Post by Bobute on Nov 7, 2005 6:48:01 GMT -5
Picture an old fashioned kitchen with a simmering pot of something
hot and delicious waiting. You are about 10 or so in the winter of
44'. Snow has been falling for over 24 hours and finally big flakes
are a sign of the blizzard letting up.
No school has meant playing outside with very little time for
anything but a change of wet mittens or socks near the red hot coal
stove.
Your fingers are frozen. Ice clings to the dripping mittens
hanging above the stove. The drops sizzle and dance as they land on
the hot black stovetop. Your toes are tingling after taking off boots
filled with packed snow inside each one.
With cheeks red as berries you begin to thaw, thinking maybe you
will wait before going outside again. Oh how the simmmering pot
reminds you supper time is near.
Helping to set the table makes you so hungry as the bowls and
spoons are placed on familar oil cloth. Little do you realize this
warm kitchen will live in your memory as long as you exist.
Glasses, cups, butter dish, napkins all in place just waiting.
Milk for you, coffee for the grown-ups. Sometimes you are allowed a
sip or two, but coffee from the old perking pot is not for children.
How grownup you will one day feel when you sip your first cup of
coffee.
Time for supper. Everyone anxiously awaits the evening meal
together as a family. Sliced, fresh baked brown bread, still warm
from the oven, is passed around. You always chose the crusty heal
with lots of melting oleo.
Finally, a steaming bowl of hot soup as each one takes a turn
passing the bowls around the table. What a cozy, warm feeling when
the deliciously smooth soup trickles down your throat. So good to be
with family on a cold evening in the winter of 44'.
Snow days were the best. You wished they could have lasted
forever. In a way they have, when time has passed and you remember
warm potato soup with hot crusty brown bread made with love by your
Lithuanian grandparents.
Potatoe Soup
Ingredients
4 large potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cans chicken broth
2 cans water
1/2 tsp rosemary
Salt & pepper to taste
4 strips bacon, cut into 1" squares
1 small onion
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp corn starch
Fresh snipped chives
Shredded cheddar (optional)
Directions
Combine chicken broth and water in a stock pot or dutch oven.
Add potatoes, rosemary, salt & pepper, and cook until potatoes
are soft. Do not drain! Meanwhile, saute bacon in a skillet
until crispy, then add onions and cool until they are clear.
Remove from heat. Turn heat under potatoes to low, and mash them
into very small chunks. Add bacon and onions. Mix corn starch
with milk, and gradually add mixture to potatoes until the soup
is as thick as you'd like. Pour into serving bowls and garnish
with chives and cheese (if desired).
Linksma Lapkric^io
"Happy November"
Zingara Marinochka
xoxox(Bobute)