Making memories

When I say making memories, I don't just mean creating them. I mean that yesterday I made things from my memory and from stories I've heard from my Mom and my auntie Lorraine. First, from my own. Do you remember a few posts back (A slight detour on the way to India) I talked about my Nana making bread? How it looked and made me feel? Well, we were out of bread yesterday, and so I decided to make some. I opened my Joy of Cooking, and looked up yeast bread. As I was looking, I found a recipe for parker house rolls (https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/parker-house-rolls-360791) which sounded like what I remember. Soft, not crusty. Slightly sweet. So I pulled out my handy Kitchen Aid, and got to work. After making the dough and letting it rise the first time, I started to shape the rolls. I remember my Nana getting a lump of dough and kind of pushing it through her thumb and fore finger, then twisting and pinching until it came apart in a smooth round ball, so I gave it a shot. And it worked. She also put them in the pan so that they would touch when the finished the second rise and bake, so I did the same. She had some large square pans, which I don't have, so I put them in my cast iron skillet and made a circular pattern.

I didn't remember to take pictures of the bread in progress, but I did get some pretty good shots of the finished product.

Although the shape is not what I remember, the look and taste definitely is. In the background of the second picture, you can see the next memory for the day - Donuts!!

I don't remember my Nana making donuts, but I do remember my Mom and my Auntie Lorraine telling me about it. My Nana didn't make them for every day eating; she made them fund raisers, like  when my mom ran for Fiesta Queen (and won), or when my auntie Lorraine ran for Princess. People loved her baking because it was delicious. I think that's because she made things with love, and I believe that makes a difference. So, on to the actual activity.

I don't have the recipe that my Nana used, so I looked up a recipe for a donut that I like to eat - Buttermilk Old Fashioned (https://www.barbarabakes.com/old-fashioned-buttermilk-donuts/). Like I said before, I don't tweak baking recipes so I followed it exactly as it is written.

I rolled out the dough and cut them. You may notice that my donuts are not the perfectly round with hole in the middle confections you buy at Dunkin Donuts. This is because I do not have a donut cutter. I didn't even know there was such a thing until I read the online recipes I read. So, I had to make do.

As you can see, I used an English muffin mold and a shot glass. I don't know what those of you that don't drink would use to get the center hole out. I just know that by dipping the shot glass in flour between each cut, and being careful not to push too hard, I was able to get a hole out of the center of each donut.

Deep frying has it's own rhythm; one that I think is faster than other cooking methods. So, finding my rhythm of rolling, cutting, frying, dipping (into glaze), and moving the donuts off the rack and into a tray was a work in progress. Here's what it looked like, as the process evolved.

The donuts and donut holes in the back have been glazed, while the ones closest to the bottom are fresh out of the oil. They certainly don't look like the picture in the recipe (much smaller and skinnier), nor are they really round. I blame the way they went into the oil, although it could have been the way I put them in the oil.....

I came out with about 2 dozen donuts and holes, including one vaguely misshapen one, which was the end of the dough. I was done cutting so that last one was the remnants. We gave a lot of them to neighbors, wrapped in parchment and foil so that they could wipe down the package if they chose. Walter laid them in the wrapping so that it would look cute - we recreated it on a plate so you can see.

All in all, it was a pretty good batch of donuts. Next time, I'll roll them a bit thicker to see if I can get more heft to them.

Original Poster - ImDB

I'm guessing it's pretty apparent that I think of food as an expression of my love. I think that how you feel about making the meal shows in the taste and how it makes others at your table feel. One of the best expressions of this idea that I've ever seen is  "Like Water for Chocolate," a book, and then a movie that was released in 1992. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. It is in Spanish with subtitles, and none of the emotion and connection is lost because of this.

That's all for now - stay safe and warm. Maybe make or break out a treat to share with your family.