Wednesday, June 27, 2007

That loving feeling

When Granddaddy was still with us, he must've held Grandma's hand all the time. She loves to hold hands, and hug and pat and kiss and lean. We heard a sermon series years ago on the 'five love languages.' We've determined, with 99.7% certainty, that 'touch' is grandma's love language. Touch, unfortunately for one or both of us, is not mine...

On Monday night, I got my grade back for my last 'hard' class at FIU. I got an A!!! My parents wanted to take me out to dinner. Since my friend Kat was already over for dinner, she came along too, as did Grandma. We went to Rio Cristal, possibly the greatest Cuban restaurant Miami has ever known. I don't think Grandma cared that we were at the holy grail of good Cuban restaurants. She was only too excited to have food in front of her, and I was close enough to touch the whole meal. I mean, the WHOLE time. When she smacks my leg or arm, she calls it a 'love pat.' I think that's ridiculous. How is smacking someone a 'love pat'?!?! Kat thought the whole thing was hilarious. Looking back, I do too. Grandma even asked Kat what was on her plate, just to make sure she had a little bit of everything from everyone. It's like Halloween everytime we come to the dinner table, and Grandma's favorite game is trick-or-treat. Deny her the food off your plate, and...TRICK- she smacks you (aka Love Pat). Give her your food and...TREAT- she'll hug you for the rest of the night.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Mango mania

We were going through some drawers today that had not been looked at in a loooong time. We found miscellaneous items: some books, tablecloths, candles, pictures, letters. The best of all was a pile of clippings of Grandma's. They were faded and bent. They were recipes. You won't believe what kind of recipes. The collection reminds me of Bubba's endless shrimp list in Forrest Gump.



Here's a list of the recipes we unearthed (I'm NOT making this up):
Mango Crisp
Mango Mousse
Mango Pie
Mango Macadamia Nut Bread
Mango Cheesecake
Mango Fritters
Mango Sherbet
Mango Milkshake
Mango Drink
Mango Upside-down Cake
Mango Leather
Mango Torte
Mango Stir-fry (eeew)
Mango Jam
Mango Banana Jam
Mango Topped Cheesecake (not to be confused with mango cheesecake above)
Mango Chutney
Mango Pizza (double eeew)
Mango Sour Cream Cake

I think Grandma likes mango. When we showed her these recipes, she got so excited (but also believed she had never seen such a gold mine of recipes before... the same goldmine which she herself put together some 10 or 20 years ago).
We have a mango tree in our front yard. Everyday she tells us to go outside and pick them, though they are still mostly green. She apparently has not lost her appetite for mangoes :)

Monday, June 18, 2007

The Look

'The look' is a funny thing. I thought I wouldn’t use the look until I had kids of my own. Then my grandmother turned into a kid. It’s amazing the power that is in ‘the look.’ You know the look I am talking about. It’s a no-nonsense, stop-now-before-I-take-your-life, you’ll-regret-that look. It’s all in the eyes. And my grandmother, though her memory has left her, knows it when she sees it. Of course she does- it’s intense. I almost scare myself sometimes ;O
She got 'the look' on Sunday. In her defense, she was being her normal self. But it was Father’s day. She should’ve known better. I’ve developed this formula to explain:
Grandma’s normal behavior + Father’s Day = the Look
Once my mom and I gave my dad his presents, and he read deep, meaningful 'memory-lane' letter, and we had a little heart-to-heart and Kodak moment, she piped in, "I didn't get you Nothin'! Hahaha" This elicited 'the look' from me. She stopped laughing. It's a shame she only remembers the look for about 2 minutes. Because then she was back to her normal self again... at that point we whisked her off to church, where they serve donuts. She was beside herself, and oh-so-happy. Everytime she sees them, she's surprised they have donuts. The funny thing is, she's been going there for 6 months.