My grammy, who died in 1993 at the age of 89 was a remarkably indifferent cook. She ate almost the same meals every day for the last 50 years of her life. She had a toasted English muffin with butter on it for breakfast and another English muffin with melted Wispride cheese for lunch followed by a bowl of Crystal Rocky Road ice cream. The tiny grocery on Auburn Folsom Road (near Sacramento, CA ) about 4 miles from Oak Manor, my ancestral home, kept Crystal in stock for her alone.
She began her evenings with one vodka tonic. Dinner was pork chops with roasted new potatoes and green beans, always followed by 3 Andes mints and another bowl of Crystal rocky road ice cream in bed. My brother says "One time there were a few of us sitting in the living room and she was going off to bed, and she tried to sneak out of the kitchen with a bowl of rocky road that was piled about 5 inches above the bowl. It was about the biggest bowl of ice cream that we have ever seen."
Still, we grandkids looked forward to eating at her house with fervent enthusiasm. One highlight was the Hershey bars she kept in almost unimaginable abundance (for us) in her back pantry. The second was Potato Buds which we found both sophisticated and delicious, bathed in cups of real melted butter. When we were there for dinner or when she had friends for drinks she served weird snacks. We all remember something called Bugles, but they were always changing-whatever Nabisco was throwing out there to see if someone would eat it.
On Christmas eve we had hamburger soup. She made the Hamburger Soup ahead of time and kept it in jars in her refrigerator. The fat would rise in the jars, creating a white layer an inch thick. No skimming for Grammy. She simply scooped the congealed fat into the pot.
Sharon Roseme Hamburger Soup .pdf
March, 2007
