Kitchen Memories

 

The Kitchen, at least in the home I grew up in, was the heart of our home.  In fact, I also blogged about our family's kitchen back in the 2016 A to Z challenge  when I wrote about childhood memories.  As a teenager I spent less time in the kitchen than I had when I was a young child, but this kitchen was still the center of our family life.   I preferred cooking over many of the outdoor chores such as milking and hauling hay, so did help out a fair amount with cooking the meals in the summer time, and of course I was almost always up for baking cookies and cakes and brownies or homemade candy at Christmas time.  I even hosted a bridal shower for my cousin who married shortly after we both graduated from high school and prepared most of the refreshments myself.  Hopefully they were delicious.  At least no one complained.  If I remember correctly my favorite pumpkin bread recipe was on the menu, along with a ribbon sandwich loaf made with home made bread.

Yes, countless batches of home made bread were baked in this kitchen, mostly by my sweet, hardworking mother.   She was famous for her homemade bread, and all of her children and grandchildren and many many others will agree!   In their retirement years, my Daddy started taking over the bread baking duties, and this photo of him showing off his skills is in the kitchen is one of my favorites.  He also made amazing carrot/raisin/oatmeal cookies too!  

My mother also spent hours in the kitchen sewing and ironing  . . . clothes and quilts for her children, and even made quilts for many of her nieces and nephews.  Yes, this photo below shows my sister using Mum's old singer sewing machine.  I think I was reading?    I wasn't particularly fond of ironing, and still am not, but my angel mother would faithfully iron many of my clothes, making sure the creases in the slacks were just right for my picky tastes.  Was I a bit spoiled as a teenager?  I actually think that I was.  She used both the traditional iron and ironing board (not pictured), but also used the green Ironrite ironing machine pictured below for many years to iron everything from jeans and overalls to sheets and pillowcases and linen tablecloths and napkins.

Do you have favorite kitchen memories?