My Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown #326
My wonderful mother-in-law's Homemade Root Beer
and you know all the whys and wherefores of this countdown, right? Homemade cookbook, friends contributed, Handyman said I couldn't/wouldn't do it, I'll show him, yadda yadda yadda....
...and the rest is cookbook history!
Just remember, the countdown is not all about pretty food and food design---it's about the people and the stories.
And (the most important thing) proving my husband wrong--and that I can and WILL make every recipe in this cookbook.
Dry Ice.
I had to wait till it was 'in season' to buy it around here. Because in small rural towns, it has to be spooky season, I guess.
And--I had to buy it twice! Because little did, I know that you can't store dry ice in your freezer for too long as it just disappears.
It evaporates!
My son and his family with their spooky look on.
The Handyman had to wear gloves to handle the dry ice--- and kept mentioning that he doesn't ever remember his mother making root beer.
I cut this recipe in half, and it still made a lot.
It was really good, but once the dry ice melted (or whatever it does) there was no carbonation, so it was flat. I had a gallon in my fridge for a while--- it tasted good, but more like root beer flavored juice.
It was fun tho!
So now, my mother-in-law, Teresa Marie Solaro Stone Belcher, there was never a better mother-in-law on earth.
That's what I believe. (even, and especially with all her eccentricities)
You can look at her past recipes (and stories) here..Just Click.
This will make her 14th recipe in the countdown, and I've mentioned before that I'm having trouble now thinking of stories about her, so I'm just going to tell you--that one time I made fun of her (re-read ECCENTRICITIES above)
Can you believe it? I tried to get a laugh at her expense!
One of my kids (not the one above) was graduating from high school and we were having a big party. Friends and Family from near and far were coming and I wrote a little
'Cast of Characters' describing who would all be there and sent it to Barbara Brown, the editor of the first edition of this cookbook, just so she would know what to expect. I think it was the first time she'd met everyone.
Later she was adopted in a ceremony by the whole family, so she is a sister by extension. But before that I thought it imperative that she understood who she was dealing with when she came to the party.
*a disclaimer. I might have described everyone in the family. But that paper got lost somehow, this was the only part that has survived the past 25 years. Seriously.
**also a disclaimer. I might have exaggerated certain things. I might have taken literary license when writing up descriptions. Might have.
This is what I sent to Barb:
And then I also sent this to her.
(the last, very last, only remaining page of family descriptions!)
It's too bad (sigh) so very sad that I don't have those other pages describing everyone.
I sure wish I did. But I don't---I DON'T.
By the way, here is a photo of Teresa and her 2 husbands.
The one who looked like George Gobel (kind of), Richard,
and the other one. (the one she loved till the end of her life--Phil)
I was the queen of candid shots when no one was lookin--and this was back in the day of 'film', so I couldn't ever do a redo.
Phil told me one time, , that he hated their California King bed, because he missed being able to reach out and touch her.
oh....
💓💕💖💘
Dang!
The only reason I might have used her as a comic sidekick (in the description to Barb) was because she would laugh at herself too!
And she really wasn't all that bossy.
(shhhhhheeee really was. shhhhhhhh)
(having lunch in Capitoal, CA with my favorite in-laws and my 3 sons. Can you guess which one is the middle child?)
And that is recipe #326 from the Friday Friend Cookbook Countdown.
Getting closer all the time.
