You will remember that there were three items I really wanted from my mom’s house: Bear Bank, Rolling Pin and The Blue Bowl.
Spoiler alert, I lost out on the Rolling Pin. My brother got it. Alas, two out of three isn’t bad. I do have such delightful memories of that rolling pin. It made a very specific noise when she would use it to roll out pie crusts. Like it wanted you to know how hard it was working but also comforting like an old rocking chair. When my mom made pie crust, she would bake the leftover pieces of dough with a tad of butter and cinnamon sugar. Hands down the best snack ever! She also would roll out biscuit dough and then cover the whole thing in butter and cinnamon sugar (see a childhood trend there?) then roll the rectangle into a snake, cut the ends off into discs and make the most amazing breakfast rolls.
Do not cry for me Argentina, I did get The Blue Bowl.
As seems to be a theme with the “things” this month, the blue bowl has no unique markings and I have no idea of its origin. I do know however; it made the BEST bread. Long before it was cool (or pandemic driven), my mom made bread. And not healthy wheat bread, nope it was fluffy, delicious white bread. She would mix it in the bowl, kneed it on the counter and then put it back in the bowl to rise in the oven. Once it was the correct height, she would punch it down, kneed it again and then put it in loaf pans to bake. Fresh from the oven, every inch of the surface buttered, piece of bread was such an amazing snack.
I did go through a bread baking phase with the bowl. Ok, my first attempt I rushed a bit and she and I called it doorstop bread, because it was a tad brick-esque. I learned to be more patient, and I then moved on to wheat flour. I made loaves and loaves of honey wheat bread. They were yummy and fluffy, but never quite as amazing of my memory of my mother’s bread.
I use the blue bowl mostly for cookies. Chocolate chip cookies during the year. Peanut butter with kisses, chocolate with Andes mint pieces, shortbread thumbprint cookies with raspberry jam, oatmeal scotchies, brown sugar cookies, and chocolate covered cherry cookies just to name a few during the holiday season. I am pretty sure my son thinks of it as the cookie making bowl when it comes out of the pantry, like the way I used to see it on the counter and think ‘oh GOOD warm bread is on the horizon’.
kkdonk 