Bennett Sewell Art

Bobby:

 

Remember when you were in obedience school and you came in from your cold dog house into the kitchen.  It was warm and smelled good, and it even sounded good, cause your mama was frying ham and eggs and baking biscuits with lots of butter.  I would sit at the table and she’d bring my breakfast with a glass of milk with cream on top, and every once in a while some rice pudding for dessert, and she’d smile and say, “Now Bobby, if you want some more, just say so.”  She was glad to see me and I was glad to see her.  That’s a good way to start the day, cooking and connecting and making memories.

 

Now remember when we were in the glory of our adolescence: leaving with friends for a camping trip on Friday afternoon on the big island right next to Hog Ramsey’s Swamp, our backpacks full. 

 

We had been getting ready for the past week, butchering a goat, cleaning out the last of our gardens, digging sweet potatoes and peanuts, collecting things from around the house, and going to the store for the rest.  We were ready (supply list appendixed.)  Now everyone had a signature dish as Chef Supremo of the day.  If you dared to dish the Chef an unpleasant duty would be imposed. 

 

Otis:         Organic Goat Ala Juis with turnips, peas, onions, and bell peppers

                 Boiled or roasted peanuts

                 Biscuits

 

Junior:      Hot water corn bread with your choice of peanut butter, molasses, or strait grease sauce

                 Catfish fried or baked in clay

                 Perch and rabbit on a stick (Surf & Turf)

           

Karo:        Sweet potatoes baked in clay

                 Raccoon on a spit (Taste like chicken)

                Armadillo in the shell baked in clay (Taste like chicken)

 

Bobby:     Squirrels in brown gravy over rice

                Dove with cornbread stuffing on a spit

           

We went into the woods and set up camp, clearing the site and collecting the wood.  The Chef Supremo started a fire and began supper while the other 3 went into the woods to hunt and to set the trotlines.  The hunters and gatherers would return just after dark to eat, stare into the fire and talk.  The first night it took Otis 3 ½ minutes of chewing before he could swallow his goat and force himself to say, ‘Um, Um, Good.”  Sometimes it takes a real dog to say, “Um, Um, Good.” He then drew himself up to his full height and asked if we wished turnips, peas, onions, or bell peppers as our side.  Our world was contained by the circle of light from the campfire and by our friendship.  Then out of the woods, to a bed without redbugs, and supper at home.  Cooking and connecting and making memories.

 

Now remember when you were living in your house that was too small in a neighborhood surrounded by family and friends.  Your puppies were big enough to run around and play with each other without constant supervision.  The Sunday afternoon cookover, everyone bringing something that they were proud of and then the stove or the grill.  Lots of talk, what’s going on in school, in the neighborhood and in the city, and at work.  It was an easy time and then taking care of a bunch of tired puppies knowing that Monday starts again.  Cooking and connecting and making memories.

 

Now remember after many more years passed, you and yours in a house that is too big and quiet, but where the energy begins to pick up in the late afternoon.  What are we going to have for supper, something old or something new?  What do we have in the house?  Let’s pick a strange recipe and go to the store.  Who wants to be in front of the stove?  The conversation usually was about sharing a note of concern or moment of joy.  Cooking and connecting and making memories.

 

So let us all salute our labor of love, to those who came before us and helped us get where we are and to those who will follow.  Cooking and connecting and making memories.