Reminisce ... old stories

[Meld256]

  My mother grew up in the 30's in the middle of Illinois on a farm where the snow drifts blew what roads they had nearly shut quite often in the winters.

Since they had a large farm and made most of what they needed, they only went to town on Saturdays. In snowy weather, they would have the farm horses pull a wagon with Grandma, Grandpa and all 7 kids. The parents went to get some fabric, maybe a tool, and enough sugar and flour needed, and talk with their neighbors who were there doing the same.

My mom and her siblings got to go to the movies for a while, and get a candy stick from the general store. She loved those times; running around the little town with her brothers and sisters, and taking the trip about 10 miles into town. They might stop by her aunt and uncles house on the way back and play a card game, and have hot chocolate.

They all had lots of daily chores, but those Saturdays were a break for the kids. She said sometimes they would come home so cold and tired, but they really had fun and always looked forward to it. It was really a different way of life...

[Catilee2]

Hi all,
   Bucky - my grandfather used to make his own ribbon candy. It was sooooo good.  When we were growing up our family( parents and 5 kids) used to start listening to Christmas music right after Thanksgiving. My sister and I loved a particular album made in 1958. It has never been made for store sales into a CD. Neither of us have CD burners for LP's. Well I found a place on line that makes copies of this album( she has the record). So I sent her a CD of it for her Dec. Birthday.
I also ordered the album and a CD for myself.  It brought back memories of the special cookies we would make and putting glass wax on the windows using stencils of snowflakes and reindeer and ginger-men figures in different colors.  Yes, life felt less hectic back then.

Catilee 2

[Pisces24]

That was soo nice of you.
My folks were big Grand Ole Opry fans so I have a lot of old 78 records from that era.
Maybe I should look into getting something so I can burn em on cds.

[irish]

This has been the best thread. I hope that it continues cause it is so comforting to read about the "old days". They had their problems too, but life was so much simpler. For one thing, we didn't have electronics and a radio was the first electronics I remember.

I remember sitting on the floor in front of the tall radio listening to the David Stone show at noon.They played county music and would have the news and the market report.

I know that I played outside more than my grandkids do. I do have to say that our 3 boys played outside every day of the year for hours. We lived in the country and they had chores and could not sit still in the house for long.

For being such a sicko now I don't remember being that sick when I was little. I know that I played outside a lot but I don't remember having an ear infection until I was 12 years old.

Oh, remember making fudge for Christmas the old fashioned way years ago. The old fashioned way is without the marshmellow fluff. The sugar, milk, butter, cocoa and vanilla and stand at the stove holding the darn thermometer and putting a drop of fudge in the cold water to see if it formed a ball. I loved licking the pan when it was done. That is still the best stuff.

Also, going to the grocery store and buying the candy that came in the big barrels. I loved the chocolate with the white insides. The ones that looked sort of like a teepee with a rounded top.

Oh, I have to mention fruitcake. I was never crazy about it when it had so much of the candied fruit in it. I just bought a little tiny loaf a few weeks ago for me only. It is so good. Lots of nuts and none of the fruit that I don't like.

I will be 68 but it seems like today is a whole different world. When I was a young wife with little kids I would stay up into the wee hours baking for the holidays. I can remember making at least 10 different types of cookies plus many kinds of bars. I would put some on paper plates and wrap in paper and bow and give to the neighbors and also take some to work.

All that baking has gone by the wayside since women have started working full time and the kids have all gotten into sports that keep them and their parents out and about so many nights of the week.

Time to hang it up. The rain came last night and tonight the wind has started to blow. We will see what tomorrow brings. Irish Happy New Year. 

[Joe S.]

One of my holiday week memories was going to stay with my grandma in Grand Forks, ND. At the time I thought of it almost as punishment as she had no radio or TV. The house was two log cabins but together covered with clapboard siding. There was an oil burning heater in the living room that I had to keep fueled. Vents in the floor of the second level floor allowed heat into the bedrooms. Tucked into the back hallway closet was the toilet. The kitchen stove was a wood burner. My days were splitting wood, cleaning house, moving furniture, and helping in the kitchen. I would also empty the drip pan for the refrigerator and put the new block of Ice on top.

Grandma was in her 60's at the time. One day my uncles came over to help make lefse and klub for the big family meal. We peeled potatoes most of the morning and boiled them. We then riced all of them. Some were used for lefse but most was mixed with lard to make klub. The ham had boiled for hours before the klub bricks were dropped in the water to boil with it.

It was the last Holiday at Grandmas house. She was getting senile. After that get together she stayed with one of her kids for part of the year all year long. My aunts and uncles cleaned out her home. My mother helped her get Social Security (which was new at the time). A couple of years later she had to be put in a nursing home.

[Katybarstool]

Is that a bittersweet memory Joe?

Kathyx

[Bucky]

<<Also, going to the grocery store and buying the candy that came in the big barrels. I loved the chocolate with the white insides. The ones that looked sort of like a teepee with a rounded top.>>

Irish - I think Cracker Barrel carries those.  I think they're called Cream Drops?  I agree - they're goooood!!   

Bucky

[Joe S.]

Kathyx, one of many.

[Bucky]

Last night, I had to work on New Years Eve.  We had the restaurant decked out with white linen tablecloths and black linen wrapped silverware.  It really looked sharp.  (our "normal" color scheme is maroon tablecloths and linens for silverware.)

