The Peppermint Twist

I've been very domestic today. I made dinner for myself and the men of Man-205, which consisted of my first non-cheating lasagna and garlic bread. The general consensus is that it turned out splendidly, and I was most happy.
After we ate, I got to work on a recipe I've been craving for some time: Great-Grandma Evelyn's fried, glazed donuts. In the end, I walked away with only one mention-worthy grease burn and had a table covered with glazy, donuty, gooey goodness that my friends seemed to be enjoying whole-heartedly.

This is something that makes my heart very happy. I enjoy cooking because it makes me feel productive. I enjoy sharing food with people because it feels like worth-while service. I enjoy succeeding in my efforts to make -good- food because it makes me feel like part of a legacy.
I come from a family of food-oriented people.

My Great-Grandma Evelyn died when I was 2, so I don't remember anything about her. But I've grown up with references to her skills in the kitchen (and skills with pet skunks, but that's another story). Her recipes were one of the most coveted things left when she passed away, and my mom was lucky enough to get them.

My mom's mother is well-known all over our county and the surrounding areas for her cakes. She bakes and sells them from her home to just about everyone. I don't think I've ever known her kitchen without cake projects in progress on the table and colored icings beckoning my fingers.

My dad's mother has always been a homemaker who specializes in making every meal a feast. It's down-home country cooking at it's absolute stick-to-your-ribs finest.

My Uncle Dwayne runs his own professional catering service called Puttin' On the Ritz. I've been catering for most of my life.

When I was a kid, my mom owned and operated a small restaurant/ice cream parlor called the Peppermint Twist. It was a cute little place, painted red and white all over. The food was amazing. It was generally considered the best place to eat for miles and miles around. (And that's saying something, especially if you've had one of Eugene's sandwiches - which I'm assuming most of you haven't... Anyway - they're legendary.)

They're all food people. It makes me want to be a food person. Someone knows what they're doing, who can make food that really impresses other people. I'm not there yet, but I'm working on it. And I'm content (as long as my friends are willing to let me fatten them up) to keep on working on it.

I've had a lot of dreams I'd love to see fulfilled someday - operating my own library, a house with my own murals painted on the walls, belting it out on Broadway, publishing my own stories... A lot of things that would leave my own personal stamp for others to see and appreciate.

One dream I've loved entertaining is that someday I could resurrect the Peppermint Twist. I'd change it up a bit to suit my own style - I like the idea of running a bakery/ice cream parlor better than a real restaurant. It'd be my own, but in a lot of ways, it would also be a tribute to the people I came from. I could bake and decorate cakes like my grandma's, make Evelyn's donut and potato rolls recipes, mom's dessert creations from the original Peppermint Twist, and so many others.
I could design the whole shop with my own artistic touches. I can see a corner with soft couches where people can just chill out with a book, and my own little blonde-headed kids marching in after school, dumping their backpacks in a booth, and snatching a cone with their favorite flavor of ice cream (exactly like I used to do every day in my mom's shop).

I've had a lot of fun with this dream. It became especially fun when I shared it with my friend Calli a while back, and she expanded it to include a little dreaming and scheming of her own. It's exactly the sort of place she'd love to come and sit for hours, writing her would-be best-selling novels. She and I have also entertained the idea of running a book shop, so we decided that once her stories became famous, we should make this a two-part business: I'll run the production of sugary treats, and she'll sell the books.

Anyway - there's a lot more I'd like to say, but it's way too late for me to justify still being awake. That's all for now, folks.


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Quote - "Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large numbers," Anonymous
Music - "November Rain," Guns N' Roses
Mood - Useful