Memory VS. Food

 

 IF you are dealing with an end of life parent or loved one, I so hope their memory is perfect.  If not, keep reading.....

My dear mother's memory is failing.  The last twenty years are pretty
much gone...  I'm trying to trigger and re-engage her memory of all the great things she made for Christmas and special occasions.  She was a great baker and cook..  She prepared many memorable meals.

Fortunately, she contributed many of her recipes to a cookbook that our neighborhood published back in 1999.   I'm planning a big Christmas Dinner with many of her recipes.  I just hope she will recognize some of them.  My greatest hope is that she will still be with us on that special day.

Thank goodness I preserved her recipes in our neighborhood cookbook.

These recipes are from the 60's and 70's...  The ingredients include tasty canned pineapple, pumpkin, cranberry, apricots, along with sour cream, buttermilk, Jello, Cool Whip, and Knox Gelatin.  It was all delicious and I'm recreating the whole thing.  I so hope she remembers some of it....  Fruitcake too!

General Foods wasn't such a bad thing back in those days.    They didn't start any wars or kill people..... They just used lots of preservatives and food dye....

My mother lived and thrived through the Jello Years and the Ready Whip Stuff....  She was a Cool Whip Convert...  Get over yourself... I think she might have even served Cheese Whiz at a party or two...with celery..."the Fresh Vegetable".   The closest thing we had to anything "organic" was grass seed from the local Jupiter Store.

How bad could processed foods really be?  My mom's 91 and she loves french fries, ice cream and potato chips.   She eats them all the time.  She's outliving Hospice...  She'll probably get kicked out of Hospice for living too long...  She's been on it for almost three years.

The difference is my mother observes "Portion Control" and "Moderation".  Just like Julia Child...  Enjoy it all, but don't be a pig!  Congestive heart failure, COPD, and atrial fib also contribute to her robust metabolism.