We had one "older" group (party of 14) of diners who came in and the men were in tuxedo's and the ladies in either evening gowns or dresses.  They looked really,really sharp!  (There's something about a guy in either a uniform or suit and tie that really, really looks nice.  )

The way these diners were dressed reminded me of days gone by when it used to be the "norm" to "dress up" when going to a party or church.  If you look back at pictures from the 40's and 50's you see how people dressed when they went out to celebrate.  The ladies got all dolled up with their finest dress, shoes and jewelry and their hair all fixed up.  You definitely didn't see any of the men in jeans and t-shirts!

Somewhere along the way - things changed.  I still have a hard time with the way some people dress to come to church.  I was brought up to wear a dress and the guys wore suits and ties.  I remember my MIL saying how at her church in the south, women didn't dare come to church in slacks - it was not acceptable then.  I do wear dress slacks now if it's really, really cold out.  It's the shorts, jeans and flip-flops I see that still bother me. 

Last nights celebration for the diners would have been so awesome if EVERYONE had dressed up for the occasion.  (We don't have a "dress code" - but the ones that were dressed up looked very impressive!)

Bucky

[CAT1962]

Bucky, I PREFER dressing nicely for church, but I have 4 daughters, and I don't care what they wear (as long as it isn't torn, revealing, PJs, etc..LOL) as long as they are next to me in the pew. I don't even have a dress. When I lose weight - one of my resolutions!! - I am going to buy some pretty skirts . 

[irish]

Joe, Can you describe what klub is. I have a potato ricer and we used to have them a lot back in the early days of our marriage. I haven't made them for years. Will have to get it out and make it for the grandkids.

Also, Joe, you reminded me of when I was very young and going to see my aunt and uncle in Wisconsin. They were what would be defined as very poor. But, they didn't know it cause there was always an extra plate at the table for a guest.

She had the wood stove and baked everything in it. She did have a little refrigerator but no indoor plumbing. It was always a challenge going to visit and staying overnight. They got the water from the pump in the front yard and then kept water in a big pail in the entry with the ladle in it. Everyone drank out of it. Also, the wash basin for washing up to eat.

She had a wringer washing machine but no dryer and everything was hung on the line. Must have been so hard on her cause my uncle just sat and watched her work.

We had the newspaper in the outhouse cause they could not afford to have the toilet paper. Also had the chamber pots under the beds. All this inconvenience and yet she could bake the best biscuits and put the best meal on the table. She canned on that old wood stove but never was able to freeze food.

Bucky, you reminded me of back in the 50's when dressing up was so much more fashionable. We all wore dresses and skirt and only on Friday could we wear jeans to school. It was so much fun to shop for clothes in those days cause everything was different. Now everything looks the same and you can pretty much tell if it is from Walmart or Target.

We didn't have many clothes back then and we had to be careful with how we took care of what we had. Nothing was disposable back then. We even went to actual shoe stores to buy shoes and hat shops to buy hats. Yes, we still wore hats when I was little. Every little girl would pretty much get to have a new dress and hat for Easter and Christmas. It might be home made or even a hand me down, but it was a "special" dress.

Thanks again to all of you for sharing your memories. Joe, you live in MN also so I can relate to lots of the stuff you talk about. My MIL and FIL lived on the farm as did many of my aunts and uncles. So much history and memorable get to gethers where we butchered, canned and froze food for several families all in one day. Lots of hard work but very rewarding and fun!!! Happy New Year to all. Irish

[Joe S.]

Klub is a heart attack on your plate. I think it is the reason that most of my fathers uncles died of heart failure like my dad. My uncles and aunt died from heart attack also. It used to be a meal that they had multiple times per week while growing up. It hits your stomach like a stone. It is one of the foods that they used to have on the farm before chores. It did a very good job of clogging your arteries.

It is equal portions of Pork lard and potato rolled in flour and boiled in Ham broth. The brick (dumpling) is served hot with a 1/4 pound of melted butter and several slices of ham.  I do not remember the actual recipe today. It was almost as hard to cut as a piece of wood. You had to use a sharp knife like a steak knife to cut it.

[CAT1962]

Intrigued by this strange dish, I had to Google it, Joe. The potatoes are almost outweighed by the equal amount of flour used in the recipes online. Not lard mentioned, but maybe that was your family's version. Recipes called for bacon, flour, potatoes, etc... wow, definitely not heart-worthy!

[Joe S.]

One of my aunts used to fry up bacon and used the grease from that to mix with the lard. She would also include the bacon bits in the Klub. Yes it is a strange dish that some in the family view fondly like Lye soaked white fish and pickled smelt. My wife tried it once and made a polite excuse to find the restroom after having Klub. She understood my lack of desire for fish after the lye soaked white fish from a family gathering.

One of the other specialties I remember was Sweet soup. It was made with beef tongue, beef heart, and dried fruit.

As you may guess, these dishes came from the Scandawhovian side of the family.

[irish]

Joe, Those old timers didn't waste anything and ate just about anything also. I could see potatoes and bacon grease with lard but to be so hard you couldn't cut it is hard to understand. It's a wonder they didn't die from scurvy cause they sure didn't eat fruits and vegies much except in the summer with the garden.

My husband remembers eating fried sweetbreads when he was little. I am thinking that was the beef brains. Something that his family also made that we did too when the kids were little is dic icky pon. I think that is the way it is spelled. Don't ask me how they came up with the name.

This is made with eggs, flour and milk and fried in a skillet. I can't remember the exact measurements but sort of like 6 eggs beaten with 1 cup flour and 1 cup of milk. Melt butter in the skillet and pour the egg mixture in and let it cook. You put a cover on and just cook it like a big omelet and never turn it. When done you cut it in pie pieces and sprinkle with sugar. It is like a tough custard that isn't very sweet.

They had to use up eggs and milk on the farm cause they had the chickens and cows. Irish