Day 14272

Discussing food again tonight. This time it is red currant jelly. I just had some on toast for a little snack. Washed the toast down with cold milk. Quite de-lish! The jelly was a treat I got for myself for Christmas. It was not an easy item to find, in fact, mine came from England. Currants grow in the U.S., but aren't very common. This site has some photos and info.

My first contact with currants came when I was about 12 years old and fishing with my grandma out at our cabin in ND. She called them gooseberries, but years later I learned the plants were really wild, white currants. She told me that many of the German and Russian people planted them on their farmsteads for use in jellies and pies and as windrows or shelterbelts. Our cabin was in an area that had been settled by people who emigrated from Russia. Birds probably inadvertantly "planted" the bushes we found. I remember the fruit being tart, but we sampled them later in the early fall and they were much better. Unfortunately, by then there were hardly any berries left on the bushes.

My grandma's name was Freda. Her family was German, but came to the states by way of Russia. She had some of the best recipes I have ever tasted. Her cooking was excellent, but she also knew how to host a gathering. Holiday get-togethers were always at her house. As a kid, I loved playing with the little pistol she kept that would "shoot" a penny about a foot. I also loved to play under the dining room table, which had the coolest pedastal-into-legs combination I have ever seen. So inviting was my grandma, that even without enough chairs to sit in, I was always made to feel that I had a special place on the floor. To this day, I only sit in furniture if I have company. The rest of the time, I am on the floor, leaning up against the furniture!

She was a great woman and I really miss her, especially during the holidays. She passed away when I was still married. My wife had never met her and I remember saying that with the passing of my grandma, all tradition and true sense of "family" had ceased to exist on my side of our family. Freda was just always the glue that held the rest of us together.

Now, when Thanksgiving and Christmas come, I get depressed. Not just because she is gone, but because we have no one, comprehensive family get-together, just a bunch of separate ones. My mom has come to accept that I get bummed out every fall now, I just never have fully explained why. I think she knows, but I should probably explain the next time I call her.

Anyway, I didn't intend for this to become sad or depressing. Actually, while I was eating the toast, it brought back to mind many good times. I was smiling and remembering them and just happy that I ever got a chance to meet Freda. Funny how tastes and smells can trigger past memories and how suddenly, I don't feel like I'm in a holiday funk anymore!

Cheers!