few years, she lived to be 90 so we come from good hardy stock. She made these fruitcake cookies that were so good too.  I know you are thinking fruit cake cookies those can't be good but they were.  She would get those little containers of candied fruit and chop those up.  She also made fried pies but she baked hers.  She would make all kinds not just apple.  She would make me apricot pies because those were my favorite.  She would make up a bunch of pies and freeze them until we were all together for the holidays and let everyone get the kind they wanted.

And then of course there is my mother, Wanda Provence.  She taught me most of what I know in the kitchen.  I might change things around here and there but the basics she taught me.  When I left for college she gave me a copy of the DAR Dedication Day Cookbook.  That alone would have been great but she went through and marked the recipes that she used that I had liked.  Many of those recipes I still use today and you will be seeing some of them on these pages soon.  I'm still learning from her and I hope I get her chicken and dressing down soon.  Mine just doesn't taste the same, yet.

I hope you enjoy Mother's Day with the ones you love.