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Directions:Remember Tuesday nights when our father attended a Rotary Club meeting (not often because he wasn't a mens' club person!) and Mom would fix breakfast for dinner? We'd have waffles and sausage, a meal that she wouldn't have considered if Daddy were around! It really was kind of exotic having breakfast at 6 o'clock at night!
And then, of course, if it was Sunday night, it was popcorn. But, not ordinary popcorn--our popcorn was prepared with bacon grease, which meant you didn't have to add butter to get your fat quota for the day. You who have not tried popcorn popped in bacon grease have missed a true delicacy. Try it sometime.
Who remembers mush? Mrs. Boss, our weekly cleaning lady who always brought each of us girls a stick of gum when she arrived, also would occasionally bring along some of her homemade mush, which I think she also made with bacon grease. (Maybe it was the laundry soap she made with the grease--the McWilliams' household wasted nothing!). (Julie: it was both!) Anyway, Mom would fry up slices of mush and we'd spread it with syrup or jelly--bingo, lunch is served. It was a real treat!
On a last note about Mrs. Boss. She and her husband lived very modestly, he a carpenter and she a housekeeper. They also were childless. To our family's astonishment, when she died, she left each of us girls $1,000! That was one of those extraordinary moments that will always be remembered. Even our parents were dumbfounded. Julie: well, not Daddy. Mrs. Boss had approached him to write her will, and he had exclaimed, "why, Mrs. Boss, I can't write a will where my five daughters are the primary beneficiaries!" I used my inheritance from Mrs. Boss for my travels around Europe. One final, final word on Mrs. Boss--she made wonderful homemade bread. |
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