Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: MIX (10/22/15)
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TITLE: Memories of Mom's Mixes | Previous Challenge Entry
By D. Michael Newell
10/27/15 -
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To prepare for Christmas, Mom started on Labor Day weekend. That was the time to mix the fruit cakes so they could cure before Christmas. After college I was married, and lived about two hours north of Mom. So every Labor Day weekend we would drive down to help with the fruit cakes.
Right after breakfast we would get started. Raisins needed to be ground and nuts needed to be chopped. There was one hundred pounds of fruit cake to bake. I had a special job in this process. I was the “mixer”. The mixing bowl was a “number two” wash tub dedicated to this task.
The creamed ingredients were mixed in two batches as Mom’s largest mixing bowl was too small. I would remove my watch and rings so I could do a “surgical scrub”. Then the fun began!
With the creamed ingredients in the “mixing bowl” my Mom would start sifting the dry ingredients into the bowl while I mixed. The nuts, raisins and candied fruit were added with the flour.
A neighbor’s oven was borrowed to help with the baking. First we loaded Mom’s oven. Then we took the filled pans to the neighbor’s for baking.
When the first pans came out of the oven, we washed them and filled them again until all the fruit cakes were baked. Mom baked two sizes of cakes, small and large. Yes, it was an all day job as each oven load took over an hour to bake.
When I moved to Oregon my younger brother, Pat, became the “Mixer”, until Mom moved into the retirement home.
Another one of Mom’s Christmas mixes came much closed to Christmas. This time it was candy. Two types of fudge and two types of divinity. Mom could handle this even though I have five brothers and sisters. I was not involved except for being a grateful recipient. Oh, the rest of my family did get their share.
When it was time for Mom to make the divinity we all prayed for good weather, otherwise the divinity does not come out right.
When I was diagnosed with type two diabetes, things changed. I did not share with my family in eating the fruit cake, fudge and divinity. Mom still sent them to my family, but for me there was a special mix that she sent. Her own version of “Check Mix”. Yes, I let my family share it with me. I wish I had that recipe. I miss Mom’s “Check Mix”.
Christmas was not the only time growing up that we enjoyed Mom’s mixes. My Mom’s chili con carne, the go-to dish at church picnics, disappeared first. Especially on those winter picnics in the mountains. We didn’t get snow very often in San Diego. Maybe once every ten to twelve years. So the mountains were where we went for a church picnic in the winter.
We kids would play in the snow and have chili con carne and hot chocolate to warm us up.
No chili mix for Mom, no sir. She mixed up her own and the beans didn’t come from a can. They were bulk pinto beans, carefully sorted to get out the gravel, washed and slow cooked. The meat was pork or beef depending on what was on sale that week.
When I was living in Pendleton, Oregon, my kids could hardly wait for Gramma to come for a visit. There was only one thing on their mind, chili con carne con frijoles y tortillas. She learned how to make this when we lived in New Mexico before I even started school.
The day Gramma was to come, they would keep a sharp look out for her. They had their request to make and nothing was going to stop them.
As Gramma’s van appeared in front of our house all three bounded out the door yelling “Gramma will you make us some chili con carne con frijoles y tortillas.” They could not wait for her to get out of her van.
Who cares that my wife already had dinner on the stove and it was almost time to eat. So what that Gramma was tired from a long drive. What mattered was Gramma’s chili con carne con frijoles y tortillas.
Yes, I will always treasure memories of Mom’s mixes.
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Well written and well shared.
It's great to write about memories, it can be handed down from generation to generation!
Your story flowed well from paragraph to paragraph and kept my interest to the end. Good job!