Memories of Mimere

My dad is from a French Canadian family, and he grew up in a nearby francophone village, Lafontaine, where I spent most of the first six years of my life (I was born in Montreal, moved to Oakville a few months later, and then Lafontaine). My dad had four brothers and and four sisters (two of his brothers have now passed away), and even after my parents separated when I was six, and we moved to nearby Penetanguishene, I remember spending a lot of time visiting my grandparents on the concession road a little way out of the village proper. There was one wind-bent pine tree that as soon as we could see it, knew we would see mimere's house as we climbed the hill, and whichever one of us started chanting "I can see mimere's house, I can see mimere's house" first was the winner, of well, nothing. Just the first, because that is what siblings care about.

Their house was a white stucco farmhouse, with green trim, and even though there was an upstairs, it was always blocked off, and I always had the idea that dark and scary things went on up there, maybe it was haunted. After my mimere died, it was opened up for the first time that I remember, and there were three or four sunny rooms up there, with a neat landing bedroom with another just off it. It must have been a constant hive of activity with nine children growing up there.  I also remember here bathroom, with everything PINK. Pink carpet, pink toilet surround carpet, pink toilet seat cover, pink bath mat, with a lovely toilet paper doll dressed in a hand-crocheted pink dress. It even smelled pink in there. Like pink soap. (Oh, my goodness, that reminds me of a story I wrote when I was about eight or nine, and if I can find it somewhere, I'll post it at the end of the blog. Haha. I found it, it's there :)).


My pipere was a quiet, but always smiling man, who was often sitting at the head of the small kitchen table, which could be extended, to our great enjoyment, for the large family gatherings at holidays. My mimere, jovial and always brightly dressed (think aqua blue pant suit with a pink blouse underneath, or lime green with yellow), was the hub of the family, which really came to light after she passed away when I was fourteen, and my grandfather moved into a small apartment in Lafontaine, and the large family gatherings dwindled. 

My love of cards and games definitely comes from my dad's side of the family, where we learned to play Shanghai rummy, 58 (which I don't remember anymore), war, and many other games, like crokinole and chinese checkers, milles bournes, and one of my all-time favourites, Stock Ticker, which is still in the family, at my mother's house I think. Again, with nine kids to keep busy, when chores were done, there was fun to be had. I hope :) We weren't allowed to have gum when we were kids, unless it was at my grandparents' house, and our first, rude and greedy as it may have been, utterance upon arrival at their house was "Can I have some gum", and my mimere would always go to the cupboard beside the stove and produce that magical little blue package of Chiclets, and we each got TWO. Joy upon joy. I remember that wintergreen flavour the most, but some kind of mint anyway.

 Of course, probably as with anyone, memories of grandparents are peppered with food and meals, and when I remember walking into my mimere's house, it smelled like boiled potatoes and raspberry pie. Even now whenever I eat a fresh raspberry pie (store-bought filling does not count), I still think of my mimere and pipere. They had a big beautiful garden, and we spent many happy hours picking and eating juicy strawberries on sunny July days. Strawberries symbolize the beginning of summer, with long, languorous days ahead (well back when we were kids, summer seemed endless).  A little later came raspberries, sun-warmed and luscious, worth the thorny scratches. My mimere froze the surplus berries that we didn't eat or take home, so there were always berries throughout the year.

My two most prominent food associations with my mimere are white soup and her chocolate cake. White soup is one of those things that either totally repulses you, or you really love. My daughter Aria and I are in the latter group, while Steve wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot spoon! It's incredibly easy to make, and I have friends I made it for when I was a teenager who loved it too, and so do my brothers. It has few ingredients -milk, macaroni, green beans, and seasonings, but it is filling. And her chocolate cake was rich, and dense, and moist. My grandmother covered it with thick, sweet chocolate icing, and then covered that with a generous layer of shredded coconut.  My mother ate it plain with butter, which is really good too. Mmmm....butter is just so yummy.

Here is white soup. I made this recipe to serve  one, back when no one here but me liked it, so I could just make myself a bowlful, but you can just increase the amounts, if you are willing to try it!! I will admit that it can be a fairly bland soup, but I add celery seed, lots of pepper, and lots of salt. I love it on winter days.

            White Soup

• 1/2 cup elbow macaroni
• 1/2 cup frozen cut green beans (I've tried fresh but for some reason frozen work the best. One of my uncles tried to convince me that mimere used frozen mixed vegetables in the soup, but there is no way I would have either eaten it or liked it that way).
• 1 cup of milk
• 1/2 t celery seed
• salt and pepper to taste (I like a lot!!)

Boil some water (with a bit of salt), add the macaroni and green beans. When the macaroni is cooked, drain most of the water, a little bit is still okay. Add the milk and seasonings, and cook until milk has heated up and it has thickened slightly (I used to mix a spoonful of flour and water together to add as a thickener, but if you leave it a few minutes, the starch from the pasta thickens it up a bit on its own).

   Mimere's chocolate cake: (also known as 3-hole cake, or Wacky Cake)

• 3 C flour
• 2 C white sugar
• ½ C cocoa (Fry’s)
• 1 t salt
• 2 t baking *soda*
• ½ C vegetable oil (Mazola)
• 2 T white vinegar
• 2 t vanilla
• 2 C cold water

- blend dry ingredients and make three holes in mixture

- put oil, vinegar and vanilla each in a hole and pour water over all

- mix with spatula until just blended

- pour into 9” x 13” ungreased pan and bake at 350° for 35-40 min

- after cooled on cake rack, decorate as desired

 

Okay, I found my story. This could be embarassing, but I was about nine or ten, and I've corrected the spelling.

 

Princess Leia was a little girl and when she went to school the boys would chase her. When she was

seven she had a very pretty face and a very, very, very fancy pink cake. The icing was pink, the candles were pink, and she even had pink tights, pink underwear, a pink bow, pink shoes, pink barettes, pink elastics, pink bubble bath, and pink dresses and a pink night gown and pink slippers and a pink house coat. When she was thirteen she went in Star Wars. There were Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, Chewbaca, R2D2, C3P0, Storm Troopers, R5D4, Snagle Tooth, Sandman, Sandpeople, Chief, and she was very very happy. The End. 

 

**snicker**