Darlene: Loved your description and it is much the same as mine. I too look back with very fond memories. Wish they were all with us to-day. I also really miss the food and long to eat it again. No, I don't cook that way - for me it's too much work and I don't like a messy kitchen and I am very messy in the kitchen. When I told my mother that I didn't like cooking, it came as a shock to her. She couldn't understand how any woman would not like cooking. Guess that I would not have made a good Schwovish hausfrau, but must admit that my ironing skills are the best. When I first married and my grandmother would come for a visit she would inspect my husband's shirt to see how white it was and how the collar was ironed. After doing this for the first 6 months of our marriage, I passed the grade and Oma would brag to the rest of the family on how nice Kevin's white shirts were. -----Original Message----- From: Darlene Dimitrie Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2014 1:01 PM To: Helga ; Nick Tullius ; 'DVHH Mail List' Subject: Re: [DVHH] fresh chicken We also had our Sunday and holiday meals at noon sharp, not one minute earlier or later. I'm not sure how this was accomplished since church went till noon. The skill with the knife with making the noodles was definitely something to be proud of. My great-grandmother Teresia was well known for her ability to chop the finest soup noodles. Sounds scary because the sharp knife was put down using her knuckles as a guide. My grandma used a pasta machine. I remember the house being full of tables of noodles drying. I would get roped into running the dough through the machine. We always had homemade chicken soup, fried chicken made with lard, green salad with oil and vinegar, mashed potatoes and orange rice (paprika for colouring), meat loaf ... always the same meal, no turkeys in this household. To this day, we don't eat turkey on holidays. Occasionally, a goose made it to the table. And then the best part, all the cookies. Funny, I don't remember vegetables! Neither does my mother! I talked to a Croatian friend at work - and her Croatian grandmother made the same meal - I found this interesting. Grandma stored all her cookies in one of the back bedrooms. We kids called this "the cookie room". Apparently none of the adults knew this, because one year one of the kids said something about the cookie room and it stopped discussion at the table dead - none of the adults knew that was the name of the room. She had all these tupperware containers full of every kind of cookie you could imagine. This was the room I slept in when I stayed there!!!!!!!!! She would kill and clean the chicken (she raised her own) on Saturday for a Sunday meal. Would salt it and put it in the fridge till she cooked it Sunday. I refused to go downstairs to view this event, but those of my cousins who did loved the part where the chicken ran around without its head. One year she served us red kool-aid with the chicken - you can imagine what us kids were thinking. My cousins and siblings would run out of the car when they got there, straight to the chicken coop to torture the chickens by throwing feed thru a small hole at them and watching them all fight for it. They are lucky they didn't get pecked for their behaviour. Grandma had the coolest collection of pop (soda) in her basement - every brand and flavour you could imagine - back when they got rid of the original Coke, had the New Coke and then brought back the original Coke - we discovered that she still had the "original original Coke" in her basement. It was fun to go down and pick out your pop for each meal. This room was huge, filled with shelves and shelves of canned (glass) food, bins of potatoes, a wine keg (well, it might have been something they called "most?", which was weaker, all the pop, a cabinet for bread and best of all, hanging brotwascht and "junkefleisch/schunkefleisch". This room smelled so awesome. Those sure were the good old days. I can't even imagine trying to cook that much food for so many people - I remember that my aunts rarely sat down to eat - they were too busy hauling food in from the kitchen to the dining room, making sure that their kids had exactly what they liked near them, then would start the dishes before we were done eating. When time came for us "kids" to start doing this, things changed and slowed down - we sat down to eat, the dishes waited till we'd had some dessert and we don't have chicken any more - we have everyone's favourite foods, no turkey still, and oh, lunch is at 2 pm now. I just love these memories. Darlene (first generation Canadian, family from today's Croatia) Helga wrote: > Yep, rememeber the headless chicken running around the coop. This was on > Sunday's usually after mass. My grandmother would go out and decapitate > the > chicken and we were warned not to look out of the window. Of course we > would peek out hoping never to be caught. Afterwards in the backyard, if > we > dare venture out, would be my grandmother with a vat full of very hot > water > sitting on a stool and feathers flying everywhere. Couldn't see much as > we > were always sent back into the house. > > She made the best, and I mean absolute best chicken soup. Just broth and > her homemade noodles. The noodles were another matter. Never have I ever > seen anyone so fast and skilful with a knife as my grandmother. What I > can't quite understand is, how could all this be done and ready to eat at > noon. We always ate at noon and never a minute later. Not only did we > have > chicken soup, but we had other entrees as well. Perhaps I am mistaken > about > the demise of the chicken on Sunday, but that's when we had chicken soup. > Could it be she made it the day before? I doubt that! > > Helga Kiely. > > -----Original Message----- > From: Nick Tullius > Sent: Monday, June 02, 2014 1:27 PM > To: 'DVHH Mail List' > Subject: Re: [DVHH] fresh chicken > > In my native Banat village chicken were slaughtered (rendered?) in a > different way. Grandmother would strew a handful of corn kernels around > herself to get their attention. She would then grab one, usually a young > rooster, because their number need to be reduced (eventually down to one). > She would spread its wings and put one foot on each wing. She would then > bent its head back, make an incision in its neck, and collect all its > blood > in a bowl. > In a pan, she fried up in lard some chopped onions, the chicken liver, and > the collected chicken blood. The result was the best brunch I ever had, > not > only for those hard post-war years, but forever. > > Nick > > -----Original Message----- > From: donauschwaben-villages-bounces@rootsweb.com > [mailto:donauschwaben-villages-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Eve > Sent: 1-Jun-14 20:20 > To: Tony Fieder > Cc: DVHH Mail List > Subject: Re: [DVHH] fresh chicken > > I grew up in the inner city of Flint, but I was never a city kid. I don't > recall how mom got the live chickens home but they were always running > around our garden/yard until it was execution time AND it was always mom > that snapped their necks - I will never forget seeing my first one - > literally running around like a chicken with his head cut off. Mom always > promised me that she wouldn't do that to my favorite Henrietta - WELL that > didn't happen and at the dinner table with our pastor and family there for > dinner - mom proudly presented Henrietta :( > > My most embarrassing thing with my parents was having friends over and all > over the basement where us kids "hung out" were bowls of pickled pigs feet > - my dad loved them - I don't think I could touch them to this day - even > though I've heard they are very good. > > Eve > > > On Sun, Jun 1, 2014 at 5:41 PM, Tony Fieder <aefieder@hotmail.com> wrote: > >> This was common practice by my mother as well. Every Saturday morning >> we would go to the Farmer's market in London Ontario, buy vegetables >> and a live chicken. We took it home on the bus in a sack inside a >> paper shopping bag and I prayed so mightily that it wouldn't cluck but >> it always did and I died a thousand deaths as everyone stared at me! >> I always felt so badly for the chicken when my mother killed it but it >> never prevented me from enjoying her chicken dinners. >> As someone else noted, my mother could never settle for anything but a >> live chicken, claiming it tasted so much better. >> >> Tony Fieder, >> Cambridge, Ontario >> >> >>> From: bures@att.net >>> Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2014 09:46:11 -0400 >>> To: rosevetter@gmail.com >>> CC: Donauschwaben-Villages-L@rootsweb.com >>> Subject: Re: [DVHH] fresh chicken >>> >>> Rose, >>> >>> I can remember too going home with my mother from the Westside >>> Market in >> Cleveland, on the streetcar, with a live chicken wrapped in newspaper, >> still clucking! >>> >>> I can't remember if this was the era before or after we raised our >>> own >> chickens in the backyard. >>> >>> The worst experience was when I found out my chicken dinner was one >>> of >> my three little pastel colored Easter peeps! >>> >>> >>> Margaret >>> >From my iPad >>> >>> >>>> On Jun 1, 2014, at 2:44 AM, Rose Vetter <rosevetter@gmail.com> wrote: >>>> >>>> Welcome to our group, Marilyn, and thank you for sharing your >>>> memories >> of >>>> your grandmother. I remember a scene similar to the one you >>>> describe, >> of >>>> my father coming home from the Winnipeg Public Market, carrying a >> clucking >>>> chicken under his arm, wrapped in newspaper--buying a dead bird in >>>> the store just wasn't good enough. I couldn't bear to watch him >>>> kill the >> bird >>>> in the basement, but I didn't mind helping my mother with the >>>> plucking >> and >>>> eviscerating part. As you love discussions about food, the >>>> recipes >> here >>>> will no doubt bring back memories of your grandmothers cooking: >>>> http://www.dvhh.org/cooking-donauschwaben-style/ >>>> >>>> Rose >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>>> On 31 May 2014 20:15, Marilyn McClaskey <m-mccl@umn.edu> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> Since I have jumped in on the Kraut Glace, I will introduce >>>>> myself as a new listmember. My nameis Marilyn McClaskey, nee >>>>> Hochban. I grew up until age 6 with my grandmother in the >>>>> household. (She died when I was 6, in 1953.) My childhood >>>>> memories include visiting Mr. Most, the butcher, and the >>>>> Alexandrias' grocery store. On Sundays we would sometimes visit >>>>> with other friends from the Old Country (which I thought was >>>>> Germany) and they would sit and visit in German together. We >>>>> brought home live chickens from the farmers' market and she >>>>> killed them in the basement, making pastry brushes from the >>>>> feathers, using every part of the bird. She did not need to read >>>>> Joy of Cooking to know how to pluck and dress a bird. She made >>>>> lye soap, and there was a small two burner gas stove in the >>>>> basement where she canned everything. She made saurkraut,, her >>>>> own dumplings, bread, noodles. When she died, I was numb and did >>>>> not grieve until I was in my 20s. Then everything came flooding > back, the German prayer she taught me, detailed memories and feelings. >>>>> >>>>> In 1982 my husband and I travelled to Winnipeg and a relative in >>>>> the next generation from my grandmother told the story, the >>>>> history. He showed us a book published in Ohio in the late 70s >>>>> with a map of Zichydorf and which family lived in each house. I >>>>> looked at the family photos from studios in the Old Country and >>>>> saw the Serbian and Croatian doubled address on them. They put >>>>> the Ellis Island records online in the 90s and I found the ship's >>>>> manifest with the 35~ pieces of information about each passenger. >>>>> I gathered my cousin and my sister's family to make a pilgrimage >>>>> with me to Ellis Isalnd on the 100-year anniversary of their >>>>> arrival, 11-22-2008. I think my next step is to go to Zichyfeld and > to Setschanfeld where she was born. >>>>> >>>>> I'm looking forward to the discussions on this list! (maybe >>>>> especially the ones about food) >>>>> >>>>> Marilyn Hochban McClaskey >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> ------------------------------- >>>>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >>>>> DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word >> 'unsubscribe' >>>>> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> ------------------------------- >>>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >>> >>> >>> >>> ------------------------------- >>> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> >> >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' >> without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message >> > > > > -- > Syrmia Regional Coordinator > http://www.dvhh.org/syrmia > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > DONAUSCHWABEN-VILLAGES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' > without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > -- Darlene http://www.dvhh.org/membership/associates.htm#D http://home.cogeco.ca/~lindarlene/Index.html