Peach Cobbler #1: We are at the farmer's market in Old Town when Dad suggests Grandmother make a peach cobbler. "Now that's an idea," Grandmother says. So we buy enough peaches for a cobbler. At home...
Alison: Grandmother, why don't you make that peach cobbler?
Grandmother: I'm not making any peach cobbler! If you want a peach cobbler, you can make it yourself.
Alison: Okay, I will.
I reference the 1942 Woman's Home Companion Cook Book Apple Pie recipe after the section on gelatin desserts, and greatly enjoy the introduction: "It is much more than a cook book. It has been planned to be a miniature kitchen encyclopedia - a book that will be useful to everybody from the young bride to the older, more experienced home maker. It solves problems for families on small food budgets and supplies unlimited ideas for those who have larger ones."
I begin to peel and cut the peaches and set those aside. I make the dough, roll it out and lay it in the pan. I put the peach peels with remaining peaches on them on a plate so Grandmother and Steve can eat the excess. I fill the pie dish with the peaches and cover with the excess dough. It is ready for the oven when Grandmother exclaims...
Grandmother: Now, what exactly is this?!
Alison: It's the peach cobbler.
Grandmother: That is the strangest peach cobbler I have ever seen. Don't you know how to peel a peach? You wasted all this excess peach and that dough is way too thick. Don't you know how to make a peach cobbler?
Alison: Well, Grandmother, I followed the recipe. And we can eat the excess peach.
Steve and I giggle over the fact Grandmother can't stand the look of the cobbler.
Grandmother: This isn't funny at all. This is sad, sad, sad. I can't believe you don't know how to properly peel a peach!
Steve: Do you use a peeler or a knife?
Grandmother: A knife, of course! You should be able to peel a peach with a knife and just get the skin. Look at all this excess peach!
Alison: Well, Grandmother, we can eat it and it doesn't go to waste.
Grandmother: This is unacceptable. Didn't you learn how to cook in school? You just graduated. Don't they teach anything in school these days?
Steve: Grandma, how did you learn to cook?
Grandmother: No one ever taught me, I just watched.
Steve: Well, who did you watch? Your mother?
Grandmother: Oh, my mother never cooked! We always had a cook!
Steve: A cook? You mean always in your kitchen?
Grandmother: Well, yes, of course. There was Daisy... Dora. Oh, Priscilla (grandmother's younger sister) couldn't understand why she couldn't go home with Daisy. She always wanted to go home with Daisy...
Steve: Well, Grandma, why don't you get Alison a cook so she has someone to watch so she'll learn!
Grandmother: Steve, maybe you should get Alison a cook.
Peach Cobbler #2: The next weekend, Dad buys more peaches so maybe Grandmother will show me how to make a proper cobbler. Grandmother peels the peaches but makes a dough that doesn't work. I make a dough, I roll it out to the proper thickness and fill the dish with the peaches.
Grandmother: Now, put some cinnamon, put some butter on top. I like to bake the excess dough and put some cinnamon on it. It's delicious!
Alison: I thought I would cross the dough on top... (
as I finish up...)
Grandmother: Oh wow! Doesn't that look nice!
Alison: So, you think this is a lovely looking cobbler?
Grandmother: Oh yes! That looks very nice!
Peach Cobbler Success! Yes!
