old recipes and new kitchens

Great Grandma’s molasses cookies
Aunt Ange’s ravioli
The tune casserole recipe from
The Strasburg Heritage Cook Book
You want to have them and
Why shouldn’t you
What a legacy
What a great alternative to Swanson’s and McDonalds
The recipe is always so simple
The memory so wonderful and clean
And our existence so dirty and jumbled
There never seem to be more than a few ingredients
Usually stuff like butter and sugar and flour and tuna
No tofu in there
No pine nuts or organic brown sugar
Or free range chickens fed on multigrain toast
Simple
Canned mushrooms
Shortening
Lipton Onion Soup mix
But will you eat it
Every day
What if
Mrs. C. Robert Long (Jean)
Takes her Macaroni and Tuna Bake recipe
And hounds you with it
Insists that you eat it for every meal
Forces your kids to eat it
And berates them when they don’t
Tuna bake for breakfast
Tuna bake for lunch
Tuna bake for dinner
Tuna bake for dessert
And your late night snack
That you shouldn’t be taking anyway
Please
Thank you
You’re welcome
A hug and/or a kiss
It seems simple
Just make them say it
If they don’t
All you need is persistence
And a lot of guilt
And you will have
Civility
Tranquility
A lack of ripples on the surface
And if you don’t
She’ll do it for you
What can you do
What can you do with Mrs. C. Robert Long (Jean)
You could tell her that
She never ate tuna bake for every meal
That she had other things going in her kitchen
In her home
In her home
Or maybe you just take a bite
And say thank you
And keep it to yourself
That you didn't really eat it every day
And that when you did
You used fresh mushrooms
Whole wheat bread crumbs
And provolone
Rather than American cheese