Full Circle
Sometimes it’s really hard to believe that mom is gone; every time I make her pastry I can still feel her presence behind me guiding me and I can hear her voice telling me not knead it too much, don’t add too much flour – you will add that when you start rolling the pastry for the pies.
I often reflect back to those days when it was so busy at the restaurant, when all the truckers arrived in the morning for their breakfast before heading out on the road. They would stop in again on the way back for their coffee and piece of pie, or sometimes a quick burger.
The Brock Road students would pop over every day for their fries and gravy. Mom knew exactly when they would arrive and dad would say “get ready, they’re coming!”. The kids would line up at the register to order their fries and gravy, and sometimes a soda, before sneaking back onto the school grounds. Those were the days.
Mom’s recipes are the best and I often chatted about doing something with mom’s worn out cookbook; now that same old cookbook is gracing the cover of a brand new cookbook! So much baking and testing, and I don’t think we gained a lot of weight during this process – thank goodness for Zumba!
Mom will always be with me as I bake or cook. I have now taken on her role, adding and changing recipes depending on how I feel that day. I miss her and my dad every day and thank them for a great opportunity to grow in a restaurant environment and for giving me the confidence to improvise in the kitchen the way mom used to.
