This meal is a myth of partial perspectives. In one, my head peaks over the table and tries to pull the dough of the apple strudel to make sure some of it stretches over the edge proving that the dough was perfectly kneaded. In another I am taller placing apple slices carefully side by side. In a later one I help my mother knead the dough and my father peel and slice the apples while my siblings sprinkle on raisins.
In all of these there is the common perspective of the fork cutting a warm slice of apple strudel on a plate with ice cream. After having children of my own I understand how they must have enjoyed watching us help make and then eat this dessert which, as far as I can remember, was the meal.
After many years my sisters and I tried to make that meal for them one holiday afternoon when we were all together again since it was not something they did anymore, while there was still time. We read our mother’s handwritten recipe card and she explained what parts we could ignore and what we needed to add that she did not clearly write down. We could not get the dough as large as any of us remembered it being. We realized that none of us were as picky as we used to be with how apple slices should be placed. In the end, it tasted OK without reaching the level of mythic perfection we expected, but we think they enjoyed watching us try.
CHILDREN’S TINY HANDS
SPRING WARMS MEMORIES AGAIN
PARENTS WATCHING ON
Linked to dVerse Haibun Monday hosted by Toni Spencer.
Delicious. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLike
food and preparing the food brings and keeps families connected – I really enjoyed the slow moving haibun , each word itself a morsel to be savoured before the final product emerged. the memories last longer that what we remember the food tasted like. very precious haiku at the end, the tiny hands so evocative.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am glad you liked it! I didn’t think I could find a meal that would fit this prompt and now multiple examples come to mind. The people we share the meal with are the main part of the meal.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I did very much! I do see most cultures and families sharing some sort of bond through food and yours was a lovely example of that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What lovely detail accompanying this most tasty dessert. I like how you all grew out of your pickiness on apple placement.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, when young we were very careful to place the apple slices down individually and evenly and we each had our own territories to fill. It took longer to get the dessert made, but I don’t think anyone cared about that. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such a delicious, precious memory…and how our perspective changes. Very good how you included spring in the haiku. It’s true–warm weather brings warm memories in its wake.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Making something like that was like having spring in December. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This was reminiscent of my family’s tradition of “cookie day”. The togetherness and the memories are priceless treasures. Thank you for sharing your family time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can see how a group of people could get together to make cookies. Our mother made cookies as well, but she usually did that alone except for our help tasting the batter to make sure it was good enough. It always was. Sometimes we even put the batter on the cookie sheet when we were old enough.
LikeLike
Nobody makes it better than mom. I know if I asked my mom for the recipe, i have a feeling it might be missing something intentionally. Just so I have to go there to get another slice. lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t think she used the recipe she had, but it was there just in case she forgot something. I tried making strudel according to her recipe with my family as well. It didn’t catch on. Nothing compared to my memories of what we made long ago.
LikeLike
I like that spring warms memories, Frank! I also love apple strudel. I still make a rice pudding that my mom used to make. It’s baked custard with rice but I still love it and it melts in my mouth. All this reading today made me so hungry!!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think we made rice pudding, or some kind of pudding. We usually ate oat meal rather than rice. Now it is more rice than oat meal. Reading these memories made me realize that I have more memories of meals than I thought I would have. Just about every relationship has meals associated with it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too, and it made me so darn hungry for it all! Lol!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a precious haibun and I do not mean that cattily. I love how your family used to make strudel and then later, you kids as adults with the kids looking on. I love apple strudel. I’ll bet you guys made really good strudel. The haiku is excellent as well. I am so glad I have a piece of apple pie in the fridge. This would be so hard to read without it, although it isn’t the same thing. Loved this haibun.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The strudel my parents used to make with us was very good. I’ve never had commercial strudel that tasted anything like it. I am glad you liked the haibun! I’ve seen this form before but I didn’t know what it was until I saw your prompts. Thank you!
LikeLike
I really love how the joy of cooking is enhanced when you cook it together. I hope you will bring the tradition back again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I may try the apple strudel again. We have new food traditions that our daughters might continue using. Thanks!
LikeLike
Apple strudel – one of my favourites! I’m drooling over: ‘the fork cutting a warm slice of apple strudel on a plate with ice cream’.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, it tasted very good probably because we added more raisins and apples than we should have making it all that much more tasty. Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
awww. passing on a recipe is both melancholic and nostalgic. I am sure your mum is happy that you tried. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
She said she was glad we tried and I will try again, but I don’t think I will ever reach the perfection I remember as a child.
LikeLiked by 1 person
yea. i agree. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such a heart-warming write 😀 I would love to have some homemade apple strudel myself ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have bought some at bakeries over the years trying to find something similar. The bakery items were good, but they did not compare with what we made.
LikeLike
I love the collective energies of the siblings making strudel for the parents. Such a wonderful memory, Frank. You and yours a truly blessed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! What we made wasn’t bad, but it did not reach the high standard in my memory. Perhaps we had to be children again to appreciate it.
LikeLike
Yummy, well-written piece.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Zoe!
LikeLike
Oh that childhood perspective that makes everyting bigger, tastier, better — revisits as an adult always make us wonder as somehow, the revist doesn’t meet the remembered 🙂 My husband’s mother made cinnamon rolls, tiny ones. And although many have her written recipe, they never taste as good 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
The written recipe contained little information, mostly how high to heat the oven and how long to cook it. Yet one doesn’t need much more than that. The one trick of lifting the bed sheet to roll up the strudel was not written down because it was obvious after one saw it done once. I think I’ll try making it again. Thanks!
LikeLike
Food memories are often more tasty than real food. Lovely Haibun Frank.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can still taste some of them. Thanks!
LikeLiked by 1 person
ah, what an endearing memory!
after that first line, it’s pretty much impossible to stop reading.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Stacy! I am glad you liked that first line. It went through many revisions. I mainly cut out every word that I thought I could remove.
LikeLike
I love that you and your sisters attempted to recreate the strudel for your mum and dad, it is an action that comes of love, a kind and loving thing to do.
My mum used to make the most excellent steak and kidney pie. The meat base was topped with shortcrust pastry at least 1/2″ thick. It was pure perfection. Try as I might, I could never recreate it – she must have had magic in her fingers as she made the pastry…
Kind regards
Anna :o]
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have a hard time making crust as well although I sometimes can get a pizza dough to turn out the way I want it to. My wife makes an onion pancake that is mysterious to me. Maybe I am just imagining that I can’t do it, but I have also never had something similar to what she makes even in Chinese restaurants. I do make the dough for her, but the rest of the magic is all in her hands. Thanks, Anna!
LikeLike
My husband couldn’t stop talking of his grandmother make this. It was a meal for him. I think flour is of different quality now. Not sure if anything turns out as nice.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It may be the flour that we used. I think it is possible to get flour with more gluten (or something) in it and that would make it stretch more. Perhaps that was standard decades ago. I do remember seeing the dough stretch over the edge of the table. Thank you for the comment!
LikeLike