WELCOME TO MY SPOT!

WELCOME TO MY SPOT!

If you were invited here, I only have one rule......be you, but be kind.

Remember these are my personal reflections and thoughts.
Feel free to comment, become a friend or follower, like or dislike, vote or share.

I welcome you.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Cas-terll

I am sitting here typing this new post with the sniffles, itchy watery eyes, a sinus drip causing me nausea, a runny nose and a cough. That's right a sinus head cold! I'm sick and it sucks! I have taken Sudafed, Day Quill and Benedryl one of my personal favorites (the fact that it makes me sleepy has nothing to do with it....who told you that?!). I have taken just about any over the counter cold/sinus relief, with the exception of one item.

It's only one word....one measly little word that make me shake to my bones at the very thought of it. CASTORIA. I'd rather stay stick before taking it. My Grandmother thought castoria or as she would call it "cas-terl" was the cure for any ailment. When I was a little girl, her shot-gun house was filled with rowdy children of various ages. If one child was sick everybody got cas-terl. I remember her shoving spoonfuls of that hidous, pungent flavor down my throat. So much that it would make me gag. I think, I did hurl once. As soon as it began to work, I began to run....straight to the bathroom! As a 9 year old girl what seemed like an eternity was only hours of running back and forth to the bathroom. Something I can appreicate now as a woman... but still not enough to make me take a dose of cas-terl. Honestly though, whatever ailment I had, was in toilet ten times over. In no time I was back to playing and feeling normal again. Some say there is no cure for the common cold....they haven't met my grandmother.

That was one of her many old wives tale or home remedies. It was sure and proven for a cold, cas-terl was cure. Amongst others were powered mustard mixed with water to make a paste, she would plaster it under the feet and say this would take care of your high blood pressure. If you had  arthritis, she would tell you to take some copper wire, (you could get this from a plug of an old lamp you don't use anymore) and wrap that were the "Aurthur" is. When I had my son in 1998 I was new to the mothering game. Thank God for my grandmother. My son was only a few month old when he first experienced constipation, I made a doctor's appointment for him and told my grandmother. What had I done that for? She told me, as she only calls me by my nickname, "Boid! Bring nat baaaby year!" Now.... you have got to know that I was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. Needless to say we have our own distinct language. So then, I shall translate. "Bird!, bring that baby here." And so I did. It's not like I had much of a choice. She took my son and sent me to the refrigerator to fetch her some fresh parsley. Ofcourse I am thinking, what the hell is she going to with this, certainly he can't eat this. She took one stem of the parsley and inserted a small piece of it in his naked little bottom. Let's just say it worked! Who in heaven, earth, hell and even purgatory would think of such a thing????

I guess growing up my grandmother's time they would use traditions that were passed down from their African ancestors. I know she expressed to me on numerous occasions that they were poor coming up. Most of them had no money to see a doctor and no matter how sick you were, you still had to get up and go to work. So they did the best they could, with what they new how, to get better.

I can't imagine what life used to be life for them back then, but I am grateful. And although we have come so far from old wives tales and home remedies that now we just make an appointment, I to this day sometimes use some of her old remedies....except cas-terl.

Friday, September 01, 2006

Pecan Candy


I remember sitting at the table wondering when was it going to get done. I couldn't take it anymore. The anticipation was about to kill me and I couldn't ask is it ready yet anymore because the backhand would knock me out. Then I would miss what I had been waiting all this time for my grandmother to hurry up and finish.


I remember, this is where it all started, in my grandmother's kitchen. She would stir that big, shiny, silver magnalite pot like gold was at the bottom of it. But it was. I mean those ingredients together would cause such a frenzy at the table. The debate about who would get the first one always started havoc among us ( 13 of her grandchildren). You couldn't touch that circular plank of a table for it was glossed with butter, so smooth and shiny like an ice skating rink. You could sit around the table (if you could find a spot) but woe be unto you if you touched it.


She would scoop out spoonfulls of sinful delight onto that table making rows and columns of little circular addictions filled with pecans. Plap! That's the sound it makes when it hits the table to harden. And the aroma! It smelled of something creamy and sweet with a hint of vanilla rolled into one. If I could package the scent into an air freshner I would make a ment. Once it would harden, which took only minutes but to us an eternity, she would be the only one sitting and the rest of us would stand in a single file line with our hands out and cupped together . She would place the candies in our hands and we would run off to make room for the next kid in line to get theirs. Much like a father giving communion at mass.


I remember biting into that creamy, sweet, smooth candy and closing my eyes with every bite. I would bite small pieces and hold it my mouth to savor the flavor then let it go slowly. The rest I would reserve for some other time, trying my hardest to hold on too what was left, but it was no use. This candy had the best of me and it won. I would keep eating and eating until it was all gone. It was like crack. You just keep going back for more.


Sugar, creme, pecans, vanilla and butter. Who would ever think that 5 simple ingredients would cure any problem. It's like a mircle drug or something. As I got older, I found other uses for it, like it's a great comforter. It's perfect for depression, that time of month, if your man leaves you, you hate your job.....whatever! After eating it, there is nothing you can't get over. People say chocolate does the trick, but I beg to differ. My grandmother used this secret weapon to calm a house of 13 out of control, bad ass grandkids.


There is nothing like prayer and pecan candy to fix anything.

Try some. www.Mandicandies.com