NEWLY-WED WOE
We will be rushing the season by about a month of so,if we talk about newly wed couples in this last week of April,but time is not of great consequence as we often seem to think it is. Newly weds are part of each of the seasons - not restricted in any way to the month of June.
Being married is, of course, one of those special moments in our lives and the memory of the early days after having made “one”, can be a tragic thing or a funny series of pleasant memories for many of us. Unusually such stories as related to those initial experiences are kept fairly secret and not recounted until the couple grows older, but some events involve other people and cannot be hidden.
Many of such stories are concerned the preparation of foods for the two some. One such couple, moved into the apartment next to ours. There were six other apartments in the building and back porches of that half dozen were shared.
We knew that a young couple had rented the unit next to ours and mother went over and introduced herself on the day of their arrival, when the furniture was being move in and placed. As Mom always did with newcomers, she made herself available and ready to help if needed.“Just call me.” She had no idea the call would come so soon.
After several evenings of dining out, the young bride decided to cook the evening meal herself. The fact that she had very little experience in the kitchen didn't bother her at all. She had books with recipes and beautiful, colored pictures which gave instctions.She had bought some chicken parts at the grocer's on the way home from the office one Saturday afternoon and had intended to serve baked chicken on a bed of fluffy, white rice which looked so appetizing in the cookbook's colorful illustrations.
Everything went well enough until it became obvious that the large pot of rice was going to boil over. She ran to our back door and screamed for Mom to come quickly and to bring extra pans, which, being newly wed she did not have, to hold the overflowing rice. On duty and alert, Mother reported at once. They rushed into the kitchen and Mom's first action was to turn the heat down under the now billowing pot of rice! And, just in time,too.
The young cook was, of course, crying openly and recounting how she had followed what the directions told her to do. “Put as much rice as needed in pan and cover generously with cold water. Boil.” She had done so. There was the empty rice carton to prove it all. She had poured in the entire contents of the box which, to her, looked about “right”. “I didn't know it would swell up like that!” she cried.
After turning the burner down beneath the roiling rice, Mom raised the original pot and placed in in a larger,metal basin; turned the burner back up a bit,and let the rice boil over safely.
Mom stayed to help the young bride bake the chicken, and, in general to show her how to do what had to be done to serve her husband a first-time, home-cooked meal. As far as I know he was never told of the incident of the rice volcano and how close their initial meal together came to being a domestic disaster.
I do remember we had rice at our table that night and for a week or more, as well.
April 25, 2004 [c610wds]
