Happy & Hungover
I hope you all had a good new year’s eve. I spent my New Years Eve at home with my daughters, fiancé & mother. We have a big family dinner at my house every New Years Day, so I alternated between cooking and drinking myself silly. The menu this year was a
Study in down home who cares about High blood pressure, cholesterol, or sugar soul food buffet!!! I’m talking baked Mac & cheese, fried & barbecue chicken, baked ham ,collard greens, stuffing, macaroni salad, yellow rice, 2 types of ziti, string beans, black eyed peas, candied yams, sweet potato pies, coconut pie, lemon Bundt cake (with homemade frosted I made myself), Apple Martinis, 100 Proof Southern Comfort. We did it up this year and I must say that today as I sit here in a house that still needs to be cleaned, I can say that it was all well worth it.
My mother helped me with the cooking. Or rather I helped her. It seemed that every time I left the kitchen she would assume that was her invitation to take over whatever I was working on at the time. She would not sit down or relax so I made her a drink (Pina Colada) and slowly it began to take effect and she calmed down. No, I do not have a problem spiking my mother’s drinks to keep her out of my hair. If you knew my mother then you would really understand. She can be overbearing at times so I will use whatever I have at my disposal to calm her down and it worked!!!
Until the next morning, my mother's zest for cooking would consume one of my personal pleasures. I awoke on New Years day to find that she had already cooked my Barbeque Chicken. Now I need to give you guys a quick history of my barbeque sauce: First off I love to cook. In the summertime I love to barbeque. I remember as a child watching my mother turn store bought barbeque sauce into something special with ,lemon juice, sugar, mustard and hot sauce. When I grew up and began cooking for my family ( I am the Chef in my home ) I began to create my own special sauce using my mothers method but adding my own secret ingredients. Over time it has become sort of a ritual for me when I prepare to create my barbeque sauce. The night before the dinner, I purchase all the things I would need to perfect my special sauce. Everything was ready to be combined into the most fantastic barbeque many of you have ever eaten. Anyway, I wake up the next morning and smelled food cooking which was to be expected. I went into the kitchen looked around to discover she made the macaroni & Cheese that I was supposed to make. No problem as I like her Mac & cheese and she taught me her method a few years ago and with the exception of the amount of cheese, there was little difference in our recipes. I thanked her for making it and that’s when I picked up that distinctive sweet & tangy scent of barbeque sauce. I approached the offending aluminum slowly. I could see my mother easing out of the kitchen out the corner of my eye. I lifted the tin and lo and behold my mother in her haste has rushed into the kitchen and robbed me!! I wanted to curse & scream, but I remembered how sensitive my mother can be sometimes so I let it go. But I was mad as hell for a few hours. My mother does seem to have the supernatural ability to push just the right buttons at the right time. She can do just enough to piss me off, but not enough for me to get REALLY angry. Enough of that…..
The dinner went off without a hitch. My cousins supplied the alcohol and we proceeded to get twisted after the food was eaten. My sister was twisted, my fiancé was twisted, my cousins were twisted and of course yours truly was twisted upside down and backward. Everyone enjoyed the 2004 Video family album I worked on for two weeks. It was a video record of the various events and happenings we shared last year from Easter dinner at my cousin’s house to driving to
Now I sit here in my apartment, with a pain in my head and love & joy in my heart. I am blessed with a fun loving and loving family who allows all of us to be who we are without harsh judgment or criticism. I complain from time to time that my family gets on my damn nerves and sometimes they do. But I would not trade them for any other family in the world. 2005 Promises to be as exciting and eventful as the last, and I can’t wait.