When hubby and I first got married ,cooking was not something I did very well. If we had potatoes, I peeled ten. He would wonder if the army was coming to supper.If we had beans ,I added a can of water. One day he looked at the watered down beans in the pot and said “That’s not beans .That’s bean soup!” Well I didn’t know any better,so I was hurt and sulked because that was how we had them at home.
Eventually I learned how they were supposed to look and tase.. I also began to realize why we always had watery beans at home.Nobody was ever turned away from my mamma’s table, especially if you were a kid.
Every Saturday we had beans and weiners. I can’t remember ever having anything else on Saturday. Sometimes the weiners would be cut up and put with the beans. And then we actually had buns and made real hotdogs. There was always only a dozen weiners and you only got one. Now if there were other kids around, it was weiner pennies and beans .
Mamma would always say,”put another can of water in the beans.” If you were still hungry ,you could “fill up on bread and tea.” There was always lots of homemade bread and tea so strong it could strip paint. No child was ever told to go home to eat .
One day I came home from highschool and there in the kitchen were two neighbour kids, slurping down Lipton’s chicken noodle soup. I gave Mamma the question eyes and she said that Freddie and Ricky had come over to visit her. I caught on right away Another can of water in the beans.
Many times I’d come home and there would be the teenage friends of my two younger brothers, having tea with her. No sign of my brothers, just them telling her about what was going on in their lives. Another can of water in the beans, but when she died there was a huge bouquet of flowers from those very boys. I now understand why there was always “another can of water in the beans.”Thanks Mamma for teaching me how to “cook” Welcome!
You could put water in my food anytime because the company is just as good as the food!