10 April 2011

Happy Birthday, Mimi


Mimi
photo from the 1940s


Today is my grandmother's birthday. Were she still with us, she would have turned 100 today. Sadly, she crossed back in 1988, before Abbey even turned a year old. I learned so much from my grandmother. Many summers were spent at her house, helping my grandfather garden and then canning with my grandmother. She also taught me most of what I know about cooking in general. In her kitchen was a little square stool that my great aunt had made by covering an ammunition box with leather. That little stool was pulled up to the counter for the kids to stand on and help Mimi cook.

One of the first things I remember making (or I should say, something I always remember making) was biscuits. Not a morning went by that Mimi did not bake biscuits. Hers were the best in the world. Biscuits are always made in a wooden biscuit bowl. Purists use their bowls ONLY for biscuits, but I admit to mixing dumplings and scones in mine, as well. I was lucky enough to inherit my great-grandmother's (Mimi's mother's) biscuit bowl, and I know the biscuits are better for it. Mimi had little miniature cutters for us to use, so we always knew which biscuits were "ours".

While Mimi had cookbooks and enjoyed collecting recipes, most of the time she just cooked. Recipes were in her head. And some things, like soup, might be a little different every time she made it. It just depended on what was on hand at the moment. Recipes that call for bell pepper might have those. Or the dishes may have used banana peppers or whatever other kind my grandfather had growing. When she wrote down our family gumbo recipe for me, after all the different seafoods, she wrote, "if you have them", indicating that while certainly crabs or such were a good addition, they weren't required to make a good gumbo.

I learned to fish, to cook those and to cook frog legs from Mimi. And some things that I must admit I would never eat these days (e.g. squirrel stew). One of my greatest hopes is that I will someday be as wonderful a grandmother as she was. (And I intend to be known as "Mimi", also.)

My grandparents lived in northwest Louisiana. Whenever I would visit in the summer Mimi and I would go shopping in Shreveport. There Mimi introduced me to Strawn's Eat Shop and their fabulous Fresh Strawberry Pies. As my grandfather grew strawberries, Mimi figured out how to make those pies and we often had them at home. Another treat we would sometimes stop and eat was Butter Roll at the Big Chain Cafeteria. Her grandmother had made Butter Roll often, but Mimi had not cooked them very much. After one such excursion, she and I came home and made a Butter Roll, using her grandmother's recipe (such as it was) and wrote down how we did it. I am so happy to have done that. And we also used to go eat at the Kon Tiki. The Kon Tiki was midcentury Polynesian food in all it's glory. Mimi always liked to try new foods, and I was the only one who showed much interest in going with her. Back then we loved the Kon Tiki.

When I was a poor graduate student Mimi used to send me care packages. These often included things that were on sale at the grocery or something she had bought with coupons. One of Mimi's care packages introduced me to instant pistachio pudding. That must've been a coupon thing, because I never saw that in her pantry!

Mimi would also save out some of her grocery money to get things for her grandchildren. Particularly if she wanted to give us something that my grandfather thought was too expensive to be a grandchild gift. One time she really went all out for me. She told my grandfather she wanted a KitchenAid mixer. And she did. So they bought the mixer. Lo and behold, it was too tall to fit on her kitchen counter under the upper cabinets. She moved it to the utility room. A few months later they came to Texas to visit us (summer 1980). Know what she brought to me? Yes, it was the KitchenAid mixer. Her plan all along was to get it for me. What unselfish love! And I am here to tell you that mixer is still going strong. I have it out at the farm with all it's attachments, including the copper bowl liner, sausage stuffer, pasta maker, and grinder. And it is a lot better than the newer one I have here in town.

Because I grew up cooking with Mimi, I tend to cook the way she did. At least with all our family recipes. And lots of times if I've tasted something and want to recreate it. But shhhhh! Don't tell the Guy. LOL. I'll never be able to explain the cookbook collection.

Mimi, I miss you every day and so wish you could be here for all the graduation and wedding festivities that are going on here now. I know you would be so very proud of your great-granddaughters. I love you!

namasté,
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21 comments:

Shellye said...

I miss her, too.

Jan B said...

Mimi was indeed an inspiration to many people, me included. She was a warm and loving woman who was all inclusive. With both my parents being gone, she assumed the role of grandmother to my children and they never thought of her in any other manner. I loved her dearly anyway, but even more for this reason. I will never forget her and her kindness.

Ed A said...

A lovely recollection, Becky. Thanks for sharing (and your grandmother was a very beautiful woman).

Johnny said...

I miss her too Becky. Thanks for posting your memories of her.

Lottie said...

Wish I had known her. You will know that I am definitely NOT blood related because I cannot cook that way. I stick to my recipes!! :)

James G said...

Thanks so much for the memories of a very special person. She was always very kind to me and treated me like family. Makes me think of my Mom because they graduated from high school together.

Southerncook said...

Becky, What a lovely tribute to your MiMi. I love the stories of learning from our families who have passed. What a wonderful culinary tribute and so much more. I love the mention that when you are blessed with grand children that you too want to be called MiMi. That in itself is such a tribute to the wonderful woman that she was.

Carolyn

Jan B said...

It occured to me in my post to say "like her mother before her", but I decidedd this was about MiMi and not Louise. However, I have changed my mind. We do turn into our mothers, you know.....

Becky said...

Thanks all. I didn't know if all of you knew today was her 100th birthday. I miss Mimi so much! Louise, too. They were like second mothers to me. And it didn't matter if you were a blood relative or if you were a married in relative - you were family.

