Pen-demic

  Food is the ingredient that binds us together. As I quickly picked up a handful of groceries at Schnucks a month or so ago, I glanced down at the refrigerated items in the middle cooler. The jars of Kraft Pimento Spread immediately drew my eyes. My family had purchased and emptied enough of those tiny glass jars during my childhood that we had repurposed them as our water cups. On any normal grocery run, I would have concerned myself with the nutritional value (or lack thereof) and passed on this pimento spread. Instead, I snatched one out of the cooler and backtracked to the cracker aisle to pair it with Triscuits. Just as I had many years ago, when I returned home from the grocery store, I loaded a plate full of Triscuits slathered with pimento cheese. It threw me back to memories of weekends when my dad was working and my mom, sister, and I were hanging out at my grandparents’ house. My Grandma and Grandpa Trulove maintained a stock of the best snacks—twizzlers, bing cherries,...

By Doris Martin You would think that I have plenty of time to do so much now that I am staying home and staying safe. “Seniors” (I still can’t wrap my head around that term as if it didn’t pertain to me) are supposed to be careful with this monster looming outside our windows. So, I’d better get down to business! First of all, I now should have time to finish the book I’m writing about my Swedish grandparents. Actually, plenty of time to get it printed for my family by Christmas. I thought the days would go slowly for me but it’s quite the opposite. It seems now that as soon as I finish breakfast, instead of starting to write the 1,000 words a day suggested by many authors, I am thinking about what I can make for lunch and then dinner. We were used to eating very healthy meals making fresh fish three times a week with chicken or pork tenderloin on the other two nights and “whatever” on the seventh night. Now, since my daughter is busy working from home, she insists on doin...