Week 5: In the Kitchen

 Week 5: In the Kitchen

My grandma Sene (Athena Alice Kirkpatrick) had a plaque in her kitchen when I was a kid.  It said “No matter where I serve my guests, they seem to like my kitchen best.” Grandma Sene was an excellent cook, and those skills served her well on the farm.  I remember the summers when she would prepare a feast for the hay men who came to help with the putting up the hay. Her table would be brimming with corn from the garden, fried chicken, and one of my favorites: “new potatoes” (aka creamed potatoes and peas).  I was a very picky eater as a child, but I remember liking this dish. I went online to look for a recipe. If you Google “new potatoes” you will find that they are young potatoes that are firmer and sweeter when cooked. Most of the recipes I found showed the potatoes with the skins on, but I think grandma peeled them (or as a kid I probably wouldn’t have even tried them.) At any rate, here’s a link to a recipe that looks similar to what she made, and of course a picture of grandma. This is grandma and grandpa’s wedding picture.

New potatoes and peas


This next story would be better titled “Don’t come in the kitchen!” During the Great Depression, my mother’s side of the family received a grant from the government to start a sawmill.  It was called the Ola Self-help Sawmill and was located in upper Gem County, Idaho. Dorthea Lange, a well known depression era photographer (her best-known photo is called “Migrant Mother” and is often found in history books) was commissioned by the Farm Bureau Administration to photograph various people in various locations across the country.  Lange photographed my family. (These photos can be found on the Library of Congress’ website American Memory.) When Lange came to photograph my grandma Mid, she wouldn’t let Lange in the cabin as grandma was in the middle of baking a cake and the cabin was messy. (The cabin was small and the main living area and kitchen were all one room.) Instead, my grandma and my mother had their picture taken in the doorway. My grandmother was around 19 years old in this picture. 

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2021 at 10:21 PM

    I love anything with potatoes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. JaniceSeptember 15, 2021 at 8:07 AM

    I remember well your Grandmother's kitchen and those hearty meals that she prepared for the haying crew. I remember how we had to lay on the lawn under the trees for awhile until we could move to go back to work! She was such a sweet lady and oh man could she cook.
    I love this picture of your grandma Mid and your mom. Two wonderful women who I was blessed to know.

    ReplyDelete

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