Moms

I spent a very nice day with my mom and with Abbie.
Paul and Abbie made breakfast for me this morning, got me flowers, and a surprise gift.
Later, we loaded up the car to go to my mom's house. It was Paul's idea to go to my mom's today and fix her lunch.
{Btw, Paul did try to call his mom and got voicemail. Maybe she had to work}
I don't think my mom liked anything I made, but that is okay. I don't cook much anymore, and even though I love her, I had no plans to cook an elaborate meal. And my mom is sort of a food snob - not in a cranky, mean way - she just mostly likes her own cooking. And ever since she had a brain aneurysm, her sense of taste is off (and she can't smell anymore either).
As soon as we got there, I started making a butterscotch pie. During the process, I set off the smoke alarm. Even though I didn't let the filling cook long enough to get thick enough, the pie turned out great, and it was the one thing she liked. You had to eat the pie with a spoon, but it was yummy!
While I worked on the pie, Paul put together a salad and grated all the cheese for fondue. She didn't like the fondue either. It had a bottle of beer in it, and I think that funked it up too much for her. I did mean to say "funk" because that is how I would describe the added flavor (Paul and I like it).
We also made chili pie - corn chips, chili, and cheese. Chili was from a can - regular not hot. But she thought it was spicy so she didn't eat much.
She also wondered what kind of lettuce was in the salad. It was from a bag, and I couldn't remember. She picked at it. If it had been regular iceberg and had had tomatoes in it, she probably would have been okay with it. She did like the cucumbers Paul put in it.
Normally, I like people to like my cooking, but her lack of interest in my mediocre cooking didn't hurt my feelings. I know how she is. My stepdad, on the other hand, had seconds of everything.

Here's more info about my mom's weird food snobbery. When she travels, she starves because she doesn't like other people's cooking. She traveled extensively up the east coast and didn't like any of the food. Not even the amish cooking. She's even been to Paula Deen's restaurant and wasn't impressed. She went to some fancy restaurant, and the waitress noticed she was picking at her food, and she asked my mom if something was wrong. My mom said she had never had green beans the way they cooked them (I think they were long, skinny, green beans that had been lightly sauted). The waitress was shocked and said the restaurant was known for their green beans. She asked my mom how she cooked hers, and my mom told her. She cooks her green beans a LONG time with bacon grease and a hunk of bacon or ham and plenty of salt and pepper. One morning, they stopped in a Hardee's (somewhere up north), and my mom was excited (they had been traveling for weeks and she was beginning to starve from lack of homecooking). She stepped up to the counter and ordered biscuits and gravy (what she orders from Hardees at home). The employee informed her that they didn't have biscuits and gravy. My mom asked if they were out, and the lady said, "no, people don't eat that around here, but we have porridge." Boy, was she shocked and disappointed.

Growing up, the only drinks we had at our house was water (a given), whole milk (what she still buys), and tea (of course, it is sweet, anything else is sacriligious/dishwater). Anytime my mom has been in the hospital for surgery (and she's had several), she asks for tea as soon as she comes out of recovery. Not just any tea will do, it has to be her own tea, and of course, the nurses only want her to have water so soon out of surgery. We have to sneak it in (you can't ignore her request). When she travels, especially up north, you can't get sweet tea. And even if you could get sweet tea, she doesn't like anyone elses. She tolerates mine (I make it just like she does). Now when she travels, she makes her own tea on the road. And to get the authenitic taste that she is used to, she brings her own sugar and her own tap water from home. It's her way or nothing!

And in other news, this weekend was the annual Iris Show in Greeneville (goes along with their Iris Festival). My mom won BEST IN SHOW for her Iris named Supreme Sultan. This is the first "named" Iris that she ever owned, and I bought it for her several years ago (I had forgotten that, but she reminded me). She now owns numerous named Irises, and her garden is phenomenal! I'm so proud of her!

Abbie and I had a great day together too. She got me a "singing" card - she loves to pick those out. She helped me and Paul cook lunch. Then she played outside with my mom's dog. She and I borrowed my mom's scooter and rode it around the block. She is going to sleep with me tonight - as a special Mother's Day treat for her.