Mom's Bowls

Growing up in the 50's and 60's there was always one thing in my mother's kitchen that we loved and it was her set of Pyrex bowls.  It wasn't so much the colors, although we liked that, it was the things that she used each bowl for.

The smallest blue one was always used for fresh whipped cream whipped with one of those rotary beaters.  It went on warm ginger bread right out of the oven and nothing has ever tasted so good since.  Part of it I'm sure is that the heavy cream came right from my grandparents farm which was just down the road.  Couldn't get any fresher then that!  I still can see Grampy Hatch sitting there on the milking stool milking the cows and squirting milk at us kids if we walked by! He would ask us if we wanted to try milking which we did but just couldn't make it stream out into the pail the way he did.

The red bowl was used for different things but what I remember most was Mom's potato salad with the sliced eggs on the top sprinkled with paprika.  Yum!  Also if we had a big crowd, which was quite often the case, she would use this size bowl to whip the cream as we needed more.  With five children it was a crowd before anyone else was added to the mix but we very often entertained any visiting missionaries that were speaking at our church plus their children.  We loved chocolate mayo cake and Mom would make the butter cream frosting in the red bowl.

Ahhhhhhh...the green bowl.  I think this one was used the most.  Scrumptious molasses cookies came out of this bowl and tall fluffy cream of tartar bisquits slathered with homemade butter, again from my grandparents farm.  My hips are expanding just typing about this stuff!  To this day I have never been able to make biscuits as fluffy and soft as my mother, maybe I am using the wrong bowl!

The yellow bowl......just think of homemade bread rising in this bowl as it was used for that.  Also popcorn balls with their buttery molasses coating.  Oh my,  I am really drooling now.  I like popcorn balls the best when they are still warm and gooey, oh just to die for!!!!  We usually make some each fall but for some reason we missed this past fall but you can bet your boots we WILL be making some this coming fall if not sooner! Also this bowl was used to hold beautiful pond lilies from the lake with their pink and yellow centers.  Dad would go out in the little boat and pick some for her, they smelled sooooooo good!

What got me thinking about the bowls is that I have a set at the lake house.  When disaster struck there the first thing I checked on was my bowls which I brought home and put through the dishwasher, which BTW is  sacrilegious according to some of my sisters, you ALWAYS wash them by hand......ahem............

I have another set of the bowls here in my kitchen as all of my sisters do.  We have found them over the years at antique shops, flea markets and thrift stores.  I think one of my sisters had three sets which is a little OCD but that's the way we are.  Now we are passing the torch to my nieces who have their own homes or apartments and the tradition continues.  And oh, my Mom still has a set here in her kitchen in Maine and has her original set in her Florida kitchen.

So as my lake set of bowls sets on my kitchen counter it brings back such warm memories of my childhood and the special things that we used to eat from them.  Thanks for going down memory lane with me,  I'm sure you have things from your childhood that bring back fond memories as well!

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend, it's snowing here but is supposed to turn to rain any time now.  Waaaaaaaa!  We want some snow!!!!