Ever since I can remember, I have loved Laura Ingalls and all of her adventures.
I read the books over and over again. I can still vividly recall so many of the stories that Laura told. Even as a child, my favorite passages revolved around parties, holidays and food!
In very first book, Little House in the Big Woods, Pa slaughters a pig and blows up the bladder for Mary and Laura to use as a balloon. He also puts the pig's tail on a stick and they take turn roasting it in the fire to eat.
In another, Mary and Laura go to a birthday party at nasty Nellie Oleson's where they have fancy store-bought cake for the first time in their lives.
At Christmas, Mr. Edwards crosses a deep river to bring them gifts from Santa. They include a tin cup, a shiny penny, a peppermint stick and a small heart-shaped cake.
I could go on and on, and as I type this I am seriously contemplating going downstairs to get my set of Little House books out so I can read them again!
The television show was also a favorite, but nothing will ever replace my beloved books and their simple black and white illustrations.
Back when I was living in the Boston area, we had a junk store called Building 19.
It was just a bunch of crap that looked like it had fallen off a truck. Books, tablecloths, food, kitchenware, clothing. It was a dump.
But going there was almost like going to a casino. It was a gamble. Most of the time you lose, but once in a blue moon you hit it big.
Like the day I found the Little House on the Prairie Cookbook for three dollars!
I was over the moon upon finding this, despite the fact that the majority of the recipes are not edible in my house. Ma used "Cracklins" for everything...even her baking. Pigeon Pie wasn't happening anytime soon either.
Still...totally worth the three bucks.
One of my favorite memories from the books was when Mary and Laura got to make Molasses Candy on Snow...and that was in the cookbook!
I held onto that book thinking that one day, I too would make Molasses Candy on Snow with my daughter.
Well, I didn't have a daughter.
That's cool. I can still do it with a boy. No problem.
It only took me 11 years to remember to get on it!
While we didn't get the forecasted 24-36 inches that I had prepped for, we still got enough to make our candy.
I gathered the ingredients...all two of them
I got my pan of snow ready to go
I boiled the molasses and brown sugar
And then we made some awful looking squiggles on the snow. Nowhere near as dainty as Mary and Laura's...
It hardened immediately, so we got to sample the candy right away
So? Was the reality of making my Little House Molasses Candy as good as my fantasy?
Umm.....no.
That stuff is NASTY!
Poor Mary and Laura. They didn't have chocolate readily available back then. This was as good as it got. Ma couldn't whip out a bag of Nestle chips and make some cookies. They had to eat molasses and brown sugar as a snow day treat. No cocoa with marshmallows for them!
This concludes cookbook #15 of 99. I'll keep my memories, but pass the cookbook onto some younger Little House fans that I know.
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