Taste Essay

In my first essay on the sense of taste, I chose to write a narrative on my grandma.  She has always played such a big part in my life, so I wanted to find a way to show her how much I appreciate her through my writing.  I’m writing this essay to share with my classmates and my professor.  I hope I show how important my grandma’s love for cooking is to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Margie’s Goodies

            “You better eat everything on your plate!”  That’s what I would constantly hear from my bubba during meals.  Ever since I was a little girl, I have always enjoyed baking and cooking with my bubba.  I could always tell it was her pride and joy in life.  I can specifically remember walking home from elementary school and coming inside her house that would have the scent of amazing home cooked meals that I could almost taste.  She always would have a special meal waiting for me after school.  Even sometimes before school, I would have some of my friends over to my bubba’s house where she would make us mouth watering breakfast.  Even to this day, my friends will still ask me if I remember when my bubba used to make us breakfast in the mornings.  Our favorite was her french toast with sweet syrup on top.

            My bubba has probably been baking and cooking for about sixty years.  The one thing that I’ve noticed and always admired about her is that she doesn’t use recipes when she bakes.  She just would know what ingredients went into the recipe and what the measurements were.  A lot of times she didn’t even use measuring cups.  She reminded me of the professional chefs I would watch on television.  They just seemed to know which ingredients went into what they were making without having to refer to a cookbook for reference.  I think one of the main reasons she was able to do this would definitely have to be the amount of experience she has had over the years.

           One of the things that I specifically remember helping my bubba bake for was her craft shows.  She used “Margie’s Goodies” as her business name for her baked goods.  She would have several craft shows every holiday season at numerous places.  A few of the places I remember were IUP, the Indiana Mall, and some places in Johnstown.  I always felt so proud when my bubba would ask me to help her bake for the craft shows.  She had even told me that some of my techniques and methods I used were better than hers.  This really made me feel good because I know what a wonderful cook she was.  Without a doubt, I would have to say that one of my favorite things she baked for her craft shows was her banana and chocolate gobs.  She had her own special recipe she used for these delicious gobs and let me tell you, they were truly outstanding!  She also made her own creamy homemade icing for gobs which just added to the amazing taste.  I would love eating these straight after they had come out of the oven. The warm moistness of the gobs would literally just melt inside of my mouth.  Another one of my favorites she would make for her craft shows was her peanut butter and chocolate fudge.  Now this was another one of her specialties.  Without a doubt, I am a one hundred percent sweet and desserts girl and one of my favorite sweets is fudge.  I’ve tried a lot of fudge from numerous places, but so far there hasn’t been one place that outweighs my bubba’s peanut butter fudge.  This says a lot coming from a peanut butter fudge taste tester like me.

          My bubba would be extremely busy baking for people throughout the year for events such as weddings, parties, reunions, and pretty much any other function you could think of.  The busiest time of the year for her would be the holidays.  She would bake literally dozens and dozens of baked goods for family, friends, and her regular customers.  Apple, peach, and strawberry rhubarb pie were one of her most requested foods.  The apple pie was my personal favorite.  The taste of sweet cinnamon apples with her crispy homemade pie crust was just out of this world.  Her lady locks, or lady fingers as most people refer to them, were another one of my favorites.  I would always hang around after she took the lady locks out of the oven to put the icing in them so I could steal all the duds that didn’t come out as good.  Some of the lady locks I’d just break purposely so I could eat them.  I don’t believe she ever caught me doing this.  Everything was so time consuming to bake since it was all made from scratch.   However, I think this is what made her food so incredible.  Her nut rolls were also a favorite around Christmas time.  The taste of the crunchy nut and sugary filling was truly amazing.  I would always take the crust off and just eat the inside filling of the mouth watering nut roll.  

 

         After her aneurism, she had a blood clot in her lung.   Shortly after that, she suffered from respiratory failure.  It just seemed to be one thing right after another and she basically lived in the hospital which I knew drove her crazy.  The first time I saw her in the hospital after she got sick, was so extremely hard for me.  My ex-boyfriend had come to Pittsburgh with me to visit her.   It was very difficult for me to see her lying there.  She was in the intensive care unit at Mercy Hospital.  I was always used to seeing her running around multi-tasking with tons of energy.  This is what I think made it so challenging for me to see her in a completely different way.

