Sunday dinners….

Years ago when I was young, we had three meals a day. They were breakfast, dinner and supper. We didn’t know what brunch was. Times change, descriptions change, but I still eat three meals a day….plus a few snacks!

I am at home full time now and it has been that way for 23 years, cooking for one is sometimes a challenge. You want wholesome, well balanced meals, but it is difficult to prepare some of my favorites for just me.

Being alone allows a lot of time for reminiscing. For example, some months ago I began using an aluminum container that I bought when I had a young family. It was used to hold hot biscuits or rolls. It is dome shaped, with a small opening at the top you can open and close to allow heat to escape or to be held in. It had been packed away for years, but I got it out recently, so I could use it.

Just looking at it conjured up many happy memories. Our family consisted of my husband, me and our two little girls, We lived in a nice subdivision, very close to the church we attended each Sunday and on Wednesdays, We always included my Mother for lunch, who had to be picked up from her church in Columbia.

Sunday dinner was always a special time of all of us sitting down for a leisurely meal, with some of our favorite foods. When I began to use the aluminum container for hot biscuits, my mind wandered back to the years I used it for yeast rolls from the frozen food section. They looked like oversized marbles. You put three in each muffin pan and left them to rise before they were baked,

Back then, we had ham, baked chicken or a number of meat dishes, fresh vegetables, salad and desserts. Sunday dinners were special. As soon as we got home from church, I prepared our meal while the rest of the family went to pick Mother up. While they were gone, I baked the yeast rolls, heated everything that needed to be warmed, got the salad and deviled eggs out of the refrigerator. So when the family got back, I was ready to serve a delicious meal, with our sweet tea and those delicious hot yeast rolls. I am so glad I did not dispose of the aluminum container of long ago. Just one insignificant object can bring back years of treasured moments.

Times have changed…everyone is in a rush now! The current trend, before the pandemic, was to eat out on Sunday. Life is totally different now. I know I am old fashioned, but I would love to be able to relive those happy Sunday dinners. My daughters don’t live near me and they have families of their own. Each of them calls me every day. The pace of life is so filled with obligations, that many families never sit down together to enjoy one another. I am thankful to have the old aluminum “warmer” to carry me back to a kinder, gentler time in my life…Sunday dinners with hot yeast rolls and butter! And the presence of my loved one around the table!

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream” 🍦

I don’t actually scream for ice cream, but I do enjoy eating it. I have written about childhood memories of Sunday afternoons, when as a child, I would sit on the churn to keep it from moving as my Daddy would turn the crank to make “homemade” ice cream.

Another memory from the past was when Mrs. Trott, a neighbor, would ask Mother if she could take me with her when she went to town for a visit with her doctor. She said she wanted to “show me off.” Mrs. Trott always seemed to be sick and I would go to visit her to keep her company. She always kept a small, store bought pound cake on her kitchen table because it was Mr. Ed’s favorite. I was “ special” so she would give me a thin slice almost every time I was there.

On the days she went to the doctor, Mother would make sure I looked my best. I would wear a pretty dress, have a bow in my hair and got to wear my Sunday shoes. Mrs. Trott and I rode to town in a taxi! Old “Doc” Nolan’s office was on Main Street. After her checkup, she and I would go to Smith’s Rexall Drug store to get her medicine and she would treat me to an ice cream cone! I remember the neon sign that said, “Sealtest Ice Cream.” They had the flavor of the month and once I chose the “plum royale flavor.” That was the only time I ever had it. We would ride home in a taxi and then I would go home, after feeling very special!

Another high lite of my young life was when we moved to Charleston, South Carolina. I was in the fifth grade and got twenty-five cents a week allowance! We lived on Broad Street near Colonial Lake. If you walked in the other direction down Broad Street, past the “ Four Corner’s of Law“ you would see the Cheeseman’s Ice Cream Shop.

Back then you could get two dips of ice cream for five cents! Yes, it was a long time ago! I remember one time instead of buying a “double dip” cone where the dips were side by side, I decided to spend my quarter and get ten flavors! They had to put all that ice cream in a tall milkshake cup! Well, there was no way I could eat ten scoops of ice cream at one time, so I took it home and it did get eaten, by my Mother and brother!

After we moved to Columbia, I discovered Blue Bird Ice Cream Shoppe at Five Points. I thought, “This would be a nice place to work, because you could sample every flavor…free!” Needless to say. I did not get a job there! Last week while I was at Walmart, I noticed a flavor I had not seen before. It was salted caramel. Since I like the salted caramel cream cheese from ALDI, I bought a carton. It is good, but it will not replace my favorite, maple walnut ice cream! I don’t scream for ice cream like the old saying goes, but I have enjoyed it through the years! 🍦