I was thinking tonight of what memory I wanted to convey, which was a challenge. What direction do I want to go? I decided that this would be the first of a trilogy. Next week will be “Muscle Cars” and the following week will be “White Rabbit”. Tonight is “From Pies to Cakes”… I tried to remember a memory from as far back as I could so here I go. We enjoyed going to our grandparent’s farm in southern Minnesota where they grew corn, oats, and soybeans. We enjoyed playing outside as they had no TV or video games. We would throw rocks, walk down the tractor field road, play with Lassie, and about anything else you would imagine. They raised chickens, sheep, and milk cows. Legend has it that Jesse James stayed in their barn about the time of the Northfield, Minnesota raid. My grandmother always made corn relish and Kumla. (Look the recipe up but add onions to it) This is a Norwegian dish and since my dad came from Norway and my mother's folks came from there, I must be all Norwegian or close to it! I was very young and was marching thru their Kitchen, sort of high stepping, and my shoe came off and landed in a pie on the table. Everyone screamed so I took off running. I went outside to play and was wondering why my uncle was throwing ice cubes at us from upstairs…turned out it was hail. Later that day, even as a young kid I didn’t want to look stupid, I said, “Look at that funny looking cloud that is dragging on the ground.” The next thing I knew I was grabbed from behind and taken to the basement. It was a tornado, which took out the neighbor’s farm. From pies to cakes…In my later/younger years, my mother made a cake and you know how good the frosting is. Me and my brother sampled a little of the frosting on the cake and then a little more using our finger. I remember my mom came in and was so mad she put my face right in the cake. It is funny how a traumatic occurrence like this will stick in one’s memory. Anyway here we go from pie to cake and now to another cake memory. This was my eighteenth birthday and I was excited and ready to hang one on. I remember having Slow Gin, wine, and Colt 45. No one told me that it wasn’t wise to mix beer, wine, and gin. Everyone told to blow out the eighteen candles and as the drums rolled I went for it. My face went into the cake catching my hair on fire. Oh well, as far as I remember I had a happy birthday and life goes on.
