I Think I Will Have Dessert!

How many times do you finish a good meal and the server or host/hostess would ask, "would you like some dessert?"

Whether it is a family dinner, date, church or community social there seems to always be plenty of desserts on hand. There is cake, pie, candy, brownies, and fresh fruit. We like the sweet things in life.

Fresh fruit seems to be one of those things that we can not wait til summer for. I can remember as a kid growing up on the farm in Illinois and my father and I would go out to the "40 acre" wood and he would show me all kinds of things to be found there.

There was asparagus, mushrooms, and the glorious beautiful ripe blackberries! Unlike the asparagus and mushrooms the blackberries could be picked and consumed right off the vine. But beware!!! Beware there were briars and stickers and they were not easy to claim but oh so sweet when you popped one into your mouth.

I think we would eat more than we claimed and placed into our buckets???

Once picked we would take them back to the house, gently rinse them, and we could do many different things with them: Freeze for later use, bake a blackberry cobbler, blackberry pie, blackberry wine, and blackberry jam.

But my favorite was once they were washed to place a lil' sugar on them let them rest on the kitchen counter and produce juice. Then after dinner get out the the ice cream freezer (if we were lucky) or go to the 'fridge and get the store bought ice cream out and serve heaping bowls of ice cream smothered in those beautiful sweet delicious berries....

Seems life is like that...

As a person we head out into the wild woods (world) and like '40 acres' to a young kid it seems pretty large. There are many things there to find: adventures, rabbits, pheasants, trees to climb, creeks to play in, hills to climb, turtles, and snakes!

There was treasure to be found, countries to conquer, food to be foraged, and there were the briars, thorns, & stickers and how they hurt while trying to achieve the act of capturing the sweet berries. They would get you every time but you had to suffer them to get the fruit of your labors!

As a young man I set out to conquer the world, explore my surroundings and find my sweet sweet berries. Of course there were the briars, thorns, & stickers....

I have encountered my far share of the rough briar patch in this life... But, I will continue on in this place, my '40 acre' wood, continue looking for the berries, fruit, the sweet sweet beautiful berries!

Cause, I want dessert!

Life, Food, Love, & Flavor

From my earliest age, Food was always a part of my life. I cooked my first time by myself when I was around 7 years of age. I was not supposed to but being raised on a farm in Central IL, everyone one who could have prepared a meal was out farming. So I being a master culinaire of PBJ, Cheese Sandwiches (Velveeta), and the classic Mayo or Butter Sandwiches, decided that I wanted a hamburger!

I got my pan out, turned on my mother's ancient gas stove, pattied out a rather large raw meat hamburger and began to pan fry it. It browned quickly and I thought it was done...

Wrong... This was the most raw burger I have ever seen since!

But from there things have gotten better. I then was encouraged to take a project in 4-H of cooking, there I perfected the cooking of Peanut Butter Cookies, and got a blue ribbon at the county fair. My mother taught me alot about cooking, then there were my Grandmothers, one a farmers wife and the other suburban housewife, who grew up in Chicago. Both lived thru the depression, gardened, cooked real home cooked meals, both for large families or lots of farm hands. It was at their sides, I learned to cook immense amounts of food with lots of flavor, lots of love, and to live life.

Whether it was preparing a meal for the farm hands, a family dinner for a holiday, birthday, or some church dinner, there was always some reason to cook table fulls of food. I would be remiss in mentioning where I came from in Audobon Township, I think we had more than our far share of great country cooks. When there was not a family dinner, holiday, or birthday party, there was some gathering requiring lots of food; The Fox & Coyote Drive, Chilli Supper, Oyster Supper, Pancake & Sausage Breakfast, etc. There was not a lady in the county or township who would not share her recipes proudly!

Then there was the many funeral dinners, that I went to, this being a small town community, when someone died, there was food to be taken to the home of the deceased, the church where the funeral dinner was held. Then there was the various dinners, pot lucks, and such when there was a holiday, season change, or revival. So I had plenty of opportunity to sample great foods prepared with lots of love for others.

This has given me a great deal of love for food, people, life, and flavor. I discovered many years ago, that the best food was prepared with lots of love and if there is no love, I have found it is edible but that the unique flavor imbued in the food is not there! I have no scientific proof of this ingredient called love, but I have my experiences.

I have always cooked, for my family, friends, and dates. I love cooking and from my father, who by the way knows his way around a kitchen, campfire, and grill; I learned to be experimental and to throw things together to make tasty meals. This gave me a love of creating my own recipes. Recently, I have began to write down my creations and one day, I hope to publish a cookbook. Additionally, my father's Aunt Viginia and her husband Uncle Dale owned the Morrisonville Cafe for many years, I saw how people loved them and swore by their food, they in turn loved the people who they cooked for. My late Grandfather, (father's father) was a master on the grill, when he passed away in 1993, I recieved his grill and used it for many years until it was stolen from my patio. My family already has a simple cookbook put together of family & friends recipes.

Please enjoy this blog as I post my recipes in the future, along with pictures of the completed foods. Should you ever need any clarifications, have questions, please feel free to ask me. I can also search for recipes should you wish to cook something and do not have the recipe. Great cooking and enjoy a flavorful life full of love and great food!