Update on the Limoncello!

Well, I was very surprised, but the limoncello was a hit!  Very Tasty!  Yes, with a capital T.  Dotsy and I made a lot pizzas for Peaches and Troy.  The Peach Pits and Sub-Pits were there, and Troy's golfing buds.  The Pits are playing bridge again this Wednesday! And, the golfers are out now as I type!!!  When we were growing up, there were always a lot of birthday parties.  My sister Judy and Older Brother shared a party for many years because they were born one day and one year apart.   Mom does like to say that she had 6 children in 8 years and Dad was away in WWII for 2 years.  She also likes to say that they all had the same Mother.  

Oldest Brother was born in Oakdale, LA, in 1943.  Dad was in the army and  training in Oklahoma.  So, Mom was staying with her parents when O. B. was born.  At about 6 weeks old, he had to have surgery for pyloric stenosis.  Mom said the doctor couldn't use an anesthetic because O.B. was so young, and, there may not have been any available during the War.  Back in Atlanta, Mom was saving grease for the War effort.  Nannie came to visit and  wanted to know how she was going to get the grease out of all of the Coca Cola bottles.  

  Peaches and Papa were married secretly for about a year, in 1940, but had an 'official' marriage in 1941 in her parents living room.  All the relatives were there and Mom had on a beautiful pink suit.   After the wedding, when Mom and Dad were getting ready to  leave on the train for Atlanta, Mom asked her sister Dottie how to cook.  Dottie told her to get a can of Spam, and open the can, stud the Spam with cloves, and bake it.  Dad would tell us that Peaches cooked Spam for him when he came home from the War.  He said that was all he had eaten for two years.  They didn't have Spam after that.

Papaw and Nannie weren't too pleased with the match, but came around when Dad had a vasectomy after the sixth child, little Dotsy, was born in 1951.  Nannie came to Atlanta to help Mom with the latest edition, and while she was there,  Dad had his 'procedure', and for the first time Nannie hugged his neck.  She also didn't mind if he had a drink in front of her, even though she hated drinking more than the Devil hates Holy Water. 

Making pizza dough

Today, I'm going to make my second batch of pizza dough and freeze it for Peaches' and Troy's birthday party next Saturday.  Dotsy and Peaches are coming over to help.  We all love to cook, and I know that is because our parents loved to cook.   Mom always, it seemed, served liver cooked with onions and bacon once a week, and fish once a week.  We actually loved the liver!  Fish would be a whole red snapper baked in the oven with bacon, or maybe a whole flounder.  We also had to have at least two vegetables.  When we had bread, it was always cornbread or rolls.  Mom did not learn to cook at home because they had someone who cooked for them, Stella.  Aunt Dottie gave Mom her first recipe as she was on the train leaving for Atlanta.

  We loved visiting our grandparents, Stella, Nannie's cook, always was cooking something good, and, the telephone was a mystery because when you picked up the receiver, the operator came on and placed the call.  I believe that if you said "I want to talk to Betty"  she would know exactly who you meant. When we lived in Atlanta, our phone number was EVergreen 9-3901, I think! This of course was before area codes and zip codes.  We lived at 1360 Fairview Road, NE.  My dog tag has name, address, birth date, and a P for Protestant.  This was at a time when we practiced 'duck and cover' in case of an atomic bomb attack.  When we lived here in the '50's, the house had a beautiful Italian tile roof.  There was a garage in the back, and a small two room house also. The porte-cochere led to a beautiful back yard with a rose garden and large spaces for all of our playground equipment.  We had monkey bars,  jungle gym, slide, swings, a climbing pole, and of course a sand box.  Dad was able to get the same equipment that schools had, so all of it was very sturdy.  I wonder if it is still there.