After
Baba and Mom finished preparations for Sunday’s chicken soup and noodles, my
mother went about her cleaning chores while my grandmother concentrated on
Saturday’s dinner menu. If she wasn’t sure of what to make, she’d occasionally
ask for my input. One of her meals on my ‘favorites’ list was steak smothered
in onions. It just happened to be Mom’s favorite dish as well.
My
brother, Dan, however despised onions. So when steak and onions were served, he
carefully removed every speck of the hated vegetable before eating the meat. He
never complained because he loved steak.
Baba
would make a quick run to the butcher shop located just behind Utes’ Grocery
Store to purchase the freshest cuts of round steak. She’d usually pick up two
or three pounds of kielbasa since it could be refrigerated for several days
without being compromised. My grandmother would never think of freezing
anything for convenience purposes.
STEAK SMOTHERED
IN ONIONS
http://tinyurl.com/ood8xqv
September 9,
1944 was no different than any other Saturday with regard
to cooking and chores. Although Mom was nine months pregnant with her second
child, she helped Baba in the kitchen then went upstairs to clean out her
refrigerator and mop down the floor. She hummed along as she smelled the
wonderful aroma of steak and onions baking in my grandmother’s oven. Dinner was
less than an hour away, and Mom looked forward to sitting around Baba’s table
with her entire family enjoying one of everybody’s favorite meals.
Unfortunately for Mom, her
water broke, labor began with a vengeance, and she was relegated to her bed to
birth her baby daughter, yours truly!
Luckily Dr.Ruth Stimetz was
our neighbor. After an urgent call from Baba, the kindly doctor appeared at the
back door eager to render her services. According to what I’ve been told, I
stubbornly refused to leave the safety of my mother’s womb without a fight. After
an hour or two though, I made my debut to a happy, awaiting audience.
Unfortunately Mom never got to eat her steak and onions that day!
ORANGE AND QUIRK
BABOVKA
In
Prague, the word for this delicious, fragrant dessert is ‘babovka.’ In our family, we called it Baba’s pound cake.
Although the recipe I’ve provided uses orange for flavoring, my grandmother
usually preferred lemon. Whenever she made it, the whole house smelled of citrus
goodness.
On
the day I was born, the babovka was already cooling on the back porch. Right
before dinner, Baba planned to sprinkle powdered sugar on it and serve a thick
slice to each one of us.
I’ve
been told that in all the excitement of my pending birth, my grandmother barely
had time to set out the steak and onions before Dr. Stimetz called her to
assist. Zedo and Uncle Tom ate their meal as usual while Dad, holding my
two-year-old brother, Danny, paced in the hallway outside the bedroom. When my
cry pierced the air, Dad, Danny, Zedo, and Uncle Tom stopped everything and
came to see what I was. I think they were all happy to welcome a baby girl into
our growing family.
No
one ate the pound cake because Baba forgot about it until days later.
PUPPY LOVE
PUPPY LOVE
(When We Were Kids, Bk. 2) is the second chapter
book of this series. I originally wrote it for tweens and teens. However,
because it takes place in the Fifties, I soon discovered that the baby boomers,
folks born 1941-1944, are just as enamored with the story as the kids. PUPPY LOVE takes people back to their
own childhood, which makes them able to identify with Betty Lou and Danny
Kolinski on so many levels.
When
Betty Lou and Danny experience their first taste of puppy love, they haven’t a
clue how to deal with it. One minute Lou couldn’t be happier to have Bobby
Stupar’s attention, and in the next instant she was pushing him to the ground
in disgust. When Danny realized Emily Salay liked him, he was elated. However
when school started, he avoided her so his friends wouldn’t tease him. When
Emily discovered his inhibitions, she dropped him like the proverbial ‘hot
potato.’
Only
when Baba told Betty Lou the story of her dog, Millie, and her puppies, did the
girl understand the highs and lows of first love.
I
hope you will try some of Baba’s favorite Saturday recipes. As a family we looked
forward to every meal because we knew how much love and caring went into the
preparation. We were never served anything that came out of a box or can. With
Zedo seated at the head, we respectfully gathered around Baba’s kitchen table
to share blessings, food, and conversation. We cherished this time together and
were excused only when our plates were emptied and our stomachs, full.
I
also hope you get a chance to read Puppy
Love and the following three books in the series, Playing Hooky ,Pimples
and Periods, and the newest addition, Promises. You won’t be disappointed, I promise.
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