Good for what ails you and other childhood food memories . . .

My grandmother (Grandma Venice Smith) had just the right ideas about how to take care of me when I was sick. Homemade eggnog, hot milk and cinnamon toast, egg custard and rice pudding were the best medicine by far. This rice pudding recipe is one I have used for my family over the years. I did make eggnog for them when they were little but I do not believe I ever served them hot milk and cinnamon toast.

RICE PUDDING

Slightly beat 4 eggs and set aside.

In a heavy kettle combine: 1 1/4 cup sugar, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set aside.

Combine 1 can evaporated milk and 4 cups milk. Heat to scald.

Stir hot milk mixture into sugar mixture and cook over medium heat until mixture is thick and smooth. (Stir constantly to avoid scorching.)

Add 4 cups cooked rice. Heat mixture, stirring constantly until it reaches a full boil. Remove from heat.

Slowly whisk a bit of the hot mixture into the beaten eggs to temper the eggs and then stir eggs into the pudding. Return to heat and stir a minute or two until pudding thickens. Remove from heat and add 1 cup raisins, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 2 teaspoons vanilla.

Serve warm or store in the refrigerator. Makes 8 cups of pudding.


HOT MILK ON CINNAMON TOAST

Place a piece of buttery(real butter please :o) hot cinnamon/sugar toast in a flat soup bowl and pour hot milk over it. Yum for the Tum. We would actually have this for supper sometimes as well.

Dinner was our main meal and was served at noon. Supper was a light evening meal. Sometimes for supper we would have bread and milk or crackers and milk. We would break up the crackers or break the bread into bite size pieces and add sugar and milk just the way you do when you eat cereal. Things have sure changed. I think the simple life was good for us. Grandma would also make us vegetable sandwiches - just buttered bread with slices of radishes OR cucumbers OR tomatoes and if you liked some salt and pepper to season - no goopy spreads - Simple and tasty - light and good.

Grandpa (Havelock Smith II) kept horses and a couple of cows. In the evening I would sometimes be the one to walk to the far pasture and drive the cows to the barn for milking. Dean Lybert was a trusted hired hand who would milk the cows for us. If you weren't watching, Dean was sure with his aim and you could end up with a squirt of warm milk on your face.

In my earliest years, the milk was bottled and refrigerated to let the cream rise to the top. Grandma would then skim the cream off to make butter or to pour on fruit or whip for a dessert topping. Later we had what you would call a separator at home. The warm milk would be poured into the funnel, we would turn the wheel and the milk would pour out one spout with the cream separating and pouring out the other spout. Who needed to pay for gym memberships? This was a pretty good workout in and of itself.

I loved my grandmother's spacious kitchen. The black and white tiled floor, the stove/oven island in the middle of the room, the large windows the full length of two walls, the ceramic elf collection on the window shelves, the plants and the warmth of the family gathering spot are vivid memories for me. Pat Evans was hired by my grandparents to help take care of us children and she was wonderful. She worked hard to keep our home clean and in order but more important to me, she would read to us. As we would sit around the kitchen table for breakfast we were entertained with a chapter from a great book of literature. How I treasure the times we were carried into adventure through the written word. I have never lost my love of reading which was fostered there in my grandmother's kitchen.

SIMPLE EGGNOG

Beat an egg and add 1 cup very cold milk, a bit of sugar and a bit of vanilla extract. Whisk together and enjoy.