OPENING POST

“OPENING POST” by The Little Feast
It was always on Sunday that we laid the good china and crystal glasses and used the ancient silver from the big wooden box.  Big Ma dressed the dining table with a white linen tablecloth and whatever was in bloom from her small garden.  In winter, the centerpiece was a tray of gourds and branches.  Having planned the menu and grocery list on Wednesday evening, she would shop on Friday morning. Most of the meal was prepared on Saturday afternoon.

The first Sunday of the month was always a  fat, roasted chicken or two, vegetables in season, potatoes or rice and two desserts, usually a pound cake and something with fruit that was to be served with ice cream, almost always vanilla.   She made the lemonade and sweet tea before Church with a sugar syrup prepared a day or two before.

She always said “ if you share what you have, you always have enough”.  So, on most Sundays after church, she would open our house to the minister and any of the congregation without a family in addition to a friend or two, and a few neighbors.    This was not charity, but a weekly feast, a celebration of life and loving, sprinkled with laughter, and good music.

Big Ma died many years ago, but I remember and long for those simple luscious meals.  My name is Diana Scott-Sho, owner and baker of THE LUSCIOUS LITTLE DESSERT COMPANY.   I’ve created Luscious Feast as a tribute and celebration of my great-grandmother, Big Ma who through her boundless patience and generosity filled both her table and my heart with the appreciation of good food and friends to share it with.  She taught me to celebrate where we come from, who we are and to be thankful for what we have, but most of all to share that with our family and friends.   Enjoy!

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