A Grain of Epsom Salt Okay—here’s the deal. At my restaurants, I am precise. To the crumb. But if truth be told, grandma’s smidgeons of this, and handfuls of that still remain my personal favorites. Even if they are Bazooka bubble gum riddles to read.   I have no idea how these women did it back then... Wearing chiffon aprons and clip-on earrings that pinched their lobes while chopping onions without food processors. But I sure have had fun trying to make sense out of their splattered notes scribbled on Mah-Jong cards.   The joy I have experienced while sharing a taste of family history with you, is just as delicious as the food itself. It has been a surprising, welcome reminder that family is much bigger than the people living underneath one roof.   I hope if you too have old recipe cards buried in a box somewhere, that you will pull them out. Reading them with your husband, kids, long lost cousin, or even a friend or cat is worth every sweet second. "I have no idea how these ladies did it back then... wearing chiffon aprons and clip-on earrings that pinched their lobes while chopping onions without food processors."

Uncle Ronnie’s Peach Ice-Cream ala Cousin Aaron

“He’s got peanut butter written down here... but I don’t remember there being peanut butter in it, I just remember peaches.” Cousin Aaron reads his dad’s old 1968 recipe while Ken and I open cabinets pulling ingredients out.

Ingredients

2-1/2 cups sugar
2 tbsp vanilla
2 eggs

“Mix that with a beater then add 2 cans of cream.” “Two cans of cream? Do you mean evaporated milk? Cream doesn’t come in cans; it comes in cartons.” “I have no idea. It says cans of cream. Let’s use both.” “Okay.”

4 cans of water
1 plate of mashed peaches stacked yay-high

“Yay-high??? Does anyone know how tall yay-high is? Or what kind of plate? Probably paper; we made dads ice-cream on camping trips…..”

Instructions

It doesn’t say anything about cooking the eggs and cream. It just says to “add all that together” then what the heck? I have no idea what this says… it says, Minnie’s recipe… Well what do you know about that? I always thought this was dad's recipe. It doesn’t tell you what to do next. I guess you just churn it with rock salt and 15 pounds of crushed ice.

So that’s what Ken and Aaron and I did on July 4th, 2006. We doubled the ingredients then churned it with rock salt and 15 pounds of crushed ice. It was a little soft but extremely good. (NOTE: If you want to mix the sugar, eggs, vanilla, cream and water together then slowly bring it to a boil before churning that is fine.)

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