Memorial Day and Reminiscing

Reminiscing on a holiday makes me think of my mom's cooking. She was a good, old fashioned cook. Nothing fancy, but good hearty food. When she couldn't cook any longer my dad learned to make many of the recipes that she used to make....even pie crust - from scratch - so he could make a red raspberry pie, one of his favorites.

So, to hail the beginning of summer, and because daughter Jessica called from the grocery store in Atlanta, (as she often does) to find out how to make potato salad....I tell her, then head up to the kitchen to make macaroni salad. I'm out of potatoes. I make them both almost the same way and still make it the way Mom did.

You must start with Hellman's of course. It's REAL. I cook macaroni, usually elbows, but today I just had a half box of small shells. They're OK too. While they cook, I mix mayo, a small bit of mustard, chopped onion ( I used red today) and celery in a large bowl. Oh, I also cook some eggs to add. When the macaroni is done, I drain it, rinse it with cool water and set aside for a few minutes, while I cool then peel the hard cooked eggs.
While the pasta is still warm , I add it to the mayo mix and then add the chopped hard cooked eggs. Stir it up..season with salt and pepper and serve with White Hots from Zweigles....the kind that you can only get near Rochester, NY. We import these from upstate when we travel to Canada and keep a supply in the freezer. They also make a RED HOT (natural casing a must) that pretty darn good!

These MUST be cooked on the grill and then until the natural casings split open, hence the POPOPEN name on the package. I like them pretty blackened, too.

Also, must serve them with mustard and sweet pickle relish.

Now I know it's summer!