MorMor

I don't think I have yet introduced MorMor on this blog.

MorMor--Swedish for "Mother's Mother"--is in many ways responsible for what I'm working on in this little blog project.

Not in terms of technology:  once I spent three hours of an afternoon trying to help her figure out how to manipulate a computer mouse, but ultimately we both gave up and I packed up the computer Uncle Bob had sent down so she could return it to him.

Nor in terms of writing:  I asked her once to write out some of her life's story and/or family history for me, and she returned about ten, handwritten, double-spaced 4x6" pages in a little notebook.  (My paternal grandmother, on the other hand--whom I'll write about soon, as well--wrote at least five typed notebooks full of family and personal history.)

But MorMor is responsible for this blog insofar as her home was the first place I was conscious of place and physicality mattering so much to me. 

I knew the places of my childhood home were important, but since I lived with them daily, I'm not sure they stood out in my early thinking as vividly as did MorMor's house.  Though it has long been razed and buried underneath what MorMor would surely call a "monstrosity," I can still smell her backyard.  I can walk through her house in my mind: coming in the back porch to the kitchen, creaking on the old, then new, then old porch swing on the front porch behind the giant rhododendren, eating with family in the dining room, and eating, just the two of us, at the kitchen table.  (She introduced me to artichokes and fennel; she cooked salmon for me and steamed beets; she made raspberry pie from what we picked out of her backyard.)

I don't know that I have too many recipes that are decidedly MorMor's, since most of what she cooked wouldn't come under the category of "recipe," but her fruit cobbler recipe is a staple--and one that I'm happy to share with all and sundry.  I haven't made one from the summer peaches yet, but I will before the week is out.

MorMor's Fruit Cobbler
1 C. flour
1 C. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
4 Tb. butter
3/4 C. water

Preheat oven to 375; peel and slice enough fruit to fill your baking dish (I use a 9x12 oval glass casserole).  Pears are my favorite, though the cobbler works very well with peaches, apples, blueberries, rhubarb, and even mango in a pinch.  I haven't tried it with strawberries, but it's quite versatile. 

Mix dry ingredients together; cut in butter to coarse crumbs; spread dry mixture over the fruit.  Pour water over all and bake for 40-50 minutes until golden brown.  Serve warm with ice cream or cold for breakfast (if there are leftovers; it's mostly fruit, right?). 

Bring to family events, church potlucks, and boring meetings; pass the recipe around freely.  It makes people happy.