Grandma was still in town...we'd eaten a lot of beans and a few fried weinies. Fried weinies are way better than they have a right to be. They are the inspiration for this meal. While we (Grandma & I) were getting her beans warmed up one holiday night, she opened a package of weinies, split them length wise and proceeded to fry them in a bit of bacon fat in the cast iron skillet. Mind you, my Grandma probably weighs 110lbs...not a big lady..sweet and petite...so it was curious to me that she was frying weinies. I'd grown up with my family (Eaton side) eating weinies in all stages, cold, fried...any which way. I honestly thought they were pretty "low brow" and actually disgusting cold. But they were ever present, alongside a great array of simple yet delicious food...and I do like a good old fashioned hot dog...but fried or cold? no. My dad always made "special hot dogs" too while we were growing up...split and fried the same way, but he'd add soy sauce, worchestire sauce and make a glaze...maybe something else too...A1? anyway...while Grandma was frying the weinies that day, she proceeded to tell me that when she and her 5 brothers and sisters were little, their momma would occassionally fry weinies just this same way and it was a very big treat for them.
Revelation.
It was like all my random weinie moments now had meaning...now had a home.
This moment is one of the reasons I love food, love cooking with loved ones...it connects us.
I now have a new respect for weinies...a special treat...not low brow at all...but elevated through the eyes of my Grandma's childhood.
As for the Mayonnaise cake...it is nothing more than German chocolate cake...but the batter is made with Mayo instead of oil...which is all the same thing. I have the recipe and may post it some time...Grandma and I had a good giggle in the store shopping for ingredients. She knew it called for evaporated milk but couldn't recall all the other ingred. We called Scott and had him look it up...but the recipe I had (in her handwriting) called for sweet condensed milk, which she insisted was wrong. Anyway, it got us giggling. She was right by the way...the sweet condensed note was written in by my mom, assuming the canned milk should be sweet condensed...another kitchen crisis averted.
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oh, and banana bread too
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| Cali walnuts, hand hulled by my family...with permission Grandma and her siblings have gleaned fresh nuts from local orchards...these special touches make food so special...it is truely like love is in the recipe. |
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