Sunday Menu, #2

Note: All food cooked by my Aunt G except cornbread which was made by my grandmother.

Banana Pudding

Black-eyed Peas

Cornbread

Fried Chicken

Fried Corn

Fried Okra

Pound Cake

The banana pudding, corn and cornbread almost made me cave. I know, I know -- everything in moderation.

Last Sunday, my aunt baked tilapia. You can eat the fish, she said matter-of-factly. I didn't even ask what was used for flavoring. Flexibility is required now and then.

Before I knew it, my aunt had already warmed up the food. I wasn't even hungry but I sat down before two pieces of tilapia, a huge baked potato, two strawberries (nice touch) and a sizable salad.

I almost declined to eat the second piece of tilapia but the fillets were small. I put the strawberries back and picked a few tomatoes and bell pepper strips out of the salad. My aunt said that she almost gave me a third piece of tilapia but she knew that I wouldn't eat it.

My Grandmother's Message

My grandmother recently left this message on my answering machine:

"It's really cold. I hope that you are staying warm. I found one of your pretty
pictures and I'm going to put it up front where I can look at it. You've always
been pretty."

I kid you not. I did not make this message up or the smile on my face as I listened. My grandmother is one of the main reasons that I never had much overweight angst. I was, pretty much, accepted -- no matter how much I weighed.

I often get teased by some relatives because my g'ma often tells me how smart and pretty I am. It's a grand kid thing and I don't think the off-spring understand. My grandmother would never write my name down to be voted off the "Survivor" tribe. She would, however, gleefully write down a child's name down on her "list." My grandmother has my back in unimaginable ways.

When I was over at my grandmother's house on Sunday, she wanted to feed me chicken and dumplings as well as pound cake that she considered low-fat since it was made with margarine instead of butter. I refused the chicken and dumplings (texture issue) and the cake (still calorically challenged). My grandmother desperately wanted me to take something so we settled on an orange. My grandmother didn't understand that she's already given me so much and, even if I didn't eat or take anything, I could never leave her house empty-handed.

Jocelyn Jee's mother reminds me of my g'ma.