A few weeks ago, Tuesdays with Laurie posted about Plans & Projects. She said that she was getting “That itch to empty the house and scrub it from top to bottom. Only putting half of everything back in and donating the rest.”
At the time, the fullness of what COVID-19 would become was not clear. “I won’t be scrubbing my house,” I thought. “I’ll be free, outside, in the spring!”
More fool me.
We’ve been social distancing for two weeks. I’ve been tackling plans and projects that I thought I’d be leaving until fall.
I cleaned my fridge. At the back corner of the top shelf of the fridge I found a jar of chokecherry jelly that I had bought at a Christmas craft fair. I’d forgotten about it.
(Remember when we could have craft fairs?)
This morning I had chokecherry jelly on toast. The flavour transported me instantly back to my childhood on the farm.
My brothers and I would pick the bitter fruit from trees that grew wild along our fences. The tiny red berries always looked so good. I’d put one in my mouth and screw up my face because of the bitter flavour.
My mother would take our buckets of chokecherries, boil them and add sugar. She’d strain the juice through cloth, and from that came a jelly with the distinctive flavour I love.
It’s one of my tastes of childhood.
There are others: fried bologna, fat green onions straight from the garden, biscuits and brown sugar.
What are your favourite childhood foods?
