Heavenly Memories

As the days turn colder, my thoughts turn to the best after-school snack ever. My mom's homemade bread and english muffins.

I know I made fun of her liver and onions, but my mom is a terrific cook. For many years during my adolescence, she made all our bread. She had a regular baking day just like people did in olden times, and on that day I would come home from school to see loaf after loaf of her delicious oatmeal bread lined up on the counter. Sometimes she made English muffins, too. The smell in the house was heavenly. If there is anything better than coming home from school and cracking open a fresh-from-the-oven English muffin and slathering it with lots of butter (I was much skinnier then) I challenge you to tell me what it is. And then I will tell you you're wrong.

Mom is a busy senior citizen now, what with kayaking and church activities and sewing, and she doesn't make bread anymore. She has a bread machine that she pulls out every once in a while and tries to convince everyone the product is just as good as what she kneaded with her own two hands. But it's too late. She spoiled us during our formative years and we are not fooled.