An Ode to One of the Best

by Mara @ What's For Dinner? on May 28, 2009

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*Warning: slight sap fest ahead*

Almost two-and-a-half years ago, my fabulous grandma, Bertha passed away after being sick for a very short time at the age of 89. When I say fabulous, I mean fabulous! She volunteered at the local hospital, read books like a fiend, played Chopin on the piano as her “finger exercises” and was one of the best cooks and bakers I’ve ever met. My mom learned much what she knows about cooking from my grandma, and I learned from both of them. One of my first memories of my grandma’s house (admittedly, I might not actually remember it, but it might be from stories) is walking around as a little girl with tiny squares of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crusts cut off. Grandma always had loaves of her famous banana-chocolate cake in the freezer for us, as well as one of my favorite baked goods ever: Pierres. One day, I’ll make them and post them… but let’s just say there’s almond genoise and chocolate chips involved.

One other thing I loved about my grandma’s house is that she had tons of, as Alton Brown calls them, uni-taskers. There was a ceramic “gum keeper” on her kitchen windowsill in the shape of a cat laying on its back. There was a small lidded box that conveniently held her Sweet and Low, then later Equal, and even later, Splenda. She had muffin tins of every size, as well as ramekins of every size. She had a meatloaf pan that had 2 parts: one with small holes in the bottom that sat in a slightly larger pan to catch fat. And then, there was my favorite.

Any guesses as to what this uni-tasker does? I’ll help you out a little. It’s about 14” high, 8” in diameter, and has this as an insert:

Did that help? This is the ONLY pot like this I’ve ever seen, and it seriously fascinated me every time I saw it. Not to mention, I always knew exactly what was accompanying our dinner if this pot was on the stove. Any ideas? I guess I’ll show you:

That’s right… this uni-tasker is none other than an asparagus pot! The asparagus stand up straight in the bottom, about an inch of water goes in, and the cover goes on. In about 20 minutes on the stove, the asparagus are perfectly steamed and there’s no draining or fishing them out of gross asparagus water. I’m not sure how old it is, or where it originally came from. This pot lived in a cabinet under the counter at my grandma’s house for many years after we discovered the gloriousness of roasted asparagus, but grandma would still use it when I’d come over for dinner. I received this pot after my grandma passed away, and for some reason, when I saw asparagus at the grocery store the other day, I had this overwhelming urge to cook them in this pot and share its story with you all.

Needless to say, dinner did include asparagus tonight, as well as something new for us: Barbecued tofu! I adapted this recipe from a recipe I found on www.MyRecipes.com originally posted in Cooking Light. The recipe called for the tofu to be cut in “slabs” and placed on a sandwich. I cut mine in cubes, mostly because I hadn’t found the recipe yet! I did enjoy the light crispy coating that the flour added, and the spicy barbecue sauce I used was delicious! I love purchasing Firehouse because proceeds go to firefighter charitable funds.

Dinner was quite satisfying, and its very odd to me how I crave tofu as much as I crave other foods now!

After dinner, Adam and I headed out to Best Buy and the mall to do some obscure DVD shopping (WHY does nowhere have Star Trek 3?) and since we were there, I of course got some…FRUZ!

Today I did raspberries, strawberries and mini chocolate chips. YUM! They put it in a styrofoam container today (boo) but I do have to say, it did the trick. I made it last longer than its usual 6 minutes!

You only have 3 more days to enter the Charm Giveaway Contest!!!! Just a comment will get you entered, a link back will get you a second entry, and a creative food haiku gets you a third! You can, of course, purchase a charm here.

In other blogger news (random and in no particular order):

I have a new post up at Jewish Wedding Network! Check it out!
ZestyCook is giving away a blog makeover!
I’ve donated one of each of the Foodie Charms to Oh She Glows’ Shop-4-a-Cause! June 11 is the big day! Save your pennies and donate!
Look tomorrow on www.FitFig.com for my guest post on eating healthy and well on a budget!
A HUGE good luck goes out to Meghann, who’s flying out to run her first marathon!
A random ginormous HUG going out to miss VeggieGirl and Gliding Calm, you know, just for kicks and for being amazing
A thank you to the fabulous Sarah for inventing the Crack Wrap, thus making my mornings easier.
A shout-out to Miss Jenn who took her LAST FINAL EVER today!