My Grandma's Kitchen

I have many memories of my grandma’s kitchen in Zollarsville, Pennsylvania.

My Grandma Rose Ella White Steele baked little rolls she called “lightcakes.” She also baked “salt-risin’ bread” that had a strange smell. I didn’t like that bread when I was a child, but after I married, I’d go to the local bakery where I lived in South Carolina and buy it at least once a year. I’d take it home and toast it and drink hot tea as I ate it. The smell of the bread in my house reminded me of my grandma who died when I was 19.
 
Grandma also made cornstarch pudding in a pan on the stove. I remember standing and stirring the pudding with a wooden spoon. I stirred it until it thickened, so it wouldn’t scorch and burn.

Grandma baked all kinds of pies in her kitchen. She made rhubarb pies from long rhubarb stalks that grew near the white fence in our neighbor Miss Martin’s yard. Miss Martin let Gram have all the rhubarb she wanted. Gram would always give Miss Martin some of what she baked.

Gram also baked blackberry pies with berries she’d picked along the road and canned.

Most of all, I remember her pumpkin pies at Thanksgiving. They weren’t spicy, which is why I liked them. I remember Gram taking her finger and “crimping” her piecrust so the extra dough around the edge would fall off.

I washed lots of dishes for Gram in her kitchen, as I was growing up. I was glad to help her.

Grandma, Grandpap and I sat around the Formica-topped kitchen table and ate our meals together. I have Gram’s cream pitcher and my Grandpap’s sugar bowl, which sat on that table many years ago. They bring back good memories to me when I look at them now in my kitchen each day.  

(Written in 2003)