My mother was a good cook, too. I've been able to save most of her recipes but more importantly, I was able to cook them before she passed so she knew the traditions would live on.
She would read the recipes to Dad, who typed them into the computer. But those are all in WordPerfect format, so the files are difficult to recover.
If you'd like, I can try to convert all of them for you.
Alright--Another Bear Story:
After I got back from Vietnam, many of my 9th Inf Div got stuck in Hawaii for awhile. I had to change my MOS to make SP5, so I chose "Fire Control Instrument Artillery Repair", and ended up in an Artillery shop, with a bunch of Hawaiian National Guards who knew how to cook & liked to party.
So about once a month we'd have some BBQ, and my "Lifer" Platoon leader "SSG Ako" would make some Great Ribs & Chicken on a Grill. They were awesome, but the only thing I remember was he used a lot of Soy Sauce, some Sesame Oil, and a good amount of Sesame Seeds.
And we always had some big guns in the shop, so we'd sometimes put cans of Beer & Ice down the tube of a 106 Recoiless. You want a beer---Just Open the breech & get one.
LOL---Don't forget to clean it & Oil it after the Party!!
Bear
Good Story Bear!
Being younger, my mother is still around, but she was never much of a cook, my dad was when I was younger, because both his mother and father cooked. <Sadly his father passed before I was born, but every one has always told me we were very much alike. Prone to crazy amounts of devotion to a new idea, then promptly dropping it, etc. And we both loved our food>.
He was a cook in the Army back in WW2, and ended up locally known as the best cook in the area for a while for his prime rib etc. My grandma on the other hand was the down to earth good ole home cooked meals. Tons of pies...when ever we visited, she always made sure to make alot of taters and homemade gravy. It was only in her declining years when more people offered to help with holiday meals, and now largely that is my department as my mother and my dad's sisters think dried out turkey is good turkey, etc.
I still remember climbing apple trees to get apples for my Grandma so she could make pies and we'd make apple juice and jam etc. She was the grandma who'd sneak us Candy and cookies. It was sad to watch her mental health decline to where she was hoarding food. When she was moved out of the home she had for decades <City bought it, whole block was being torn down> it was sad, she had canned goods from 1950's there. She would can for a family of 12 when it was just her.
On my mother's side, the only thing I can distinctly learned from them was my Grandpa, every year during deer hunting would make Pork and Kraut. he'd get Boneless pork ribs or pork chops, put them in an old dutch oven, with a mess of onion and potatoes..butter, and what ever seasoning he'd like. People would tell him to not put in the Sauerkraut directly, he'd wait for us all to go off into the woods, and promptly dump a ton in and it would cook in a wood fired stove all day. This is still a dish I thoroughly enjoy <Though I do not add in butter any more. To much pork fat cooked this way makes me sickly>. Alot of our times up there was my uncle frying up fish we caught and all.
Sorry for the long rambling post :)