         I enjoyed my bubba’s cooking for many years, however, this all changed about four years ago.  I had been in high school and got called to the office.  I saw that my mom was standing there and she took me out into the hall.  “Bubba was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital”, she told me.  I was very confused at this point.  I had absolutely no idea what had happened because she was perfectly fine the last time I saw her.  We soon found out though that my bubba had a brain aneurism.  She had been in the bathroom and passed out while my pap was still in bed.  My dog, Mitzi, was the one that actually saved her life.  Mitzi came into the bathroom and saw my bubba lying on the floor and ran to get my pap’s attention.  He ended up following her into the bathroom and found my bubba there.  If it hadn’t have been for Mitzi, my bubba most likely would not have made it

       After this happened I thought that everything was going to get back to normal, however, that wasn’t the case.  An aneurism is a very powerful thing and most people who do suffer from them and survive, aren’t usually the same again.  She had completely lost all of her energy and spunk that I always remembered about her.  No one realized that cooking would be something she would be forced to give up.  She just couldn’t bake or cook anymore.  For all of the years that my bubba had taken care of us; we now had to take care of her.  My pap really helped out with this.  He never used to cook or bake, but now he does all of the time.  My grandparents seemed to have switched roles.  I think he really misses her home cooked meals so he tries to recreate them but they just can’t compare to what she did.  I feel so bad for my bubba because I can tell it really depresses her that she can’t cook and bake like she used to do.  She tries but she never has enough energy.   She still looks through her many cookbooks for delicious recipes she hopes to make someday.  One of her biggest joys in life was gone now and it definitely shows.  I want her to teach me how to bake everything that she used to make.  This way, I will be able to pass these delicious tasting recipes down to my children.  My bubba is an amazing woman to me and she is probably one of the strongest people I have ever met thus far in my life.

             I honestly love any food that my bubba has ever put in front of me and this is not an understatement.  One of my absolute favorite meals that she would make is called goulash which is a Slovenian dish.  It’s basically pieces of beef in a sauce that I would dip bread into.  I have never met someone in my entire life that can cook and bake like this woman does.  I know that there are some pretty big competitors out there, however, the time and energy she puts in to her meals was what really put her ahead of the game.

 

 

 

 

 

    After writing this essay I feel that I have achieved my goals.  I think that I have shown how important cooking and the idea of taste is in my life.  I also think that I’ve shown how my grandma plays a huge role in this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I enjoyed my bubba’s cooking for many years, however, this all changed about four years ago.  I had been in high school and got called to the office.  I saw that my mom was standing there and she took me out into the hall.  “Bubba was taken to a Pittsburgh hospital”, she told me.  I was very confused at this point.  I had absolutely no idea what had happened because she was perfectly fine the last time I saw her.  We soon found out though that my bubba had a brain aneurism.  She had been in the bathroom and passed out while my pap was still in bed.  My dog, Mitzi, was the one that actually saved her life.  Mitzi came into the bathroom and saw my bubba lying on the floor and ran to get my pap’s attention.  He ended up following her into the bathroom and found my bubba there.  If it hadn’t have been for Mitzi, my bubba most likely would not have made it.  

After her aneurism, she had a blood clot in her lung.   Shortly after that, she suffered from respiratory failure.  It just seemed to be one thing right after another and she basically lived in the hospital which I knew drove her crazy.  The first time I saw her in the hospital after she got sick, was so extremely hard for me.  My ex-boyfriend had come to Pittsburgh with me to visit her.   It was very difficult for me to see her lying there.  She was in the intensive care unit at Mercy Hospital.  I was always used to seeing her running around multi-tasking with tons of energy.  This is what I think made it so challenging for me to see her in a completely different way.

 Revision

 

 

 Margie’s Goodies

Once upon a time in a far away land called Andalasia, there lived a wonderful fairy godmother.  Her name was Margie.  She was short, plump, and had beautiful short and curly blonde hair.  She also had round rosy red cheeks and a wonderful smile that lit up the kingdom.   Now Margie wasn’t any ordinary fairy godmother.  Sure she granted wishes and helped make the princes and princess’s dreams come true, however there was more to her than what met the eye.

 Now who do you think the greatest cook in all of Andalasia was?  Yes that’s right!  It was Margie.  This fairy god mother had a keen sense for cooking.  She knew the kinds of foods to cook that would just make your mouth water.  Pretty much any kind of tasteful, scrumptious little morsel you could think of, she made it.  Margie was truly a remarkable woman and her love for cooking showed this.

Margie had one little granddaughter, Odette, that she spoiled rotten with her goodies.  She would let Odette invite her friends over to eat before they had their magic spells and potion classes.  Odette loved the fact that all of her friends were so jealous of her grandmother so she had no trouble bragging about it.  One of her favorite things that her grandmother made for breakfast when her friends came over was her pancakes.  She made incredible pancakes that Odette would literally eat stacks of!  Odette also really enjoyed her scrambled eggs which came from Margie’s special chickens she raised and cared for herself.

            Margie made numerous baked goods and desserts; however I will just tell you a few of her specialties.  Her peanut butter fudge was to die for!  Along with her chocolate and banana gobs!  She also made some mean pies, specifically pumpkin, peach, and apple.  Margie also had a secret dish that she called “goulash.”  I would tell you what all was in goulash but then it wouldn’t be a secret anymore.  Odette really loved her grandmother’s homemade icing she used.  She couldn’t wait to lick the bowl and spoon when Margie was done using them.  Sometimes, Odette would purposefully break one of her grandmother’s baked goods just so she could eat it.  Another very special thing about Margie’s baking, was that she never, ever used any kind of recipe.  Everything she did magically came from her head and out of her hands.  She never forgot to put any ingredients in and knew all of the measurements by heart.