Do you all remember or ever think about the 4th of July cook-outs at the Ranch? What fun. I remember when I was 3yo, Uncle Bub gave me a raw oyster there. Karen and Kelly and Mike Abington told me I would hate it. They were so wrong. LOL. Daddydear had had a barrel of them shipped up from New Orleans on the train. I wonder if you can even do that now.

Whitney said...

LOL...I love raw oysters..we went and ate them with Clara and her husband, Bill the other night! Yum! When you say "Mimi", do you mean Auntie? I get confused. I loved Auntie and Uncle 'Nard! Louise died before I came along..wish I would have known her. I loved Daddear too, I remember sitting in his lap in the rocking chair when he came to visit BB..I was so little when he died!

Becky said...

Hey Whitney. Corrie Lee was Mimi. Married to Bernard. I am sure you called her Auntie. That is what your Mom called her.

Jan B said...

Gosh Becky.... I could write a book about Fourth of July at the A&F! Actually we were talking about it not to long ago... And I think Mike, Shellye and I reminisced about it when they came at Christmas. I was telling our grandsons about that event when we took them up for deer hunting this past winter… showing them where the pit was, where we swam, etc. Some of my fondest memories are of that occasion.... When you are a little girl in Grand Cane in the 1950's, social events are few and far between. July Fourth at the Ranch was HUGE! The first time I ever got to shave my legs for that event! (leg shaving use to be sort of a rite of passage) We looked forward to the day for weeks! Willie (I think it was Willie) would cook a whole calf on the big “in ground” pit …. He would stay up all night tending the fire. Everyone in town came and brought food. After we ate we would rest and all trek over to the “Graveyard Pond” and swim. That pond is where I learned to swim. Mike almost left us there one time! Corrine and Bill both jumped in fully clothed and got him out! Then in later years ‘Nard dug the swimming hole down by the Ranch House, but it was never as good. We would come back to the Ranch House and eat watermelons. Lots of watermelons! I remember going home completely worn out, but oh, so happy.

I also have very fond memories of GA groups going out to the Ranch to camp out and spend the night. We would sit out by a campfire and tell ghost stories and that could be real scary! Nell Bentley was our leader then… Mimi had been before her. (Mimi was actually the founding leader of our GA group… It would have been in about 1952... There was not a group before that in my time. I remember the organizational meeting in her living room before the house burned)

We use to go to the ranch with Mimi and Louise and pick blackberries and get full of ticks and redbugs…. Got lots of blackberries, though and that was good jelly!

I also have some teenage memories of working with Mimi at the auction barn in the café. She had the café in Grand Cane for awhile and I worked there with her and for a long time in Mansfield. Every Thursday she would pick me up (we lived in the log cabin between Grand Cane and Mansfield) and we would work all day! It was really hard work, but I got paid $10 for the day. I would buy my school shoes with that money and then have money to do a few other things. I remember the year I bought white “bucks” and black flats.

So you see I have so many memories of Mimi in my memory bank… all of them fond. Louise too….

Lottie said...

We should do July 4th there again. Minus the swimming however. I'll leave that to the alligator!!

James G said...

We used to have school "swimming events" at the ranch. The "little boys" basketball team would be rewarded by a swim at the ranch. Let's do it again. Bub took me on a tour of the ranch when I was in Grand Cane. Hasn't changed at all.

Shellye said...

Oh, the memories! I thought about Auntie and Nard a lot while on my trip through the west last month. They loved to travel there with their travel trailer group and would always bring Mike and me me back a small gift. Once they brought a live chipmonk! Unfortunately, the cat mistook it for a mouse...enough said. On the way back we went through Muleshoe, Tx. and I remembered that Nard (?) had relatives there.

Christmas Eve, before the fire, was always at Auntie's house and the whole family would be there. It was wonderful.

Mother worked with Auntie at the sale barns, too, keeping records of the sales, etc.

Mike and I had our "end of the year" school parties at the ranch, and, one time a hayride by the graveyard. We had someone - don't remember who, wear a sheet and jump out as the wagon went by. What fun!

Auntie collected frogs. I think of her every time I see a cute ceramic one.

Jan B said...

Shellye I have a beautiful tourquois necklace and numerous other items she brought back for me from those Pagosa Springs trips. They loved Pagosa Springs! Another treasure here (and there are many) is a small (mail) medicine box addressed to DaDear that Mimi filled with silver quarters and gave to Roy Jr. one year as encouragement to save coins, I guess. Silver was beginning to be "no more" when she did that.... He was a young teenager, probably 13 or so. He still has the coins in the box with the note and keeps it with his other treasures like his Eagle Scout medal, class ring, etc.

Wonder what happened to that leather frog that stood up playing the accordian? You should have that since you played the accordian!

Cole said...

I obviously don't remember 4th of July at the ranch, but I certainly have many fond memories of the ranch. I did swim in the graveyard pond and spent many nights in the "blue goose". My fondest memories of Mimi as a child were sitting in the leather rocker watching cartoons and eating ice cream out of those metal bowls. She always had ice cream. And griddle cakes at breakfast (haven't had one of those in a LONG time). Also getting a quarter and going to Mr. Jims for a bag of candy. Got a lot for a quarter.

Whitney said...

I agree with Lottie..we should get together at the Ranch for the 4th..I have never been!

Lottie said...

Never been to the ranch??

Whitney said...

Nope, not ever, unless I went as a baby and don't remember it.

Lottie said...

We definitely need to get you there!!