Hello! I'm back! Sorry I havent blogged lately. I am still trying new things, when I can find the time. A few months ago I blogged about making jelly. My mom, Retha, was with me that day and suggested that I learn how to make bread from scratch. And she offered to show me how.
During Christmas break the kids wanted to spend time with my mom so we decided that would be a good time to bake bread. When I got to my mom's house in Newman she had everything spread out and arranged on the table. I felt like I had just walked on to the set of a cooking show where everything is prepped before the show starts. My mom is a really good cook and enjoys it. I think cooking is in our blood. My grandma, Anne was a cook at Latif's restaurant in Turlock for years. Pies were here specialty. Eventually my grandpa, John and her started there own restaraunt in Newman called the Country Cafe. They operated that business for about a decade. Most of my family worked there at one time or another. I even washed dishes and did odds and ends stuff like watering plants and sorting through bags of pinto beans to make "Portagee Beans".
Since everything was ready, we got started and it's actually pretty easy, just time consuming. The kids, Leo & Annie even got in on the fun. They helped us knead the dough and pinch it into buns. While we were waiting for the dough to rise. We were looking through some cookbooks. One year our family put together a cookbook with everyones favorite recipes. In the cookbook was a recipe for my grandma's Filhos (pronounced Phil-Yoz). I have not had Filhos in over 20 years! They are a Portuguese donut. They kind of remind more of a fritter actually. Most people I know compare them to Hawaiian Malasadas. But, if you know your History, you know that the Portuguese were some of the first people to immigrate to the Hawaiian Islands and penetrated into the food and culture that exists today. So, my friends, when you are in Hawaii eating Malasadas, Linguisa or Sweet Bread...you are eating food originally from Portugal. Getting off track here...
Ahhhhhhh, Filhos...brings back sweet memories of my grandma. I was very, very close with my grandma. She was a second mother to me. I loved her more than anyone or anything. She passed away when I was 15 years old. She was only 65 years old. I miss her SO MUCH! I asked my mom if she had all the ingredients to make Filhos. She looked around and she did. I was very excited to make them for my kids to try. Also to share a little piece of my family history with them. We made a batch of dough, fried them up and dipped them into sugar. It was like eating a piece of heaven. The kids loved them! I saved the extra Filhos dough and took it home so that I could make them fresh for Joel to try.
When it was all said and done we had also made a dozen dinner buns and made and ate some Filhos. It felt good to hang out at my mom's and re-live some memories and make some new ones with my kids. In a way, I gave them a glimpse of my good times with my grandma. She would have loved that! Her family was the most important thing to her in the world. She had 11 children and 28 grandchildren and I cant even keep track of all the great and great-greats there are now! Miss & Love you grandma, more than words can express.
During Christmas break the kids wanted to spend time with my mom so we decided that would be a good time to bake bread. When I got to my mom's house in Newman she had everything spread out and arranged on the table. I felt like I had just walked on to the set of a cooking show where everything is prepped before the show starts. My mom is a really good cook and enjoys it. I think cooking is in our blood. My grandma, Anne was a cook at Latif's restaurant in Turlock for years. Pies were here specialty. Eventually my grandpa, John and her started there own restaraunt in Newman called the Country Cafe. They operated that business for about a decade. Most of my family worked there at one time or another. I even washed dishes and did odds and ends stuff like watering plants and sorting through bags of pinto beans to make "Portagee Beans".
Since everything was ready, we got started and it's actually pretty easy, just time consuming. The kids, Leo & Annie even got in on the fun. They helped us knead the dough and pinch it into buns. While we were waiting for the dough to rise. We were looking through some cookbooks. One year our family put together a cookbook with everyones favorite recipes. In the cookbook was a recipe for my grandma's Filhos (pronounced Phil-Yoz). I have not had Filhos in over 20 years! They are a Portuguese donut. They kind of remind more of a fritter actually. Most people I know compare them to Hawaiian Malasadas. But, if you know your History, you know that the Portuguese were some of the first people to immigrate to the Hawaiian Islands and penetrated into the food and culture that exists today. So, my friends, when you are in Hawaii eating Malasadas, Linguisa or Sweet Bread...you are eating food originally from Portugal. Getting off track here...
Ahhhhhhh, Filhos...brings back sweet memories of my grandma. I was very, very close with my grandma. She was a second mother to me. I loved her more than anyone or anything. She passed away when I was 15 years old. She was only 65 years old. I miss her SO MUCH! I asked my mom if she had all the ingredients to make Filhos. She looked around and she did. I was very excited to make them for my kids to try. Also to share a little piece of my family history with them. We made a batch of dough, fried them up and dipped them into sugar. It was like eating a piece of heaven. The kids loved them! I saved the extra Filhos dough and took it home so that I could make them fresh for Joel to try.
When it was all said and done we had also made a dozen dinner buns and made and ate some Filhos. It felt good to hang out at my mom's and re-live some memories and make some new ones with my kids. In a way, I gave them a glimpse of my good times with my grandma. She would have loved that! Her family was the most important thing to her in the world. She had 11 children and 28 grandchildren and I cant even keep track of all the great and great-greats there are now! Miss & Love you grandma, more than words can express.
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