“For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Welcome back. I bring you greetings and a hearty hello from where I am to wherever you happen to be on this back-to-work Monday, May 23, 2016. If you have read any of my stuff over time, you are aware that I connect certain foods to memories. I'm not saying that's always a healthy or productive activity, but it does happen. The wife recently did a number on me and others when she showed up at the Wednesday evening potluck supper with a particular dessert. It was not homemade but it was a close enough knock off to trigger not only a sugar rush but also a trip down memory lane. Blackberry cobbler. I heard different people at different tables carrying on about how they used to enjoy their mom's or their grandmother's cobbler. That particular dessert is not a friend to my diabetes. However, the memory connection is so strong I just had to break my rule of no seconds. I remember us picking blackberries. Sometimes we made an entire day of it. I remember Granny Mac canning blackberries. Not freezing them. Canning them for future use. In Mason jars. They had to be cooked and sealed in a pressure cooker. Our reward? A piping hot homemade cobbler. It was even better when homemade whipped cream was also provided. Or, as Paw Paw used to call it, calf slobber to put on top. I'm not sure it was worth all the scratches we endured and the running from snakes from time to time, but, as best I recall, no one ever mentioned those issues while we were gobbling up the cobbler. So sweet in so many ways!

I did search for the word 'food' in my blogs but could not come up with a total number. It does appear in a huge number over the years. I used to tell folks that some people eat to live and our background was one were we tended to live to eat. Tasty food. Well prepared. Granny Mac used to say the most important ingredient in cooking is caring. I believe it. I see that show 'The Best Thing I Ever Ate' coming on here and there on the different food channels. I've not watched that many of them. Here would be my problem. I have been blessed to grow up surrrounded by legendary cooks. It's the truth. That would make trying to come up with the best thing I ever ate not only difficult, it would surely be impossible. The really great news? It's not only historical for me, it continues today in the person of the wife and extraordinary cook I've been privileged to be married to for the past nearly 52 years. It's like the legacy lives on. And, I, for one, am both thankful, and I have some inspirational words to describe what it truly means to me, "Yum! Yum!" I wouldn't dare even think about checking my blood sugar at this moment. All this thinking about the good cooking in my life, well, it would easily add 20 points to my score. It would. Don't doubt me on this.

I thought I would close today's edition with a few quotes that might bring a smile to someone out there. They are food related. ~  "When the waitress asked if I wanted my pizza cut into four or eight slices, I said, 'Four. I don’t think I can eat eight.'"-- Yogi Berra ~ "The only time to eat diet food is while you're waiting for the steak to cook."-- Julia Child ~ "The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for 30 years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found."-- Calvin Trillin ~ "I always cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food."-- W.C. Fields ~ "The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later, you’re hungry again."-- George Miller ~ "Large, naked, raw carrots are acceptable as food only to those who live in hutches eagerly awaiting Easter." -- Fran Lebowitz ~ "Never eat more than you can lift."-- Miss Piggy ~ "A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do."-- P. J. O’Rourke ~ Notice I didn't say they made me laugh out loud and I certainly didn't use that LOL symbol. I do like the ones by Yogi Berra and Juila Child. Maybe it's because I was a longtime fan of both of them. That should do it for today. As always, I wish you a most wonderful day and may God add His blessings to it. Amen. ....More later..