The "Thank You" Restaurant

I don't think I was in high school yet when my brother and sister and I created the "Thank You Restaurant" to celebrate our Mom and Dad.

On a special occasion - their anniversary or a birthday - we would plan a special dinner for them. We went all out. We created a written menu, including prices, we chose special music to play on the stereo (a favorite for both of them was Jim Reeves' "Welcome to My World), and my brother would drape a cotton dishtowel over his arm and escort the two of them into the living room, sit them down with a glass of sparkling cider and then return to the kitchen to let my sister and I know they were ready to be seated.

I'd plan the menu and cook the food. One of my greatest treasures was a box of card recipes - Mom made sure to get me the entire set in series - separated by categories like "Our Famous Restaurants," "Our Rich Heritage," "The French Touch" and "Budget Stretchers." I learned how to make a white sauce by following the receipe for "Baked Macaroni and Cheese" which I made over and over again.

But for "The Thank You Restaurant" I would scour the recipes for something with more flair. One of my favorite meals, was Chicken Waikiki Beach. I had never been to Hawaii, but Waikiki sounded so fabulously exotic - and it had pineapple! For dessert I made Bananas Foster - but had to ask Mom to buy the rum and banana liqueur. The dessert isn't complicated, but requires setting the bananas on fire (which must have been an exercise in trust for my parents). It turned out fantastic!

When Mom passed away, we were all in the kitchen, cleaning out the cupboards and found a small bottle of banana liqueur, filmed over with dust, more than half full. It had obviously sat high on a shelf for more than 25 years - dormant since that "Thank You Restaurant's" flaming dessert. Perhaps it's time to uncork it.

Friday Night Tacos

Sometimes people ask me when I knew I loved cooking. I never know how to answer them. Growing up the oldest of five kids in a below-poverty household, I learned the necessity of cooking cheaply for a big group of people before I entered high school.

We ate oatmeal for dinner a lot.

But also, spaghetti with ground beef, creamed tuna on toast (Dad was the only one allowed to call it SOS, or shit on a shingle - cuz he had been in the army), chicken gizzards, beef or pork liver and onions (oh I loved this dish with ketchup), and the family's all time favorite - taco night!

We had tacos every Friday night and it was quite a production. We'd cook hamburger with salt and pepper in the 16 inch cast iron skillet. I'd chop tomatoes and onions. My sister would grate cheddar cheese and chop lettuce. Mom would deftly use kitchen tongs to run corn tortillas through a fry pan of hot oil and Dad would try not to burn his fingers as he filled each now soft shell with the hamburger. Then we'd sit down to a feast. Our taco nights were famous. Everyone wanted to come over for them. One time Dad and I had a contest of how many tacos we could eat. I beat him by one. I ate 13.

Imagine....13.