Margie baked for just about everyone in the fair land of Andalasia.  There wasn’t one King, noble, or peasant that hadn’t heard of her amazing goodies.  Margie was asked to bake for all of the royal dinners the kingdom held.  She would even throw in a little extra of her personal favorites for free.  She knew very well that her baking rocked and knocked the king’s socks off.  Since Margie was a very kind woman, she would bake large meals for the poor peasants in the land that couldn’t afford food for their families.  There wasn’t one person that Margie didn’t grace with her incredible food.  She was a woman that people actually needed, not just to fulfill their wishes, but to fill their tummies with delicious food as well.

Everything seemed to be going good in the land of Andalasia.  It was truly the perfect place to live because it was a place full of happiness and full tummies.  Anything you could ever possibly want, you could get.  The neat thing of this is it could all be brought to you by one single person, Margie.  In such a perfect fairytale story like this one, of course you would suspect that an evil villain would come into play.  Well you would be correct on that because there is.

Her name was Medusa and she was a very evil witch.  She lived up on top of a mountain that towered over the sparkling land of Andalasia.  Medusa also had an assistant who lived with her and took care of all her “dirty work.”  His name was Sebastian.  Other than the usual of conjuring up new potions and thinking of new spells to cast on innocent people, Medusa watched over the town of Andalasia.  Now I don’t mean “watch over” in a good sense.  You see, Medusa had a magic crystal ball where she was able to see what all of the villagers were doing at any time of the day.

Medusa just couldn’t take the whole idea of living the “perfect life,” so she felt that she needed to do something to change that.  The question to this was “What could she do?”

“Well the only way to get rid of a problem,” Medusa said, “was to get rid of the thing or person in this case, which caused it.”

This happened to be Margie and Medusa was very well aware of this.  She had been closely watching Margie over the past days, baking away for families and making sure her customers had their “happy ever after.” 

 

“This all just has to stop,” Medusa said to her assistant Sebastian.  “It all just needs to end.  Margie must be stopped!”

Medusa knew what had to be done; her only problem now was what she should do to stop Margie.  She knew it had to be something drastic.  For a few days all Medusa did was roamed around her castle on the hill, thinking of a good plan.  Sebastian was zero help to her with this.  Andalasia just continued through its merry days without any suspicion that there was a dark force watching them. 

Finally, after thorough thought, Medusa got it.  She would use Margie’s gift against her.

“Sebastian, I will give you three chocolate chip cookies to take to Andalasia.  You only need one to give to Margie, however I have given you three in case you screw up,” Medusa told Sebastian.  “You will find Margie on Sugar Plum Street, where she will be delivering her baked goods.  Go immediately!”

“Yes my queen.” Sebastian replied.

So off Sebastian went, down the enormous mountain into the land of Andalasia.  Sebastian knew that he had to be sneaky about his arrival.  The people that lived there were so nice and kind hearted; therefore they shouldn’t really suspect anything.

Meanwhile Margie was just making her rounds, house to house.  She wore a huge smile on her face, frolicking down the street of Sugar Plum.  Her customers always looked forward to her visits because they knew she would be delivering her amazing goodies. 

When Sebastian saw Margie, she was just stepping out of the Smooter’s house.

“Margie! Margie!” cried Sebastian.  “I have been searching for you all over!  You must try these scrumptious chocolate chip cookies!  They’re to die for!”

“Are they really?”  Well I’ll just have to give one a shot then.  We’ll see if they compare to my chocolate chip cookies.” Margie said with confidence.

“Here you go.  It only takes one bite for you to get the full effect.”  Sebastian sneered.

At that moment, Margie took one huge gulping bite of the chocolate chip cookie and instantly fell to the ground.  Sebastian knew that he couldn’t stick around for long so he took off back towards the mountain before anyone saw a thing.  After a few minutes, people started gathering in the streets to see what was going on.  The town doctor came to take a look at Margie and came to the conclusion that she had been put in a deep sleep. 

“How can we wake her?”  Margie’s little granddaughter asked the doctor.

At that instant a cold chill brazed the town and a dark cloud rose.  They heard wicked cackling coming from up on top of the mountain.

“You will never be able to wake her!”  yelled Medusa down at the people.

“What shall we do now!?”  asked one of the towns people.

“We must go up the mountain and find this evil woman,” replied the doctor with determination.

 

 

— To Be Continued—

 

 In my revision I ended up changing my whole narrative story.  In my first draft I wrote about a personal experience with my grandmother on her baking.  My first draft lacked a narrative hook, climax, plot, and many of the other things that make a narrative story.  I decided to create a children’s story because then I would be able to include all of these necessary components in my story.  In my first draft I also didn’t include very much dialogue.  In my children’s story I have added quite a bit of dialogue which I think made my story more interesting.  I still put my grandmother in my story by using her as the main character, Margie.  I also made the story about how Margie was an amazing cook which kept the main idea from my previous story.