Nana
by Marla Clark
I cannot imagine my
life without my grandmother. I credit my "Nana" for many things;
among them, a gentle good nature and my love of cooking. As a young
girl, I was fortunate to live next door to my grandparents. My grandfather
picked my sister and I up after school and my grandmother cared for
us until our parents came home from work.
Two things really stick
out in my mind. One is that I cannot remember a single time when my
grandmother raised her voice to us. Upon questioning her about this
in later years, she simply replied that she just reasoned with me and
and that was enough. The other is how much I loved watching my grandmother
cook. She frequently prepared meals from scratch and I would sit at
the kitchen table and watch her patiently grinding her meat and rolling
out dough for baking. She never saw cooking as a chore, but rather as
a way to love and nurture and lift the spirits of family and friends
with great food. It is from her that I inherited my love of cooking.
A year ago February,
my "Nana" passed away at the age of ninety-nine. While we
spoke frequently and maintained a loving relationship, during her last
years we spoke over the telephone every Sunday. She was always thrilled
to hear from me and made me feel like the most important person in the
world. She always told me a joke. Truthfully, it was the same six jokes
that she recycled, but I laughed and acted like I was hearing each joke
for the first time. I loved hearing stories about her life and especially
appreciated it when she shared family recipes. Most of these were in
her head and the quantities were general, at best. My favorite was when
she shared with me her recipe for cheesecake. She scribbled this recipe
on a piece of paper and sent it to me. I laughed out loud when I read
it. Along with the other ingredients, the recipe included "some
sour cream". I called her and asked her, "Nana, how much is
some sour cream"? She responded, "Honey, buy a container of
sour cream, save some for baked potatoes for during the week and use
the rest". That was my Nana!
As my Nana got older
and became more health conscious and aware of more modern dietary restrictions,
she began to modify some of her favorite recipes. Here is a modified
eggplant.
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