Macaroni
When Mom cooked during the holidays she would almost always prepare her macaroni salad. Macaroni salad is one of those versatile dishes, so it goes together with just about any meal. After boiling the macaroni, Mom would drain it and pour it all into a big bowl.
Many times in this process, Mom would pour some of the cooked macaroni into a small dish, mix it with a little butter and salt and pepper, and give it to me as a snack to tide me over until dinner. It was always a nice surprise whenever Mom made this for me, as I loved the yummy and simple taste of the macaroni dish.
My tastes haven’t changed too much during the years. I still get a craving every now and then for the macaroni with butter and salt and pepper. However, as much as I have tried, I can never make it the way Mom did. Throughout the years I’ve experimented with the cooking time, added less and then more butter, played with the blend of salt and pepper, and still I can’t get the macaroni to turn out the way I remember it from my childhood.
Last night I prepared the macaroni dish. I added the butter and salt and pepper, and thought about Mom as I always do whenever preparing the dish. It tasted good, but once again it didn’t tastes like I remember. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll never get it to turn out like Mom’s; her secret ingredient was love.
March 30th, 2005 at 9:03 am
awwww… how sweet. but i know what you mean. there’s no replicating a meal made with love by mom. mmMMmmm… now i have to call my mom to make me some macaroni salad. you make me hungry. hehehe… ^_^
March 30th, 2005 at 10:07 am
comfort foods made from the caring heart & hands of mom. nothing can replace that. thanks for sharing.
March 30th, 2005 at 10:47 am
Wonderful post. Someone beat me to it, but here it comes: Awwww!
March 30th, 2005 at 1:39 pm
I love you too….mom
March 30th, 2005 at 5:44 pm
I love your Mom posts, Kane!
March 31st, 2005 at 4:00 am
Funny how that is. First thing that comes to mind was my grandmothers bean and cornbread. I could have anything at all, but I always made her fix this for my birthday dinner. Thanks for the smiles.
March 31st, 2005 at 5:14 am
Macaroni was a staple at my house growing up. I loved it - not so much macaroni salad, but we’d have Mac n’cheese, and then a family favorite of macaroni and tomoto juice (served hot with some S&P and butter). I still eat that from time to time, total comfort food. I also used to eat the plain macaroni with the butter and salt from time to time.
Thanks for sharing your memories, you always spur something in my memories too.
Have a great day! *hugs*
March 31st, 2005 at 6:01 am
What a heartwarming entry! I bet you prepared the dish the same way as your mom. But you were missing the part where she gave it to you. Nothing can replace a mother’s love. Cheers for happy memories!
April 3rd, 2005 at 3:40 pm
I know exactly what you mean. With my Mom it was potato salad. I’ve tried to duplicate it, but most of the time there is always just a little something missing. Now my kids all try to make potato salad like me and say ‘Nobody can make potato salad like you, Mom’. And so the tradition continues.