Like Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, Lipton’s Onion Soup Mix produced no tears.
That dehydrated marvel of mid-century cookery was a staple in my Mothers repertoire. Mom joined the legion of happy homemakers who were overjoyed at the development of dehydrated soup cooking.
Besides being the backbone of the classic California Onion Dip, that pride and joy of every self respectable suburban hostess, my mother prepared her Passover Brisket using that Onion Soup Mix from a recipe supplied by Lipton’s published in Ladies Home Journal and endorsed by the Nassau Community Temple Sisterhood Cookbook.
Why spend hours peeling, chopping, slicing and dicing and sauteing reducing the onions down to a turn, when Liptons had come to m’lady’s rescue. Add water and voila…. onion stock!
So it was with modern pride that my Mother prepared her holiday brisket in that E-Z fashion.
I on the other hand, being just as contemporary, sniff at the notion of using a packet of dried onions, insisting on peeling, chopping, slicing and dicing the real McCoy sauteing them down til they are reduced to a golden hue.
But the copious onions required for the meal, along with the copious tears it produces, now co-mingle with great tears of sadness at the loss of my Mother.
As I prepare the Seder for which she will never again attend, it is lit by the glow of a yartzeit candle, a shining light of tribute and memory to her passing on this day.
So it is a day of tears, that even Lipton’s Onion Soup could not help.
© Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream, 2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sally Edelstein and Envisioning The American Dream with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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Here’s wishing you a good Passover.
Not sure you have read it, but years ago I read “Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America” and enjoyed it. Here’s the link on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Something-Oven-Reinventing-Dinner-America/dp/014303491X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428073878&sr=1-1&keywords=cooking+in+the+1950s
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Thanks Don. It sounds familiar and certainly like something I might have read, but will check it out
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Lovely remembrance, Sally. Blessings to you and yours.
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Thank you Steven
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Dear Sally,
I also lost my mom last year and each holiday is painful as I remember all the glorious food my mom would make for the parties. The consolation is the warm memories that I cherish. No one could ever take them away. Happy Passover to you!
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Holidays take on a bittersweet feeling, so laden are they with rituals and wonderful memories of mothers and the loving bounty they provided. Carrying on the traditions gleaned from our mothers is a blessing. Happy Passover to you as well.
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Sally, through your writing, you keep your mother alive. Not everyone has the talent or ability to do this for a loved one who has passed. Wherever your mother is right now, she is so proud and thankful for you.
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Thank you for your kind thoughts. The traditions handed down from mother to daughter are precious and are cherished. As I prepare my seder meal and set my seder table, the presence of my mother and all the women in my family who are no longer here can truly be felt. Have a happy Passover
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Even in bittersweet moments, your gentle humor never ceases to amaze me. What a gracious tribute to your beloved mother. Best wishes for a blessed Passover.
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Thank you Micki for your thoughts and a happy Passover to you as well.
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