Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Kitchen catastrophies

My mother wasn't a very good cook either. But she was a creative cook.
Every year she grew a quarter acre of tomatoes and apricots, peaches, etc. And every year she dragged out the family pressure cooker and canned things. And every year, the pressure cooker exploded.
The 30 pound cast iron lid would hit the ceiling with a brilliant display of tomato or fruit. My discouraged mother would go to her room and for days our job was to clean the walls and ceiling. Canning season was a contentious time at our house. It didn't look at all like "Dinah" holding her gleaming cooker in her tidy green suit.

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