Mystery Food

This is a little memory story about our Rueber/Prickett relatives and old time country living. 

One time we were visiting the family in Iowa. I guess we must have been staying out on the farm with Grandma and Grandpa Rueber. We drove into the little town of Westgate and stopped at Uncle Warren and Aunt Marthabelle's house. Bruce went looking for Warren. Warren was still selling Chevies then, so I suppose Bruce walked up the street to the garage of Rueber Chevrolet

I saw Aunt Marthabelle and another lady sitting out in yard and went over by them. This is where my memory gets fuzzy, after all it has to be more than 50 years ago now. I am trying to think who the other lady was. I guess it might have been Aunt Marthabelle's sister Bessie, but more than likely it was her mom, Lottie Bell Prickett. I am going with her mom. 

The two of them were sitting with a big metal dish pan between them on a crate or stool or whatever, and working at something with their hands in the pan. When I was a girl in Michigan my folks and grandparents had big gardens, and I helped both my mom and grandma with canning, but whatever it was they were doing was a mystery to me.

Me:  Whatcha doin'?

Mrs. P:  Makin' hominy. Didn't you ever make it?

Me:  Sorry to say, not.

Aunt M: Well, sit right down here and we will show you how. 

I kind of had the feeling that Mrs. Prickett might have been thinking to herself, "What kind of a girl did Bruce marry, so woefully ill-trained to be a wife, not even knowing how to make hominy. Probably doesn't know how to fix it for a meal either." She was right about that, I didn't. 

I would like to say that when we got home the first thing I did was to make some hominy and have done so every year since. But, nope, I never did. However, recently I got to thinking about it. I guess maybe it is something I should put on my Bucket List. I think that would make both Aunt Marthabelle and her mom smile. 

If you are curious about what hominy is and how to make and use it, there are How-To articles online and video tutorials on YouTube. Just hop on over and have a look. I'm sure Marthabelle and Lottie Bell will smile down on you too.