Grandma would bake "a nice loaf of date nut bread" whenever someone died. Whenever anyone was under the weather she made chicken soup, rich with egg noodles and white meat chicken. Whenever anyone had a cough, she made a concoction of lemon juice, honey and egg whites.

I have so many memories of my grammy...pretty much all centered around her no nonsense cooking.. Grammy didn't have much but she had this way of making me feel special whenever we spent time together. One phone call to her about spending the weekend at her house (she lived a mere 4 miles from us) would send her flying to Laughlin's market to get freshly ground "steakburger", and frankfurters that snapped when you bit into them. Friday night was a burger cooked in her cast iron skillet with a pat of butter (oh, my arteries), and Saturday was ALWAYS franks and beans night, and to top it all off,...butterscotch pudding served in her fancy square depression glass dishes, topped with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.

To me, this was just routine..it's what grammies did...it was how she expressed her love. Apparently it rubbed off on me because I have spent years cooking and baking for my two children and all of their friends ( will get to that later) and now that my first grandchild will be arriving, my grandma apron is neatly tied around my waist...waiting to bake cookies...waiting to wrap my arms around this wonderful creature...waiting to spend many moments teaching him/her how to produce magic through cooking