Southern Comforts

Southern Comforts

Janet Ellison decides to cook her husband Raymond his favorite southern dishes for their Valentines Day dinner. Raymond is always talking about missing his grandma's cooking when she was alive. When they spent Christmas with Raymond's parents for the holidays, Janet gets a list of Raymond's favorite southern dishes from his mother. His grandmother kept a large recipe book which was title: My Recipe Bible. Janet took the recipe book to a local copy center and made copies of the recipes from the list of his favorite foods. Raymond never knew that she had done this. Janet wanted to surprise him on Valentines with home cooked the way his grandmother used to make. They usually spent their Valentines Day ordering takeout watching romance movies all night until they fell asleep in each other's arms. When Raymond left for work that morning, Janet made a grocery list for the items she needed to cook the meals. The list of foods that Raymond loved were southern baked macaroni and cheese, cornbread, southern black-eyed peas, fried chicken, candied sweet potatoes, homemade banana pudding, and lemon sweet tea. It was a good thing that Raymond didn't get home to work until after six o'clock. Janet needed every second of that time to make the dishes. There were no short cuts making these dishes. All of the foods had to be made from scratch. Janet grabbed her purse and keys from the coffee table. She opened the door to the closet near the front door to get her coat. It had snowed last night and a blistering twenty-eight degrees outside. Janet hurried out of their house to the store to get the items. The grocery store was packed with patrons getting Valentines Day gifts for their sweethearts. Janet grabbed a grocery buggy and began shopping for the groceries. She quickly got through shopping for the items she needed. She went through the self-checkout since the lines with the cashiers were so long. Janet bought and bagged her groceries up and left the grocery store. It was eleven o'clock in the morning. She took her groceries inside and put the items into the refrigerator that she wasn't using. She decided to start cooking the black-eyed peas and hammocks first. Janet washes the beans and place them into a large pot with two large hammocks. She put in the garlic, pepper and salt seasoning. The next dish would be the southern macaroni and cheese. She places a medium size pot filling it with water and salt. This pot was to cook the macaroni noodles. She took out a large pan under neath her kitchen cabinet for the candied sweet potatoes. Janet cut up the small bag of sweet potatoes place them into the dish. She put melted butter, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg spices over the sweet potatoes. She placed them into a heated oven to caramelized. She pulled out two cast iron skillets from her cabinets for the cornbread and southern fried chicken. The homemade banana pudding would be the last thing she cooked for the day. To make things a bit easier on herself, she purchased a gallon of sweetened lemon tea from the grocery store. The whole house smelled like a southern diner. The smells of black-eyed peas and the sweet smell of fried chicken frying on the stove smelled delicious. The cornbread and candied sweet potatoes were done. Janet put the cooked macaroni noodles into a large aluminum pan. She poured half and half, three shredded cheeses and black pepper over top of the macaroni. She opens the heated oven to put the macaroni mixture inside. The banana pudding was still cooking and not quite ready to be taken out of the oven. Janet grabbed a bottled water from the refrigerator and sat down at the kitchen table. She looked at the clock on the kitchen wall.

“Four forty-five,” said Janet. “I did really good.”

She had a lot of time to spare before Raymond got home from work. Janet went over to the oven and checked on the food. She reached on the countertop and grabbed two oven mittens. She opened the oven and took out the macaroni and cheese. The dish was bubbling with cheesy goodness. The candied yams glisten with caramelized sugar goodness. The cornbread was cooked brown and crisp on the outside. She opened the pot lid to the black-eyed peas. The hammocks were so tender they cooked right of the bone. The southern fried chicken cooked in bacon grease drippings were extra crispy. The banana pudding smelled sweet of vanilla cream and bananas. Janet decided to take a quick shower before Raymond came home. She set the table with dishes, napkins and two tall red candles on each side of the flower center piece. The clock on the wall chimed six o'clock. Janet lit the candles and got glasses from the cabinets for the lemon sweet tea. She could hear Raymond's car pulling into the driveway. She began to place the food on the dishes. She took out the lemon sweet tea and pored them into two tall glasses. Janet threw off her apron and ran to the door to greet her husband.

“Happy Valentines Day,” said Janet. “How was your day?”

“It was okay,” said Raymond. “Happy Valentines Day to you too.”

Raymond took his hands from behind his back giving Janet a bouquet of red roses and a large box of candy.

“Aw, thanks honey,” said Janet. “I got a surprise for you too.”

Janet took Raymond by his hand and led him to the kitchen table.

“You did all this today?” asked Raymond.

“Yes, I did,” said Janet. “It's all your favorite dishes.”

Raymond looked in amazement at all the food on the table.

“I hope you like it,” said Janet. “They're all your grandmother's recipes.

“I'm sure it will taste delicious,” said Raymond.

Raymond sat down in his chair and began tasting all the food Janet had prepared. He closed his eyes and smiled shaking his head.

“I love it babe,” said Raymond. “It makes me thing of home and grandma.”

“I'm glad,” said Janet.

Raymond got up from the table and kissed his wife passionately on the lips.

“This is the best valentines Day ever,” said Raymond.

“I'm happy to hear that,” said Janet. “Now let's eat.

The continued to eat the delicious meal that Janet had cooked. After dinner, the couple settled in for the night. The bright light from the TV shined brightly on the bed adorn with fresh white rose petals. Raymond pulled Janet close to him kissing her on the lips. Janet took the remote off the bed turning off the TV. They both got into bed and enjoyed the rest of their Valentines Day loving one another.