I am at home alone, very unusual lol and i am sitting here thinking about family, My ex husband Kevin's twin brother ( i hate that title....... ex ..... I wish there was a different way of saying it, as he deserves better then that) Kieth is in town the boys are going bow hunting, now these boys love hunting together and have come and gone to each others houses for years to hunt as a team. Which brings me to this week, the boys are getting together for the big hunt and its time to make the family special diner's (aka) Gramie's meatballs and Lavon's treats, so the call comes (text) first for the Norwegian meatballs and gravy............. yes...... yes it will be my pleasure to make Gramies special dish for you boys, so off to the store my husband and I go to get the supplies (yes I have an amazing husband who shops with me) we gather all the supplies lean burger, my favorite sausage, cream, real butter and so on, the best ingredients ( yes it makes a difference) then I remember a special cookie recipe that Lavon used to make for Kieth at Christmas time and I gather the ingredients for that also to surprise my brother in law, okay... okay.... technically he is my ex brother in law according to the world, but to me he and his children will always be my family as will Kevin and the extended family.
Anyways back to cooking for the boys, I have to say it is such a joy cooking old family recipes, I started with the Norwegian Meat balls and gravy and the special cookie recipe, you know there is something about cooking old family recipes that connect you with the past and the ones you love especially those whom have passed on, they live on with the traditions and memories of the food your cooking.
Grammies Norwegian meat balls bring back so many memories of that wonderful woman, I think about her every time I make them, her laughter, her smiling eyes, her sense of humor, oh how I loved that woman. I so loved sitting and talking to her listening to her stories as we drank coffee and ate cookies together ( she always had homemade cookies ready for guest that she served with her strong dark coffee ) she was a striking woman pure white hair & sky blue eyes, i would sit listen her tell stories of her family growing up in North Dakota often while I was going through her homemade cook book searching for the family treasured recipes, I would watch as her sky blue eyes would twinkle as she laughed and talk of the farm life, her siblings.
The boys loved the family treat of meatballs and it wasn't long that i received a thank you text from them, having enjoyed cooking for the boys so much i asked if there was anything else the would like to have, and i started listing recipe after recipe of their mama's and Gramie's special dishes............ so now My daughter and I will be shopping tomorrow for ingredients to make a couple more special dishes for the boys before their hunting season is done and Kieth head Home.
I feel so blessed to be part of this wonderful family and it just filled my heart with such joy to be the gate keeper of these loved family recipes, passed down from generation to generation, Grandmother, Mother in Law to me. Now it is my job to pass it on to the next generation................... what an honor.
