February 25, 2010

Everything's Better With Butter




Imagine every plate filled, each glass and cup holding wines, water, coffee, and teas. UPRR china in the railroad museum, Sacramento. 2009.




Himself: Was very patient with me. We celebrated with steak for him at the 94th Aero Squadron and desert. He’s off now to swim that off.

Herself: After having to get out of the pool early because of my coughing, I called the doc again, and she actually called me back. I have a two week regimen of sprays, pills, and lots of water for my continuing bronchitis. I’m putting off using one of those inhalers for these two weeks. Today no swimming, yes poetry ladies, yes an estate sale with my silver pattern. Yes too, Mohave has her first ROTC uniform inspection today.

Reading: A new old Cadell and “Housekeeping in Old Virginia.”

Gratitude: Having only a mild reaction to the antibiotic, the rain seems gone, Got the upstairs tidy. I like tidy.


…………………………………Everything is Better


…………………………………Everything my mother or grandmother cooked
…………………………………was good for your soul
…………………………………from the rich beef ribs
…………………………………braised in a new red wine
…………………………………to the lamb and pork
…………………………………tenderly nurtured with new herbs
…………………………………or even the high fat meat loaf
…………………………………never served often enough.

…………………………………Then, there were the pie crusts
…………………………………tender and flaky only because of lard
…………………………………never would soy margarine
…………………………………lead us to that stage of nirvana
…………………………………of melt in the mouth satisfaction and love.

…………………………………The fruits canned in that new pressure cooker
…………………………………were thickened with pectin and sugared with …………………………………happiness
…………………………………the way to a man’s heart
…………………………………said mother’s favorite cookbook
…………………………………was through sugar until she got diabetes.

…………………………………Ice creams with real cream
…………………………………Steaks and chops
…………………………………roast beef with a crust of crackling fat
…………………………………roast pork liberally salted
…………………………………the half cracked crab mayonnaise drips fats
…………………………………as does the lobster thermador
…………………………………noodles Romanoff and
…………………………………those baked potatoes, fried
…………………………………potatoes, duchesse potatoes
…………………………………all swimming in melted butter
…………………………………green beans with bacon
…………………………………actually
…………………………………bacon with anything
…………………………………especially fried eggs gently basted with bacon grease.

…………………………………Any accompaniment was better with butter
…………………………………did I say that
…………………………………from the hardening of arteries
…………………………………then gangrene and loss of toes
…………………………………of legs
…………………………………from the madness’s of high blood pressure
…………………………………and blindness of diabetes
…………………………………the mindlessness of strokes
…………………………………all aided by the wonderful salt that made every meal

…………………………………taste more.

…………………………………My mother always said she was a better architectural engineer
…………………………………than cook.
…………………………………Post pulmonary artery graft
…………………………………I believe her.

7 comments:

  1. Wonderful poetry; aggravatingly true.
    Ruthe

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  2. So painfully true. My mother used to keep a frying pan full of pork fat on the back of the stove to add to various dishes and I used to spread it like butter on my toast! But we were poor and did not eat huge meals and rarely had desserts, so we escaped the cholesterol bullet.

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  3. My mother kept bacon fat....and she used real butter. Ah, the arteries are filled here.

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  4. Yes, I'm often frustrated by the taste of a dish, I remember my mother making, that doesn't turn out the same. My mother didn't use butter but she had that container of fried bacon grease.

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  5. I can only repeat with Ruthek.. especially the aggravatingly.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I do love my butter - and the poetry too, I must say! Now I am taking Red Yeast Rice and CoQ10 to bring my cholesterol down, dang it.

    ReplyDelete

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